The Wyoming Senate has narrowly passed the bill that would establish a taskforce to evaluate the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senators spent time arguing about if the taskforce is necessary. Baggs Sen. Larry Hicks said it's not the right time, given the pandemic is not over yet.
"Have you ever read a book report and I only read two-thirds of the book? Because that's what we're doing with this taskforce is we're two-thirds of the way through the response and all this stuff, and now we're going to go back and write a book report," he said.
Hicks added the taskforce would be more appropriate next year.
But Senate Majority Floor Leader Ogden Driskill said stakeholders and Wyomingites want the chance to discuss the past year.
"There is a huge opinion on how this has happened from the top to the bottom and in between. We all had our opinions, and opinions are just that. What a taskforce does is comes up with good, solid reasons why things happen and what we can do better," he said.
Critics of the bill also argued that adding a taskforce will bring the legislature closer to full-time rather than part-time.
This passage comes as the Senate also recently passed a bill that would create more oversight for public health officers, while the House is working on a similar bills.
The bill passed 16 to 14 and now will be sent to the House for consideration.
Have a question about this story? Contact the reporter, Catherine Wheeler, at cwheel11@uwyo.edu .
