A look at the start of the 2019 Legislature in Wyomig.
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CASPER — Over the next 40 days, members of the Wyoming Legislature will consider between 400 and 500 bills.
Some of those bills will have been talked about, poked and prodded for months, originating in committees comprised of seasoned lawmakers with serious policy chops and the institutional knowledge to understand how to dress a piece of legislation — as the popular saying goes — to get it ready for “prime time.” Other pieces of legislation might be partisan-driven, or of dubious legal merit, and may have no hope for passage. Others might attract enough attention to actually make it to the floor for debate.
“The good bills rise to the top, and the ones that aren’t so good fall to the bottom and, if they’re a good idea but still need a little more work, they’ll probably be put on pause and come back up in the next session,” said Brett Moline, a lobbyist for the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation.
Some of the 200 or so bills written into law every year merit more debate than others, with the fight involving not just lawmakers, but savvy representatives for dozens of special interest groups. Every session, these groups descend on the state capital to represent a diverse range of causes for numerous competing interests — cities and counties, large industry and conservationists, free market groups and others — fighting to ensure their perspectives are given due consideration.
Lawmakers will begin their work Tuesday. How that will go this year is somewhat unpredictable. Though this year’s Senate president — Sen. Drew Perkins, R-Casper — and the Speaker of the House, Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper, are both seasoned legislators, well-versed in facilitating the most prudent conversations facing the state, insiders are curious how the significant turnover experienced in the Senate over the past two years will influence the pace of this year’s deliberations.
“It’s hard to make predictions until we see all the new folks in action,” said Chris Merrill, the new executive director of the Equality State Policy Center.