The legislative session came to an end late in the evening on March 8 after days of debate over the budget.

A unified budget bill was passed and provides funding for nursing homes, preschool for developmentally disabled children, and home services for senior centers.

The Wyoming State Legislature adjourned sine die March 3, after passing 196 bills during the 37-day session.

Among the passed bills, the legislature ratified Senate Bill 40. Senate Bill 40 closed an exemption for federal political action committees (PACs) active in Wyoming elections.

Under the new law, federal PACs must file state campaign finance reports unless they are solely making contributions or expenditures to federal candidates or issues.

Other major bills passed during the quick session include universal tax-relief and an omnibus bill focusing on rehabilitating the state’s water infrastructure.

Gov. Mark Gordon has signed a bill removing an exemption from state campaign finance reporting for federal political action committees (PACs) active in Wyoming elections.

Senate Bill 40 requires federal PACs to report in Wyoming unless they are making contributions or expenditures only to federal candidates or federal issues.

The law takes effect July 1.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has signed House Bill 49 and has not vetoed House Bill 100, allowing it to be enacted.

House Bill 49 defines what an “organization” is in relation to campaign finance reporting and establishes criteria for when an organization must file a statement of formation.

The bill restructures references of the term “organization” and raises the limit an organization can expend before it must file an itemized statement of contributions and expenditures to $1,000.

The bill increases the penalty of not filing a required report with the secretary of state to $500 per day and increases the penalty of not filing a required report with the county clerk to $200 per day.

Gov. Gordon, while not signing House Bill 100, did not veto the bill, approving the redistricting bill and permitting it to become law.

House Bill 49 is effective April 1, 2022, and House Bill 100 is effective immediately.

The Wyoming State Legislature adjourned sine die March 11 after passing House Bills 49, 80, and 100.

House Bill 49 requires organizations that receive contributions or expend funds in excess of $1,000 to file a statement of formation and increases penalties for failure to file an itemized statement of expenditures.

House Bill 100, a contentious redistricting bill, was finalized during the twilight hours of the 2022 session and provides a term limit for House members who were removed from the district because of legislative boundary changes.

House Bill 80, already signed by the governor, changed the reporting requirement for expenditure reports so all committees who contribute to another committee must file a report, not only if the receiving committee expended funds during a primary or general election.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed a campaign finance bill into law on March 10.

House Bill 80 states all political action committees or candidate’s campaign committees must file an itemized statement of contributions and expenditures at least seven days but not more than 14 days before any election, regardless if funds were expended in the election.

The bill also increases the penalty of not filing an expenditure report to up to $500 per day past the due date. This bill becomes effective July 1.

Judge John G. Fenn has been appointed by Gov. Mark Gordon to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Fenn has sat on the Fourth Judicial District Court bench for the previous 14 years and was a private practice attorney in Sheridan for 13 years prior to his appointment.

He will be replacing Justice Michael Davis, who is retiring after serving nine years on the high court.

The Wyoming Legislature adjourned their special session after passing HB 1002, outlawing enforcement of federal vaccine mandates.

Included in HB 1002 is the ability for Wyoming’s attorney general to initiate or participate in litigation and take any appropriate action to challenge or resist federal government mandates relating to COVID-19.

A four-million-dollar fund has been set aside to finance legal actions opposing federal government COVID mandates.

A special legislative session has been announced by the Wyoming Legislature after a majority of state House and Senate members voted in favor of convening.

The session will begin October 26 and is tentatively scheduled to adjourn on October 28.

The purpose of the special session is to address COVID-19 mandates and “vaccine passports.”

Wyoming lawmakers have advanced a proposal to switch the state’s elections to a runoff system, after rejecting a similar proposal three months ago.

Runoff election systems are favored in states in which a political party holds a strong majority.

Wyoming, a republican stronghold, has seen a divide grow between main party republicans and more conservative candidates.

As the more conservative side of the party grows, the fear of vote splitting during primaries increases.

Justice Michael K. Davis of the Wyoming Supreme Court announced his plans to retire in January.

The retirement gives Republican Gov. Mark Gordon his first Supreme Court appointment.

Currently, all five sitting justices were appointed by former Gov. Matt Mead, also a Republican.

Gordon will select a justice from a list of three names submitted to him by the state Judicial Nominating Commission.

Members of the Joint Committee on Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions voted to draft bills to create either an open primary or a ranked-choice voting system.

Currently, Wyoming operates under a dual partisan primary system.

Under this system, each party holds an independent primary to select its candidate for the general election.

An open primary system allows for all parties to compete in a single primary election, with the top two votes advancing to the general election.

Rank-choice allows for voters to rank candidates in order of preference on their ballots, with the candidate securing the majority winning the election.

If no candidate wins the majority, the lowest candidate gets eliminated, the votes for that person go to the voters’ second choice, and the votes are retabulated until a majority is reached.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and statehouse leaders announced there will not be a special session this July.

The July special session was to be called for deliberation on how to best allocate the federal relief money given by the American Rescue Plan, but lawmakers decided the discussion would be better served if it was delayed until the 2022 legislative session.

The Wyoming Legislature adjourned sine die on April 7 after passing an increase to lobbying fees.

House Bill 148 raises the annual registration fee from $25 to $75.

Fees for individuals receiving $500 or less in compensation increases from $5 to $10.

The bill becomes effective July 1.