CASPER, Wyo. — Among the first proposed legislation submitted by Natrona County lawmakers in the 67th Wyoming Legislature in Cheyenne are bills targeting school attendance, expanding the definition of child pornography and criminalizing discrimination based on someone’s vaccination or mask-wearing status.
Newly elected Rep. Jeanette Ward submitted the latter two bills. House Bill 0087, co-sponsored by fellow freshmen Natrona County Rep. Bill Allemand and Sen. Bob Ide, would expand the definition of child pornography to include “cartoon” and “drawing.”
State law already outlaws other visual depictions, including photograph, film, video, picture and computer or computer-generated image or picture.
Ward’s bill would also add “or any other form of depiction” to the state law’s language.
The bill as submitted is as follows:
Ward also submitted HB0066, a bill that would prohibit and criminalize discrimination based on whether someone is wearing a mask or has refused to be tested for or been vaccinated against infectious viral diseases. Allemand is again a co-sponsor of the proposed legislation.
HB0066 would make any discrimination against someone’s vaccination status, testing or masking a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a $5,000 fine. Discrimination would include those who “refuse, withhold from or deny to a person any services, goods, facilities, advantages or privileges that are public in nature or that invite the patronage of the public based on a person’s COVID‑19 or any other infectious virus or disease vaccination status, whether a person is not wearing a face covering or whether a person refuses to submit to medical testing.”
The bill as submitted is as follows:
Rep. Steve Harshman has submitted HB0077, which would help bolster public school financing based on the number of students attending full time. The bill would accomplish this by decreasing the percentage of full-time equivalency basis from 80% to 75%, meaning students who would attend at least 75% of the full-time equivalency basis would be considered full time for the purposes of school funding.
The bill as submitted is as follows:
Legislation can be tracked via the Wyoming Legislature’s website by clicking here.
