By Hannah Shields
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via- Wyoming News Exchange
CHEYENNE — Affordable housing isn’t likely to be studied by Wyoming lawmakers for the first time in years. Meanwhile, the topic of studying Wyoming’s election processes is priority No. 1 for the Legislature’s Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee this interim.
The Management Council recently reduced the number of days a committee can meet from six to four, in hopes of narrowing down the focus of topics studied this interim. The chairmen of the Corporations Committee requested back the extra two days, given the heavy lift of topics the committee wants to study.
The interim is the Legislature’s off-season, where legislators break up into 12 different joint committees to study a variety of topics and draft legislation. This time is also spent educating lawmakers on Wyoming issues, including catching new members up to speed.
The Corporations Committee is the only group that listed workforce housing as an interim topic this year. But co-Chairman Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle last week he didn’t consider this a top priority for the committee.
“I think a lot of housing difficulties are caused by the way communities have chosen to regulate housing,” Case said, “and that’s an internal thing.”
The topic was added to the committee’s list because several members believed that state government should play a role in addressing this issue. Using a ranked-choice voting system, Case listed it as the fourth priority.
“I’m not a heavy-handed chairman. I’m a person that believes we have to talk about things and make decisions and make your point,” Case said. “You know, it passed the committee before — it could pass again.”
Several affordable housing bills sponsored by various committees were filed in the recent legislative session, but all failed to pass the Legislature. Case said he wasn’t impressed with any of the bills.
Co-Chairman Rep. Chris Knapp, R-Gillette, said there’s an apparent “lack of interest” in having state government address this issue.
“And I think that’s been the case for the last six years, and continues to be the case,” Knapp said. “It’s probably time to bring those (bills) individually.”
Since legislative leadership reduced the amount of days committees can meet, it’s likely affordable housing will not be addressed this interim, Knapp added.
However, election integrity remains the top priority for the committee.
Forty-five election-related bills were filed during the recent general session, making up 8% of total proposed legislation, according to WyoFile.com. Only a fraction of these bills made it to the governor’s desk.
Case invited Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese to walk committee members through the election process in the first meeting.
“I want to let the committee have some discussion and education first before we dig into (election bills),” Case said.
However, Knapp told the WTE he didn’t think an education on the election process will change anyone’s mind.
“I understand the idea of bringing (election machines) in and looking at them. I don’t know that will necessarily change the mind of any committee member,” Knapp said.
Failed election bills, including a ban on ballot drop boxes and getting rid of voting touch screens (which are only used in Laramie County), are among those that will be reconsidered by the committee, he said.
Why election laws?
Secretary of State Chuck Gray announced his top priorities to boost election integrity before the start of the general session. He told the media he’d work closely with lawmakers during the session to push through legislation that reforms Wyoming’s election laws.
There have only been four reported cases of election fraud in the Equality State since 2000, according to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
In addition, a randomized survey of 739 adults conducted by the University of Wyoming for the 2024 election year found 89% of respondents believed their county’s tally of presidential votes to be somewhat or very reliable.
Case said taking on the topic of revising Wyoming’s current election laws is a “waste of time.” However, amid a rise of questioning election processes across the state, he noted it’s important to educate the public on this issue.
“Part of our job as policymakers is to provide a forum for people to learn and ask questions and satisfy their curiosity about this,” Case said. “If we spent 10 hours and we didn’t do a darn thing other than teach people … I don’t ever look at that as being a waste.”
Knapp said it’s “because of the influx that we’ve had of illegal immigrants.” County clerks previously testified they’ve caught four or five individuals who tried to illegally vote in an election, he said, and four more are being investigated.
“So it does happen in Wyoming,” Knapp said. “I think it’s important to safeguard our elections as much as we can. That’s part of (the) title of our committee.”
Other top priorities
Management Council member Sen. Barry Crago, R-Sheridan, brought up corporate fraud issues to the Corporations Committee chairmen on Tuesday. He said this is an issue that’s being reported in the news, and he asked if it was discussed as a potential interim topic, since it’s currently not on the list.
Case mentioned to the WTE last week that corporate fraud is an issue he wants to address, but he’s holding off for two reasons. One, it’s a “big lift” to study and the next session is a budget session — meaning non-budget bills need to pass a two-thirds introductory vote in order to be considered. Two, a new federal law, the Beneficial Ownership Information Report, recently went into effect that requires companies to list their beneficial ownership.
“I think we need to understand the implications of the disclosures that will occur federally,” Case told the WTE. “The real problem is anonymity in Wyoming, and the fact that we may have fraudulent filings. That’s going to be a lot harder to do with the federal checklist.”
He told the council “it would be prudent” to gather a report from various entities and “keep that topic open.”
Public records is another top priority for Case, which is listed in the interim topic letter for the committee. His constituents have approached him with complaints about the associated fees with these requests and their ability to access public records.
To view the interim topics letter, go to tinyurl.com/ wyo-leg-interim-topics or visit wyoleg.gov.
