Lawmakers briefly traveled back to Cheyenne for a day-long meeting led by the Management Council to finalize topics they’ll study and propose bills about over the summer and fall.
Chairs and co-chairs of committees reviewed their priority interim topics, the number of days they’ll meet and the amount of funding they’ll need.
Legislators on the council heard from 19 select and joint committees, alongside lawmakers who proposed specific subcommittee topics. The council, with some debate, took a singular approval vote that covered all committee’s requested times and topics.
Lawmakers briefly traveled back to Cheyenne on Wednesday for a day-long meeting led by the Management Council to finalize topics they’ll study and propose bills about over the summer and fall.
Chairs and co-chairs of committees reviewed their priority interim topics, the number of days they’ll meet and the amount of funding they’ll need. Most committees will have either two one-day meetings or three two-day sessions, and a budget of about $30,000 or $60,000 to cover travel, room and board for committee members.
Legislators on the council heard from 19 select and joint committees, alongside lawmakers who proposed specific subcommittee topics. The council, with some debate, took a singular approval vote that covered all committees’ requested times and topics.
Management Audit Committee
For the 2026 interim, the Management Audit Committee had three priorities: reviewing two failed bills from the 2026 budget session, and a review of special districts and the Livestock Board.
The council voted to split the third priority, reviewing the state treasurer’s policies, between two other committees. The council felt that the Agriculture Committee is better equipped to review policies on state lands, and policies related to unclaimed property are better handled by the Capital Finance Committee.
Select Committee on Legislative Facilities, Technology & Process
The Select Legislative Facilities Committee requested two days of meetings to deal with four priorities: legislative technology, legislative process, Wyoming Public Television’s tower system and facilities issues.
For the committee’s first priority, Sen. Bo Biteman (R-Ranchester), who chairs the Management Council, asked if the technology existed to create an electronic voting system for the Wyoming Legislature. Committee Chair Sen. Cale Case (R-Lander) said the body already has a robust electronic voting system: WyoLeg’s live-recorded vote tracker online serves this purpose.
“Both houses have talked about eliminating the roll call, for example, and going to an electronic based system,” said Case. “I think that has been more popular in the House perhaps, and people suggesting it would save time in the House versus the Senate, and we certainly could look into that and be happy to take testimony on that issue.”
Additionally, the committee saw discussion around priority three, Wyoming Public Television tower system. Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette) felt that the issue of public towers used in the emergency alert distribution and statewide coverage system may be better suited for a different committee. Noting that public television fell under the purview of community colleges, Bear motioned to move the issue to the Select Committee on School Facilities, but the motion failed.
Joint Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions
Of this committee's six interim priorities, lawmakers had significant critiques on the order of issues. Priority three, election review, says the committee would continue to assess “topics like pen and paper ballots, ballot harvesting, hand count verification of equipment.” Many of these topics were debated during the recent legislative session, with a partial hand count audit for this year’s election becoming law.
Some lawmakers questioned why another review into elections took priority over Wyoming's electricity rates or ability to connect to emergency services.
Committee Chair Case noted the priorities are the result of public input and lawmaker’s votes.
“A ranking is a ranking,” said Case. “And the issue of elections kind of swamped everything. I think largely those votes came from the House of Representatives. They were very concerned about that”.
The council eventually passed a motion to move priority six, electricity/Public Service Commission issues, to priority one. Sen. Tara Nethercott (R-Cheyenne) ended the discussion saying, “I just wanna give permission … It's OK to prioritize the integrity of the grid and appropriate electricity rates for the state of Wyoming over the hand counting of ballots.”
Joint Agriculture Committee
The five priorities chosen by members of the Joint Agriculture Committee give lawmakers the opportunity to educate themselves on issues currently pressing the livestock and ranching communities.
Noting that the committee was looking to other states like Texas and Oklahoma for a similar solution to veterinarian shortages, their first priority will be looking at the use of non-certified pregnancy testing of cattle. The committee will also be taking time to learn more about how state land recreation rights work with or against federal laws, and how fencing laws relate to livestock. The committee added that they could see three bills by next session, with one relating to orphaned water rights if discussions go in that direction during the interim.
Select Committee on Tribal Relations
Describing their request of two meetings and four priorities as “standard,” the Tribal Relations Committee had a short meeting with the council. Chair Rep. Ivan Posey (D-Fort Washakie) emphasized that the committee should work toward “a policy or an accord that kind of outlines how both sovereign governments [Wyoming and tribal governments] work with each other.”
Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee
This committee focused five of its six priorities on health in Wyoming. Joint Labor wants to look at maternity care, behavioral health, provider shortages and cancer treatments to see how Wyoming can spend money in the interest of long-term care for its unique geographical and population needs. It will also continue discussions of how Wyoming will spend its $205 million in federal Rural Health Transformation Program funding. The committee will also hear testimony regarding worker’s compensation laws in Wyoming.
Rep. Bear also asked the committee to review the result of the Legislature increasing provider rates for developmental disabilities support. The committee informally agreed.
Select Federal Resource Natural Management Committee
This committee briefly appeared in front of the council to bring one priority: statutory responsibilities. Within that priority is a review of federal policy on wild horses, streamlining the permitting process and working with Wyoming’s congressional delegation on a resolution that requests Congress to amend the Federal Mineral Leasing Act.
Sen. Biteman noted he has contacts with Pres. Trump’s Energy Dominance Council and that the committee should work with them.
Joint Travel, Recreational Wildlife and Cultural Resources
Select Committee on School Facilities
This committee brought forth four priorities that were reviewed by the council relatively quickly. Chairs of this committee are looking to focus on school maintenance, infrastructure needs and plans to spend roughly 10 hours considering a Wyoming Supreme Court ruling that found the state has been underfunding schools so that lawmakers can have a better legal understanding of the educational landscape.
The committee also noted that birth rates are declining and that it would look into how that may impact school facilities in the future.
Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation Technology
This committee’s five priorities touch heavily on data privacy, cryptocurrency technologies and AI.
After the launch of the Wyoming Frontier Token in January, the committee is shifting its focus to see how it can further the technology. Rep. Daniel Singh (R-Cheyenne) said while it would require a completely new bill, the committee would look into the tokenization of commodities.
“We've heard a lot of interest in having some sort of digital representation for a commodity. And so we will be exploring that issue as perhaps something like a gold-backed token,” said Singh.
Sen. Nethercott said that while the committee had experience on topics like data centers, she believed it should focus on innovating for the future instead of its proposal to review existing laws about energy infrastructure and data centers. With two other committees looking into water and energy studies, the council passed a motion by Nethercott that sees the Blockchain and Technology Committee focus its efforts elsewhere. Chair Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie) said that his committee is “effective” on topics of technology, but that he was nonetheless happy to “bow out” of the water conversation.
Joint Education Committee
Similar to the Blockchain Committee, some of the Joint Education Committee’s priorities were also concerning technology. Lawmakers on this committee will review how schools carry out virtual learning and the impacts of AI across the education system.
Lawmakers on the Management Council were also interested in the committee’s findings around dual enrollment and how the state can better prepare students for career-oriented studies before leaving high school.
Select Natural Resource Funding Committee
This select committee requested two days and their standard budget to continue its work touring and reviewing large projects recommended by the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust Account Board and the Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Trust Account Board to receive state funds. The council had no questions.
Joint Revenue Committee
With four priorities, Joint Revenue wants to do a deep dive on taxes across the board. The committee said they’ll look at electricity taxation, government property tax exemptions, penny rounding, tax exemption reporting requirements and property tax reforms.
Much of the committee’s work will relate to the forthcoming result of a ballot initiative to reduce homeowners' assessed property taxes.
Sen. Troy McKeown (R-Gillette) added that the committee is “still looking at getting rid of residential property tax. We're still looking at getting rid of personal property tax.” A bill to do that failed in this year’s session.
Joint Judiciary Committee
This committee brought seven priorities to the council for review. Over the interim, the Judicial Committee wants to look into police training that would help officers interact with the needs of people with developmental disabilities during stops. The Department of Corrections also asked the committee, with high priority, to look into “issues related to escapes from adult community correctional facilities."
The largest slice of the committee’s interim time may well be spent on priority three: Title 6 and criminal code review. The committee believes the state needs to step back and review penalties in relation to other penalties, and ensure that punishment is standard and reasonable across the board.
Additionally, the committee will consider the pros and cons of Wyoming adopting a form of a criminal code system, allowing for the classification of misdemeanors, felonies and other penalties.
Joint Minerals, Business & Economic Development
The Minerals Committee came up with a packed interim schedule consisting of eight priorities. Sen. Jim Anderson (R-Casper) started the Minerals Committee off by letting the council know “[West Texas Intermediate] crude is $100 a barrel, which is really good news for the state of Wyoming.”
This committee will take a look at two topics that have been at the forefront of Wyoming politics: the Wyoming Business Council (WBC) and the potential curtailment of the Colorado River. The WBC is the state’s primary economic development agency, and it faced an unsuccessful attempt to disband it during this year’s session.
Some lawmakers noted the WBC is also a topic of discussion for the Appropriations Committee. Bear, a chair, said his committee would explore the funding factors of the WBC, while Minerals would focus on governance of the agency.
On the industrial side, this committee will look into how Wyoming can maintain “energy dominance” in a more energy-demanding economy, as well as bonding and exemptions related to the industrial siting process.
The committee will also look into the potential of new industries. During the interim, Minerals will spend time looking at the potential for reusing water produced during oil and gas operations. Additionally, the committee believes Wyoming could fill a niche industry in which the state would produce the stones commonly used in the Olympic sport of curling. The nearly 40-pound granite stones are currently only quarried on a small, uninhabited island off the coast of Scotland.
Select Water Committee
This committee brought six topics to the council, some similar in nature to the Minerals Committee. Select Water will also take time over the interim to explore the impacts of the Colorado River on Wyoming’s environment, in addition to reviewing the state's stormwater drainage systems, looking at possible administrative improvements when carrying out water projects and conducting a consumptive water study that may include reviewing data centers’ use of water.
Rep. Chip Neiman (R-Hulett), taking a cue from Minerals, asked the committee to look into the possibility of using produced water from data centers, similar to using produced water from oil and gas operations.
Joint Transportation, Highway, and Military Affairs Committee
This committee noted it was light on military related affairs this time around, instead focusing its four interim priorities on more transportation related issues.
Priority two is a study of military members and their TRICARE insurance, but the committee said its big focus is exploring solutions to funding Wyoming’s roads. The remaining priorities are a small grab bag of topics, including a review of how the license plate system works, safety for roadside projects and reviews of agencies like the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
Joint Appropriations
In addition to Appropriations looking into WBC’s funding structure and possible long-term goals, its second priority will be a review of the Wyoming retirement system. The council had no questions.
Capital Finance Committee
The Capitol Finance Committee noted that "legislators would be busy this summer,” and so they chose to keep their interim light. The committee will primarily investigate the treasurer’s investment policies relating to state lands.
