Ellen Fike

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming Senate made sure its last Committee of the Whole bill of this legislative session was thoroughly discussed on Tuesday, Feb. 25. SF 132 would require wind energy developers to submit an application to the local county commission, certifying reasonable efforts have been undertaken to provide notice in writing to all […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Sen. Tom James continued his push to get a whistleblower-related bill moving through the legislative process on Tuesday, Feb. 25. James explained that he worked with the Department of Audit to create the bill, which he hoped would protect the state from potentially losing millions of dollars. SF 70 would establish a reporting […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming Senate spent a portion of its morning floor session on Tuesday, Feb. 25 talking over a uranium tax rate bill. SF 85 would impose “conditional uranium severance taxes on all uranium production occurring after December 31, 2020 and before January 1, 2035.” The severance taxes would only be imposed when […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming House Appropriations Committee kicked off Tuesday, Feb. 25 by talking about the biennium budget bill. The Legislative Service Office’s senior fiscal analyst Michael Swank presented the amendments to the Senate’s version of the proposed budget to the committee. The amendments were broken into three categories: mirror, similar and unique. “Mirror” […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Sen. Affie Ellis took the Senate floor on Monday, Feb. 24 to discuss a topic important to her: school safety and security. Eight other Wyoming legislators, including Sen. Lynn Hutchings and Rep. Cathy Connolly, are also backing a bill that would require school districts to adopt safety and security policies. SF 70 […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming Senate wrapped up a nearly 10-hour day on Monday, Feb. 24 with discussion about separating offices. SF 120 would establish a guardian ad litem office separate from the state’s public defenders office, where it currently sits. Gov. Mark Gordon would be tasked with appointing a director of the office who […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming Senate spent nearly an hour discussing a bill that would affect the lives of first responders across the state on Monday, Feb. 24. SF 117 would allow first responders, law enforcement officers and search and rescue workers to apply for workers’ compensation if they receive a mental injury while performing […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Debate over a Cheyenne Frontier Days liquor license bill continued in the Wyoming legislature on Monday, Feb. 24. SF 134 would provide a malt beverage license to Cheyenne Frontier Days annually, costing $100 every time the organization obtains the permit. This bill stems from issues between Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr’s office and […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – After the second week of the Wyoming Legislative budget session, the Senate approved SF 1, the biennium budget bill, on Friday, Feb. 21. Ahead of the vote discussion took place over an amendment sponsored by Sen. Lynn Hutchings, which mirrored the budget amendment sponsored by Rep. Chuck Gray in the House. The […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – It’s been a productive week with plenty of healthy debate in both of Wyoming’s legislative houses, Speaker of the House Steve Harshman told media in a meeting on Friday, Feb. 21. The budget dominated discussion, as HB 1 and SF 1, the House and Senate’s respective budget bills, have been the primary […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Two of Wyoming’s United States Congressional legislators visited the Wyoming State Captiol building and praised the work of their state counterparts on Friday, Feb. 21. U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi and U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney both spoke during the Wyoming Senate’s afternoon floor session on Friday, breaking up the discussion of SF, the […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming Senate voted on six amendments to the biennium budget bill before recessing for lunch on Friday, Feb. 21, taking a little less than an hour to decide on them. Friday saw the third reading of the SF 1, which covers the biennium beginning July 1, 2020 and ending June 30, […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming Senate Judiciary Committee heard an plea from a former whistleblower on Friday, Feb. 21. Mark Gaskill, a former Medicaid watchdog, told the five senators about his former career working for the state, where he worked running a team that investigated reports of fraud and abuse of Medicaid funds. The team […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming Senate began to wind down its second week of the budget session by voting a bill through its Committee of the Whole on Thursday, Feb. 20. The means the bill will go up for a second reading, tentatively next week. SF 8 was seen before the Senate Judiciary Committee on […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming House of Representatives has seen an outpouring of opinions regarding a bill focused on wind turbine blades this week. Natrona County Sen. Jim Anderson and Rep. Bunky Loucks are co-sponsoring a bill, HB 217, that would ban the burial of wind turbine blades in Wyoming, making it a misdemeanor to […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – A bill increasing the age a person has to be to buy tobacco products is one step closer to becoming a law, but not after some debate in the Wyoming Senate on Thursday, Feb. 20. SF 50 would increase the state’s age to purchase to tobacco products from 18 to 21, matching […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Wyoming state legislators spent most of their time on Wednesday, Feb. 19 discussing the budget. The Senate spent the majority of their day discussing amendments during the second reading of SF 1, the biennium budget bill. The 30 senators were determined to finish the second reading on Wednesday, managing to vote on […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The arguments over whether or not the Cheyenne Frontier Days officials should contribute to security costs continued during the Wyoming Senate’s Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee meeting on Thursday, Feb. 20. Discussion began Tuesday, Feb. 18 over SF 134, which would provide a malt beverage license to Cheyenne Frontier Days. […]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming Senate came to a literal even split on Wednesday, Feb. 19 during consideration of an amendment for an elections code revisions bill. The amendment concerned voter identification rules, requiring some type of ID when a person votes. SF 20 revises registration requirement and election timelines; creates requirements for write-in candidates; […]