Wyoming Legislature

The Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee has voted once more to introduce a bill to the legislative session in January that would approve medicaid expansion.

Wyoming National Guard Adj. Gen. Greg Porter testified in front of the legislature's Joint Committee on Transportation, Highways & Military Affairs on Nov. 2. The number of sexual assault reports is on the rise from previous years but improvements have been made elsewhere. The decision to close the Wyoming Cowboy Challenge Academy housed at Camp Guernsey in September mid-session has drawn criticism from some lawmakers in how it was handled.

Legislators are drafting a bill that would increase their salary. The last time state lawmakers' salaries were changed was in 2005. As well as compensation for traveling for legislative work.

State fairs across the country have historically been major events for not only the agricultural community but for the public as well. And as many state fairs have experienced a decline over the years, the opposite has been true in the Cowboy State. This year's event drew about 15 percent more attendees than last year's.

The Joint Judiciary Committee is continuing to work on the transfer of court supervised treatment programs from the Department of Health to the Wyoming Supreme Court.Some hope handing over the substance abuse court program’s oversight to the judicial branch will make treatment courts more effective--since the Supreme Court is directly involved with these programs.

There are currently several charter, private, and religiously affiliated K-12 schools in the state, though the vast majority of Wyoming students attend public schools the state's 48 districts. Choice advocates often claim that charter schools provide parents more options for their children's educations while opponents claim that students already have school choice and that they detract from the public school system, among other reasons.

Six plaintiffs are suing to try to keep Wyoming’s trigger abortion law from being enforced.

Following the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, those in Wyoming are wondering what happens next. During the last legislative session, Wyoming lawmakers passed a so called "trigger bill" that bans abortions in the state except in the case of rape, incest, or the possibility of death or serious bodily injury for the mother, which likely would have to be certified by doctors.

Following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion will effectively be illegal in Wyoming in about a month, and those who do not support abortion rights are celebrating the outcome.

The Wyoming legislature's Labor, Health and Social Services Committee met Wednesday morning to discuss maternal and infant services, pregnancy and newborn outcomes in the state .