At least for now, state lawmakers have decided to let Gov. Mark Gordon have the last word on property tax relief, gun free zones and several other hot topics.

After Gordon vetoed eight pieces of legislation passed during the recent Budget Session, a contingent of lawmakers pushed for another, special session to reconsider the bills that had passed the body by veto-proof margins. Over the weekend, however, lawmakers voted against gathering in Cheyenne again.

A majority of lawmakers in both chambers had to support a special session. Senators favored a special session by a 16-15 margin — “We should have went back,” said Sen. Dan Laursen (R-Powell) — but in the House, the proposal failed by a 27-35 margin.

“I just didn’t think that the taxpayers should pay for a special session,” said Rep. Sandy Newsome (R-Cody), who was a no vote.

Newsome called the governor’s veto of Senate File 54 — which would have lowered nearly every Wyoming homeowner’s property taxes by roughly 25% — “really problematic.” However, the outgoing representative said she didn’t see an urgent need for the other vetoed legislation, agreeing with the governor, for example, that the gun free zone repeal could use more work.

Rep. David Northrup (R-Powell) also voted against a special session.

“The true conservative way to provide Wyoming citizens with additional tax relief is to create good bills in the interim session, and then to pass those bills in the regular session, which is only nine months away,” Northrup said in an email.

It was generally the more conservative members of the Legislature — including the Wyoming Freedom Caucus — who favored another session.

“We were elected to work for the people,” caucus member Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams (R-Cody) wrote on Facebook, “a special session is not a burden.”

Williams and other supporters pledged to support rules that would have expedited the process and limited the discussion to five bills and one budget item vetoed by the governor.

However, House Speaker Albert Sommers (R-Pinedale) and Senate President Ogden Driskill (R-Devis Tower) doubted that two-thirds of the members would agree to special rules. Sommers and others were only willing to readdress Senate File 54 and called the Freedom Caucus members “obstructionists” for insisting on six items.

Meanwhile, the Freedom Caucus said those who opposed a special session had voted for “an all powerful governor who thumbs his nose at the people of Wyoming.”

“Just like Liz Cheney, these legislators have turned their backs on the people of Wyoming,” the caucus wrote in a Facebook post.

While opponents of a special session cited the roughly $35,000 per day cost, Sen. Laursen argued Monday that “it’s costing too much people money on taxes to not go back.”

He noted a number of the vetoed bills passed by wide and theoretically veto-proof margins, suggesting legislative leaders worked with Gordon to thwart the bills.

“I think the governor was in on it,” Laursen charged. “I think they all had a plan here: just present the most palatable tax cut we could find, and then he’ll just veto it.”

Gordon did sign four other property tax bills that will deliver relief, though it will be more limited than SF 54. They will cap annual property tax increases at 4% and decrease taxes for veterans, those with more modest incomes and longtime, senior citizen homeowners.

Going forward, Laursen said voters who want change should study their lawmakers’ voting records — and he suggested lawmakers not adjourn with a slew of legislation still sitting on the governor’s desk.

“We should have stuck around and made him [Gordon] sweat a little,” Laursen said.

Among Park County’s other lawmakers, Sen. Tim French (R-Powell), Rep. Dalton Banks (R-Cowley), and Rep. John Winter (Thermopolis) also supported a special session, with Sen. Ed Cooper (R-Ten Sleep) opposed.