Voters in Park County and across Wyoming sent a more conservative group of legislators to the State Capitol this year, and Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, said she was impressed by the newcomers.

“Major turnover, but oh boy, they are strong-minded and principled,” said Rodriguez-Williams, who’s in her fifth year in the House, “and it really was a pleasure to finally be on the winning team.”

The lawmaker’s remarks drew a big cheer during a March 13 meeting of the Park County Republican Party, which has also moved to the right in recent years.

Many of the session highlights shared by Reps. Rodriguez-Williams, Paul Hoeft, R-Powell, Nina Webber, R-Cody, and Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, drew applause, including big cheers for Senate File 62.

Introduced by Laursen, co-sponsored by almost the entire county delegation and signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon, the legislation requires public school children “to use restrooms, sex‑designated changing facilities and sleeping quarters that align with their sex at birth.” The bill came in part as a response to complaints of a transgender student using the girls’ bathroom at Powell High School; local residents packed a November meeting of the Park County School District 1 Board of Trustees to call for action, and the board asked the
Legislature to clarify state law to address the issue.

SF 62 now requires school districts to create policies for sex-designated facilities “and they’ll be happier” under the law, Laursen said, as they’ll now have the state backing them up in the event of any legal challenges.

Freshman Rep. Hoeft introduced the Senate file in the House in mid-February, telling his colleagues that, “It’s always been a [piece of] good advice that cowboys don’t use the cowgirls’ outhouse.”

He said that using that line on the floor won him $1 from fellow freshman Webber.

Hundreds of bills, thousands of emails

The measure was one of 178 bills passed by the Legislature between Jan. 14 and March 6. A total of 556 bills and resolutions were put forward during the 37-day session, and lawmakers put in long hours working through them. Webber recalled a night where the House adjourned at 10:30 p.m., immediately followed by a corporations committee meeting; she said some 700 emails landed in her inbox on a daily basis. As for Hoeft, he mentioned a day in which he crawled into bed at 1 a.m. and got back up at 5.

It’s also a long way from Powell to Cheyenne. Hoeft said he and his wife wound up celebrating their anniversary apart, while Rodriguez-Williams got emotional as she thanked her husband for taking care of their children in her absence.

“It’s always tough to be down there,” Laursen said.

The session lasted eight weeks, but “you can’t believe how fast it goes because there’s always something going on,” Hoeft said, adding, “it’s very rewarding work.”

Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams

A total of 18 bills and resolutions were brought by the five lawmakers who live in Park County, and three made it into law.

That included House Bill 147 “Prohibition of institutional discrimination,” which Rodriguez-Williams described as her top priority. Her bill bars state and local governments — including the University of Wyoming and community colleges — from engaging in any diversity, equity or inclusion (DEI) programs, activities or policies. The law defines DEI as something “that promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals or classifies individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity or national origin.”

Rodriguez-Williams said her bill “eliminate[s] DEI from the state of Wyoming.”

She also was proud of the passage of a Joint Judiciary Committee bill that allows judges to extend protection orders while they’re being appealed; Rodriguez-Williams proposed the change in response to concerns that arose from a local case.

Her other legislation that didn’t pass included efforts to make some of the University of Wyoming board of trustees directly elected by voters instead of appointed by the governor; to fund the installation of devices where people can safely relinquish newborn children; and to create added protections for religious adoption agencies and foster care providers, for pregnancy centers and for activities like rodeos that involve working animals.

Sen. Dan Laursen

Laursen also succeeded in passing Senate File 86, which creates an alternative pathway for teachers to become certified in Wyoming. Rather than requiring a degree in education, Laursen’s bill opens the profession up to those who 1) hold a bachelor’s degree in the area they want to teach and 2) complete a program or pathway that will be created by the Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board.

“Maybe you’re tired of being an accountant and you have a degree in math,” Laursen said, “… you can go and take some courses online, and it takes you about six months, and then hopefully you can come back to the state and teach somewhere.”

He said the bill makes it a little easier to become a teacher, “so you don't have to go back through the higher education and maybe learn stuff you don’t want to learn.”

Laursen’s unsuccessful efforts included a bill allowing the governor to create a Wyoming state guard separate from the National Guard; a resolution calling for congressional term limits; and a bill requiring hospitals to create drug and alcohol testing programs.

Rep. Nina Webber

Though it was her first term, Webber proposed five bills and cosponsored 37 more.

“Let me just tell you: That’s a lot,” she said. “I don’t know that I will do that again.”

She succeeded in passing House Bill 337, which prohibits foreign nationals from funding any ballot measures in Wyoming.

“We don’t need foreign funds coming in from foreign nationals,” Webber said at last week’s meeting.

The Center Square, a conservative news outlet, reported that the bill was “in part a response to Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, who lives in Wyoming” and funds progressive causes.

Webber’s bills that didn’t make it included efforts to limit homeowners associations’ ability to regulate campaign signs and to prohibit voters from using photo-less Medicare or Medicaid cards as identification at their polling place.

Webber said “election integrity” was the No. 1 issue she heard about after property taxes; the Legislature passed and Gordon signed a 25% property tax cut for the first $1 million worth of value on residential properties.

Overriding the governor

To more applause, Webber noted that the House and Senate overrode five of Gordon’s vetoes, including on legislation: requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before having a chemical abortion; expanding the Hathaway scholarship program to include more trade programs; allowing the creation of more charter schools; increasing legislative oversight of the rules issued by the executive branch; and restricting the use and authorizing the destruction of drones around critical infrastructure.

“These were things that you sent us there to do, and we delivered,” Webber said.

While some lawmakers are reluctant to override a veto from the governor, “I say you should do that,” Laursen said, adding, “we can tell him he’s not king all the time.”

Coming up next

The Legislature won’t convene again until early next year, but various committees will meet throughout the spring, summer and fall. Hoeft mentioned that the corporations committee, which both he and Webber sit on, will be taking a “deep dive” into the state’s vote tabulation machines and the possibility of hand counting.

“I’d like to see them gone,” Hoeft said of the electronic tabulators, saying he’s concerned about their cost.

Park County lawmakers are discussing the session some more at a series of town halls, we began Monday at Lovell’s Big Horn Federal Bank. Upcoming town halls will be: Today (Tuesday) at Greybull City Hall; on Wednesday at the Park County Library in Cody. Powell’s town hall is set for Thursday, March 27 at the meeting room inside Northwest College’s Yellowstone Building.

Each of the events start at 6 p.m.