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By: Rep. Albert Sommers, House District No. 20 - Updated: 1 week ago

Hello Sublette County, this is Albert Sommers reporting to you from Cheyenne on March 8. Today, the House heard bills on second reading, had final vote on bills in third reading, and voted on bills in Committee of the Whole. Today was the last day for Committee of Whole on bills in the second house.

SF0080 – Omnibus water bill, construction, passed on second reading today. This is a yearly bill of water projects funded by severance tax dollars, and this year includes cloud seeding to encourage snowfall in the Wind River and Sierra Madre mountain ranges. Water is vital to our community, so my hope is that these funds help to improve our snowpack.

SF0048 – 2022 large project funding, passed the House on second reading. This bill is funded by the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust Fund, which funds wildlife habitat improvement projects. One project in this year’s bill would remove conifers and various invasive grasses through mechanical and chemical treatments on 350,000 acres of native forests in Crook and Weston counties. I support this bill.

SF0076 – Financial exploitation of vulnerable adults. Many of you have likely had the honor of caring for an older relative or neighbor. Most of the time, no issues occur. Sometimes, family members, neighbors or other care providers exploit those for whom they provide care. This bill focuses on financial exploitation. The intent of this bill is to create safeguards for these vulnerable populations. It was a noble effort, but the bill did not have a mechanism to ensure adequate protection for the information in the bank accounts of vulnerable adults. The bill also did not have a way to prevent banks from unnecessarily freezing the accounts of vulnerable adults. I amended the bill, but it did not pass Committee of the Whole.

SF0106 – Wyoming Stable Token Act, passed Committee of the Whole today. Some of you may remember from the days of your youth when cash was issued in the form of a silver certificate. This was done to ensure that the paper money you held in your hand was backed by a commensurate amount of silver, and thus gave the holder confidence in the note. SF0106 is an interesting bill in that it creates a form of currency called a “stable token” that is backed by Wyoming reserves tied to the U.S. dollar. The goal of this legislation is to provide a stable cryptocurrency controlled by the State of Wyoming. Wyoming would then earn money by issuing these stable tokens. The bill is an extension of Wyoming’s effort to lead the way in blockchain technology. I remain skeptical and have not decided how I will vote on the bill in third reading.

SF0086 – Wildfires, one-call exemption, also passed Committee of the Whole. Typically, when engaging in any earthmoving or excavating activities, you are required to call ahead to locate any utilities in the area being excavated. This bill provides an exemption to emergency responders who may sever a utility while responding to a wildfire. Because time is of the essence in an emergency response, it is impractical to call for locates during an urgent response. If the bill becomes law, emergency responders will be exempt from any liability associated with striking the utility. I believe this bill might go too far by not requiring any type of notification to the One-Call center. I hope these entities can work out their differences.

I can be reached at [email protected] with questions and comments.

Hello Sublette County, this is Albert Sommers reporting to you from Cheyenne on March 9. Today, the House heard bills on second reading and had final vote on bills in third reading. Today was the last day for second reading on bills in the second house.

SF0061 – Sage-grouse game bird farms, no certification expiration-2, has been extensively debated but passed on second reading today with an amendment. The amendment extends the sunset date to provide this project for seven more years. As our sage-grouse populations have continued to decline, this study is an attempt to avoid having sage-grouse placed on the Endangered Species list. Efforts in this study include egg collections and raising and studying these birds in captivity. Past efforts to release sage-grouse into the wild have been unsuccessful. The hope is that by giving this study an additional seven years, the bird farm will be able to achieve successful breeding of sage-grouse. I remain unconvinced that this project will succeed where others have failed.

SF0100 – Stalking amendments, also passed on second reading today. Wyoming takes crimes related to stalking very seriously. This additional measure further strengthens Wyoming law by adding digital stalking to the list of acts considered to be stalking. In this bill, stalking includes the use of any digital system used to surveil a person or to surveil a person’s use of wireless activity without their knowledge or authorization. 

After much discussion, SF0081 – Clarification of existing state ownership of groundwater, did not pass the House on third reading today. This bill would amend statutes to clarify that groundwater falling within the borders of Wyoming is the property of the state, similar to surface water. This bill would put into statute what the State believes the constitution says. However, there is some ambiguity in the constitution around the ownership of ground water. The lawyers in the House felt this proposed law would do nothing to clarify law, because these issues are constitutional, and the courts will decide. I voted for the bill, because I believe it would help clarify legislative intent on this issue.

SF0102 – Second Amendment Protection Act, passed the house in third reading today with my support. If you recall from an earlier press release, this bill prohibits Wyoming law enforcement officers from enforcing federal mandates that infringe on Second Amendment rights guaranteed to us under the United States Constitution.

I can be reached at [email protected] with questions and comments.

Hello Sublette County, this is Albert Sommers reporting to you from Cheyenne on March 10. Today, the House had final vote on bills in third reading. Today was the last day for third reading on bills in second house. The House will continue to address conference committees and concurrences, in order to hammer out the differences between the House and the Senate.

SF0078 – Language proficiency, seal of biliteracy, passed the House on third reading with one amendment. Students must meet proficiency standards in English and one additional language. Graduating high school students who achieve these standards will receive the official seal of biliteracy on their transcripts. I did not vote in favor of the bill, because small school districts do not have the personnel to teach advanced language courses. This award seems designed for a few big school districts.

SF0092 – Driver’s license renewal or extension, exception, also passed on third reading today. I voted in favor of this bill. It gives an extension for driver’s license renewals to citizens who serve on active duty in the armed forces, or are employed by a federal, state, or local government agency. The exception is permitted when the federal, state, or local government agency requires the licensee’s physical presence in another state or in a foreign country. This allows such licensees to defer license renewal up to five consecutive years. 

SF0106 – Wyoming Stable Token Act, passed third reading with two amendments. This bill creates a form of currency called a “stable token” that is backed by Wyoming reserves tied to the U.S. dollar. The goal of this legislation is to provide a stable cryptocurrency controlled by the State of Wyoming. Wyoming will then generate revenue from stable token. One amendment added a section that deals with auditing and monitoring of the program to ensure the token system is being utilized correctly. I voted in favor of this bill.

I can be reached at [email protected] with questions and comments.

Hello Sublette County, this is Albert Sommers reporting to you from Cheyenne on March 11. Today was the final day of the 2022 Budget Session. The House spent the day debating concurrences and conference committee reports and overriding some of the governor's vetoes. It takes a two-thirds’ majority vote of both the House and the Senate to override a governor’s veto.

As it applies to SF0001 – General government appropriations, the Senate chose to override six of the governor’s vetoes. Of those, the House concurred on the override of four. SF0001VT001 vetoes language that requires the Treasurer’s Office to obtain permission from the Legislature before using investment funds to increase employee salaries. The supermajority of both chambers voted to override this veto, maintaining the Legislative “power of the purse.” SF0001VT002 was an attempt to veto an appropriation for an acoustic study designed to reduce poor audibility inside the capitol. This veto was overridden and the appropriation for this study remains in place.  

As it applies to SF0066 – American Rescue Plan Act recovery funds appropriations, the Senate chose to override three vetoes, and the House concurred on two. SF0066VT002 discusses appropriations for the Department of Health to establish emergency medical services across Wyoming, along with investigating alternative options for emergency medical services that coul improve access to care while reducing costs. The governor wanted to strike the condition of a 1 to 1 match from another source. This veto override failed, and the 1 to 1 match is removed.

SF0066VT003 was a veto that would have allowed the governor to appropriate and spend ARPA and CAREs federal funds for programs of his choosing, wherever the legislature does not appropriate those federal funds by an established date. Both bodies overrode the governor’s veto, maintaining the Legislature’s power of appropriation. 

The House and the Senate finally came to terms on HB0100 – Redistricting of the legislature. Early in the session, the House passed a 62-House district/31-Senate-district plan, but the Senate amended the bill back to a 60/30 plan. The Legislature finally settled on a 62/31 plan at about 11 p.m. tonight, after an impasse in the Sheridan County area was resolved.

This means that Wyoming will grow from our previous 60/30 plan into 62 House districts and 31 Senate districts. The 62-House district plan allows more rural representation, because it decreases the size (and population) of the districts.

In the 62-House district plan that passed tonight, my House District #20 will encompass all of Sublette County and the La Barge school district boundary in Lincoln County. The Senate version would have had Sublette County share part of Teton County to form House District #20. I was successful in keeping Sublette County whole and including the La Barge area, which is consistent with all of the feedback I received from my constituents.

Here is a link to the statewide map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1YI0KPJ_Q5ygl9XApFATJMGnPtUePS2s0&ll=42.73985506839341%2C-107.46701438916195&z=8.

I want to thank the Corporations Committee and everyone else who worked so hard on creating a plan for redistricting. It may not be perfect, but it is a good compromise. I appreciate all the time and hard work put in from both the House and the Senate. I also want to thank the members of my district for the comments I received this session. They helped guide me. I also would like to express my gratitude to all members of the 66th Legislature for their dedication and service to make Wyoming an amazing place to live, work, and play. 

I can be reached at [email protected] with questions and comments.

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