The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
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The end is in sight as we conclude the sixth week of the 2023 Legislative Session. This week, budget negotiations were finalized by members of the House and Senate, and we continue to debate many bills with important impacts on Wyoming. As always, as discussions on legislation continue, my thoughts are on what a bill’s outcomes will mean for House District 1. Here are some notable measures that are moving through the legislative process: Budget bill Although I am pleased with the savings f...
With just a couple of weeks left of the Legislative Session, I am happy to report that good, steady work continues at the Capitol. This has been one of the smoother legislative sessions I have been a part of, and we have mostly been able to work out problems without too much hassle. I hope the House and the Senate will keep on finding ways to work together and compromise. If that happens, there is a chance we will get all of our work done early and come home. Updates on a few key bills follow: Budget: The House and Senate agreed on a final...
As the 67th General Session of the Wyoming Legislature passes the halfway mark, I write with a grateful heart for the honor to serve you and a firm resolve to continue the good work on behalf of the people of Wyoming. As Majority Floor Leader, my focus has been on Wyoming families, preserving our freedoms and saving for our children and grandchildren’s futures. I would like to take a moment to cover a few bills that the Legislature has been discussing in these areas this week. Wyoming f...
As the Wyoming Legislature passes the halfway mark, I am taking the time to think about the past month and the remaining weeks ahead. As we started out, we set the stage by focusing on the kitchen table and pocketbook issues that Wyoming people are faced with today. As the Senate President, I set the expectation that the members carry out this good work on behalf of Wyoming folks while showing respect and treating each other well. I am proud of where we stand today. Serving in the Wyoming Senate for over ten years now, I have seen just about ev...
As I report at the end of week four of the 67th General Session of the Wyoming Legislature, the Wyoming Senate is in the middle of third reading debate on SF0001, also known as the supplemental budget bill. Budget debate signals perhaps the Legislature’s most important responsibility: balancing our state’s checkbook and allocating taxpayers’ hard-earned money. Unlike many recent sessions, this year lawmakers start with the fortunate question of how to appropriate a nearly $2 billion surplus. That’s a big change from only two years ago, when ou...
As you may have seen on FOX News and other major media outlets, Wyoming experienced quite a week in the national news spotlight due to a resolution brought forward in the Senate. Senate Joint Resolution SJ0004 Phasing out new electric vehicle sales by 2035 pushes back against bans on new sales of cars with internal combustion engines in states like California and New York. Although it's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek statement – and not an actual ban – I am pleased to see that this resolution struck a chord with the rest of the country. Such ban...
Dear Editor, Crook County’s State House Representative, Chip Neiman, in his new position of power in the legislature (Majority Floor Leader) has been given the ability to keep bills from coming to the floor for a vote. He is currently holding two bills that are critical to increasing healthcare access in Wyoming. House Bill 04 would expand Medicaid coverage as it currently exists for new mothers to 12 months after they give birth. Not passing this bill would decrease the time new mothers can access postpartum care through Medicaid to only 60 d...
As you may have seen on FOX News and other major media outlets, Wyoming experienced quite a week in the national news spotlight due to a resolution brought forward in the Senate. Senate Joint Resolution SJ0004 Phasing out new electric vehicle sales by 2035 pushes back against bans on new sales of cars with internal combustion engines in states like California and New York. Although it’s a bit of a tongue-in-cheek statement – and not an actual ban – I am pleased to see that this resolution struck a chord with the rest of the country. Such bans...
Dear Editor, We have news this morning and it’s about the millions of volunteers who give from the heart with their time and/or money to help those less fortunate. Our tiny town is a perfect example of all that they share year round, standing in the freezing cold, handing out boxes of food three times a month, minimum; no one goes hungry on our watch – there’s food available for anyone in need. We live to give and we give to live. God bless all of them for their help. Char Betts, the voice of Pine Haven...
I am writing this on the Saturday before the primary election on Tuesday. Win or lose, I wanted to thank the voters of Senate District 1, for their support and help through the years. I truly did (do) the best I can to represent their views and wishes. It is a tough job, making many constituents feel hurt, abused and angry. There is almost never a bill that all feel happy about. I truly do not know of a single legislator that I have worked with in my 12 years that didn’t think they were doing the right thing for the State of Wyoming and their c...
Dear Editor, I would rather be hated for who I am than to be loved for who I’m not. There’s a name for the economy and the high gas prices. It’s called Democratic Prosperity! Fritz Rehbein Rozet...
Mike Lindell is NOT the purveyor of election integrity truth. On May 29, 2022, Mike Lindell, peddler of pillows and promises, traveled to Wyoming to speak in conjunction with a political rally. While here, he took it upon himself to allege publicly that widespread election fraud occurred in our fair state. He went on to declare that anyone who does not agree with him is a traitor to our country. As the Chief Election Officer for the State of Wyoming, it is important for me to ensure that each of you know that Mr. Lindell’s statement is f...
As we near the finish line of the 2022 Legislative Budget Session, there is still plenty of work to do as we head into the last week. The legislative session is always busy, particularly in a budget year, but this year we had a few additional topics to work through, including redistricting and allocating the one-time American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars. There were also a slate of committee and individual bills to address the most pressing issues. This week the Senate passed the redistricting bill – HB100. Every ten years, the State is requi...
Its mid-morning Monday and I am racing to meet this week’s paper deadline. We have had a crazy busy two weeks of session – now starting the third week at a run. We are finishing the last of the Senate files this morning. Major bills we have heard to date: • SF 1 Budget of the State of Wyoming – this bill has passed the Senate and House and will go to a conference committee. As a whole the bill went smoothly and I expect that the differences will be worked out easily. It was a frugal budget presented by the Governor and the bodies kept most am...
Kelly Perkins I don't see that it's going to pay for itself any time soon so I honestly think that it needs to be torn down and reclaimed. As far as putting something back in there, there are a lot of options available. We do need a new cop shop [police department]; we do need something for the municipality; we also need stuff for the kids like a pool room or something that is entertainment based for them. I think we need to think of the community and not necessarily businesses; businesses do...
Every session for the past several years, the Wyoming legislature has endured one push after another for Obamacare Medicaid expansion. For my part, I have held steady against expansion in every debate. My position has brought no end of criticism from the media, certain special interests and many of my less conservative legislative colleagues. Fortunately, a majority of senators have had the courage to stand up against those special interests that are pushing Medicaid expansion on Wyoming. It has not been easy, especially since last year the...
Few things are more private than your household finances. In his American Families Plan, President Biden unveiled a tax compliance initiative aimed at closing the gap between taxes that are owed and what are paid. Most of the anticipated revenue, which the Administration estimated at $460 billion over 10 years, would come from requiring financial institutions to report account information that Treasury says would be similar to W-2 reporting for wages and other income reporting. The proposal, if enacted, would require banks and other financial...
Dear Editor, I understand the public is invited to express their opinions concerning the moving of City Hall, etc. to the MTC. I have visited with many citizens concerning this and basically, I get the same opinion – they do not like the idea of this move. I have mentioned they express their opinion to the City Council and I mostly get the same response: “They will do what they want anyway”. I guess this is my reason for not speaking up before also. I also admit I have not gone to many meeting where this has been discussed. My thoughts and o...
I grew up watching westerns with the likes of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and John Wayne. Predictable endings – good guys riding off into the sunset after saving the town – never spoiled the action or suspense of the movie. Wyoming hoped for the same sequence during this year’s legislative session. There was plenty of action and suspense during the session, especially around school funding. However, when our legislators tipped their hats and bid farewell to the 2021 session, they had not made inroads to solve Wyoming’s education funding woes. W...
A quick update on the session. I will follow with more in-depth information in future releases. We finished our session on April 7. It has been both a productive session as well as a frustrating one. This portion of the session began with a virtual session early and committee meetings being held virtually prior to this session. That led to a very compact session that was challenging and fast moving. It ended up with a budget being passed by both bodies and signed into law by the Governor. The budget was cut an additional $430 million from the...
Dear Editor, I am responding to Dick Claar’s letter to the editor. Our county commissioners are elected by the people to represent the people of Crook County. Please read that, picturing the entire county. I resent that he is so critical of the Constitutional Representation of our commissioners. I am reminded of the old saying that a lamb, a lion and a wolf sit down to decide what is for dinner. In a democracy the lamb is sure to be dinner, but in a constitutional representative government the lamb is protected from being dinner. Our F...
When government fails, it’s the rare public official who says, “Oops. My fault.” That’s human nature, particularly for officials in the public eye who may have to run for office again. No one wants to be held directly responsible for letting the public down. Case in point is the recent catastrophe in Texas, when unexpected winter storms left four million homes without power, ruptured pipes and tainted the water supply for many. Texas’ energy grid essentially collapsed. While Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was quick to blame frozen wind turbines,...
Dear Editor, Recently Sundance Councilman Joe Wilson and I attended the March Crook County Commissioners meeting. We asked the commissioners to form a solid waste district in Crook County. After a discussion was held on the subject, a motion was made and seconded to not form a district. The vote was taken, it was two to one not to form a Solid Waste District. Commissioners Dennis and Whalen completely ignored the survey they authorized two years ago. The survey was approximately 60 percent in favor of forming a Solid Waste District....
Using both tight budgets and a pandemic as excuses, the dumb idea of limiting printed public notices in Wyoming newspapers has reared its ugly head again in the Legislature in Cheyenne. Wyoming citizens should be both outraged at this proposal plus the fact that their taxes are paying for the lobbyists who are pushing for it. Crazy. Here is a fact: there are some people in government who like working out of the public’s eye. They do not like reporters or, worse yet, pesky citizens poking their noses into their work. To many of our city and c...
Greetings Crook and Weston Counties, I’m writing with an update to overview some of the information on the happenings at the virtual session. As I have shared before, what we dealt with were bills that had been discussed during the interim. One would think that after going through committees over the year there would not be much discussion. That was not always the case. Some of the more heavily talked about issues included HB 0054, which dealt with the Statewide Health Information Exchange. While the ability to move records quickly from d...
