R.J. Kost

Sen. R.J. Kost, R-Powell, who serves on the Legislature’s agriculture and judiciary committees, is taking up a few issues in the coming session.

Kost is sponsoring a smokable hemp bill to address a problem that arises for how law enforcement can detect the presence of marijuana. He is also looking to improve Wyoming’s voyeurism laws, clarify ownership of artifacts and fossils, enact a new exemption to the state’s open meetings requirements, create more safety for utility workers and allow students to avoid absences by joining the classroom remotely.

Last summer, a Lovell man was convicted of recording women without their knowledge in the bathroom of a Powell business where he worked. In June, he was sentenced to two to four years in prison, plus four years of supervised probation, but the victims in the case had called for a longer sentence.

Kost said one of the victims asked him to pursue amendments to the state’s law to give it “more teeth” so “we don’t have people getting off scot free.”

While the man convicted in the Powell case is serving prison time, Kost said another county attorney refused to prosecute someone who used a cellphone stick to take photographs up women’s dresses at the Green River Wal-Mart. The way the law is currently written didn’t make clear whether the act qualified as voyeurism, though Kost said a similar incident in Laramie was prosecuted.

The bill will also escalate penalties based on how much material is recorded without the victim’s consent.

The Powell senator is also sponsoring a bill that would make it a crime to smoke hemp in public, prohibit sale of the products to minors and require labels be placed on products containing hemp, if they are produced for human consumption.

Hemp contains very little of the psychoactive chemical found in marijuana, but when smoked, it smells just like marijuana. That substance remains illegal in Wyoming, but voters in most bordering states have legalized the drug. This creates a problem for Wyoming police officers, Kost said, as they often rely on scent to detect the use or possession of marijuana.

The Joint Agriculture Committee considered a similar bill last year, but voted it down in November.

Kost said he removed language that would have prohibited food products and supplements containing hemp not approved by the FDA.

“That was where the biggest hangup was for everybody,” Kost said.

Kost is sponsoring another bill to allow utility vehicles to use red lights, which are currently restricted to emergency vehicles. Kost pointed to a wind storm last month, which downed power lines, as an example of how the restriction on red lights creates a problem. Utility crews were out on county roads repairing the lines, and people weren’t always slowing down when they passed the workers’ vehicles.

The law, if passed, will include “may” language, meaning utility workers won’t be required to use the red lights. Kost said he’s consulted with the Wyoming Department of Transportation and the department is supportive of the change.

Another bill the senator plans to introduce would better define ownership of fossil and artifacts discovered on private property. The proposed law is modeled after a similar Montana law and would still protect the rights of Native Americans, Kost said.

“I didn’t realize the amount of money these things are worth. They’re worth millions,” Kost said, and it’s not always clear if the property owners are the legal owners of items found at the sites.

If passed, Kost’s bill will grant ownership to the surface estate owner.

Another bill will create an exemption to Wyoming’s open meeting laws for matters involving cybersecurity. Currently, the law only allows it for cases of national security. Kost said that’s a problem if a school district board, for example, needs to discuss matters related to its computer security. 

“For those incidents of very delicate matters concerning security involving computers … that needs to be kept under the secrecy,” Kost said.

He sponsored the bill in the last session, and it passed the Senate unanimously before failing in a House committee.

Kost is also introducing a bill to limit how much publications can charge for running required probate legal notices; he said some newspapers are charging exorbitant fees.

“It just kills you,” he said.

If passed, newspapers could only charge what they do for other types of legal notices, such as governmental meeting minutes. 

Another bill he may introduce would permit students to use virtual education options to avoid absences. So, for example, a student who gets snowed in would be able to attend class virtually, and the days he or she doesn’t physically come to school wouldn’t count toward their total absences.

Kost said the Wyoming Department of Education is discussing with the state attorney general if the option can be created with an administrative rule change and therefore not have to go through the Wyoming Legislature.

With the legislative calendar this session still uncertain, Kost said he’s unsure whether he’ll introduce all these bills. If session time is too limited, he may hold back on some.