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 would also serve as chief guardian ad litem. The director would have to be in good standing with the Wyoming Bar Association, have experience in guardian ad litem representation and won’t be allowed to run a private practice during their term.
Ad litem is a legal term used to refer to the appointment of one party in a lawsuit to act on behalf of another party, such as a child or incapacitated adult.
Sen. R.J. Kost introduced the bill during the Senate’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Friday evening. He told his fellow senators that after hearing testimonies during the interim, separating the guardian ad litem and public defenders’ office was the best move the legislature could make.
“There was a conflict of interest in the public defenders’ office by having guardian ad litem in there too,” Kost told the Senate. “Everything is basically the same, budget-wise. We’re just separating the offices and taking the provisions in the public defenders’ budget and setting it aside for this office.”
Sen. Michael Von Flatern reiterated this point, letting the legislators know there would be no additional cost to the state.
Sen. Anthony Bouchard also spoke in favor of the bill, noting that this would keep people from “being lost in the cracks.”
“This bill won’t fix all of our problems, but it will definitely put us on the right track so people won’t be harmed by these two offices being together,” Bouchard said.
The Senate voted to pass the bill through the Committee of the Whole. It will go up for a second reading by Wednesday, Feb. 26.
