Wyoming Legislature

The Wyoming Legislature will hold a three-day legislative session to craft legislation that opposes COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

It's that time of year when the legislature starts heading into the home stretch as it prepares for the upcoming budget session in February. In the meantime, a number of legislators and the governor are discussing a special legislative session to pass bills to protect Wyoming businesses and health care facilities from federal COVID-19 mandates. All Democrats are voting no on the proposal. House Minority Leader Cathy Connolly joined us to talk about that and issues from education to juvenile justice.

As the federal government prepares to hand down vaccine requirements for large employers, Republican leadership in Wyoming has pushed for a special session to take action.

The legislature's Joint Education Committee has given support to a slight increase in funding for school districts across the state.

A select committee is looking to make it easier for cryptocurrency miners to set up shop in Wyoming. Crypto-mining is the process of gaining cryptocurrencies by solving equations with the use of high-powered computers. Energy and Natural Resources reporter Cooper McKim speaks with Chris Rothfuss, chairman of the Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation Technology, on why the state is so interested in getting their business.

A state select committee plans to draft legislation it hopes will ease the challenges of cryptocurrency mining, the process of gaining cryptocurrencies by solving equations with the use of high-powered computers, in Wyoming.

Wyoming has the highest suicide rate in the nation, at more than twice the national average, and nationally, suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents. Advocates say suicide prevention education is a way to address the problem.

Now armed with 2020 census data, the state legislature must redraw the political maps to ensure roughly equal representation for Wyoming residents in the house and senate.

The Wyoming Legislature's Joint Judiciary Committee is working on a bill to finally solve the problem of missing juvenile justice data.

Wyoming has entered the world of sports betting. Earlier this month the Wyoming Gaming Commission kicked off online betting in the state, while the Wind River Casino in Riverton became the state's only facility where people can bet in person due to its tribal affiliation.