Legislators in hot seat at town halls

Two of the most hotly contested bills in the Wyoming Legislature’s general session brought debate to Rep. Dalton Banks and Sen. Dan Laursen last week at public town halls in both Lovell and Greybull. The town halls offered the state legislators a chance to present the results of the 2025 legislative agenda to hometown crowds and publicly tout their accomplishments.

The Legislature, which saw 556 bills introduced during its marathon session, ultimately passed 178 and overrode Gov. Mark Gordon’s veto pen on an additional five. Those bills and amendments ranged in nature from land lease law for grazing rights to tax reform to abortion to education.

In Lovell, there was a small turnout, with the majority of attendees concerned with the impact many of the bills had on the state’s education system, while in Greybull a sizeable, bipartisan crowd turned out with many voicing frustration at what they perceived as the legislators going against their constituents’ wishes and not being knowledgeable enough about the legislation that was passed.

“The room was packed,” said one Greybull attendee. “Although the majority of attendees were Democrats, there were a significant number of registered Republicans in the group. It was obvious that the audience was both angry with, and scared of, the current political situation and were very concerned with the actions of the 2025 Legislature.”

Compounding the community’s frustration was both legislators admitting, at the Greybull event, that they would govern in line their own personal views over those of their constituents, the attendee said.

Laursen, following the Greybull event, took to Facebook, writing, “Where were all the conservatives in Greybull tonight? Hostile crowd. Everything but a couple bills I showed Dalton and I were for they were against. Cheering and clapping when they voiced opposition.”

In response, another commenter wrote, “People are upset, Dan. You need to listen to their concerns. You represent ALL citizens not just a select few ‘conservatives.’ What are you afraid of?” Laursen, who won the 2022 Republican primary with less than 50% of the vote and went on to run uncontested in the general election, replied, “Not sure there is a problem. I do represent all citizens. The people elected me knowing what values I campaigned on.”

This paper previously covered both House Bill 172, which eliminates gun-free zones statewide, including at schools, and House Bill 199, which provides $7,000 school vouchers to families seeking alternative schooling for their children annually without oversight, during the general legislative session. At the time, local superintendents recalled voicing their concerns at the state house and requested alternatives from their representatives, including better funding for mental health services and school resource officers, or SROs. Beyond local educators, the voucher program was ultimately opposed by 80% of Wyoming voters.

Despite this, both bills were passed by the  Legislature. Laursen and Banks voted in favor of House Bill 199, and Laursen voted to affirm House Bill 172 while Banks was excused.

House Bill 199

The  Legislature adopted a statewide school voucher program with the passage of House Bill 199 “Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act.” The bill states, in part, that monies received from both the federal government and the state’s mineral fund and mine operators will be divided between the state’s public education system and voucher program at a ratio of 53% to 47% annually. It further requires students to attend a “qualified school,” defined as an institution approved by the state superintendent of public instruction.

Under this program, $7,000 will be awarded annually to fund the online education or homeschooling of an individual child via an educational savings account.

The program requires that the student receive instruction in “reading, writing, mathematics, civics, including studies of the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Wyoming, history, literature and science and is assessed on academic progress.” The legislation continues, “No parents shall be required to include any instruction that conflicts with the parent’s or the ESA student’s religious doctrines.”

In a February 13 article in this paper, school superintendents in Lovell and Greybull expressed their frustration with the bill, saying they met with Banks and Laursen to voice their concerns, which included a sense that national politics were trickling into the state  Legislature and, by entertaining such proposals, the  Legislature was not adding value or purpose into the local communities they served.

Last week, Banks and Laursen struggled to explain the text of the bill to the community, conflicted over how students in the voucher program would be assessed as well as what kinds of institutions would be covered. At one point, after saying the students would be assessed with WY-TOPP, the state standardized test, Banks checked the text of the legislation, which stipulates students will be assessed on “progress,” a more opaque term that educators previously said limited the program’s accountability.

Nevertheless, the two said the money was, by law, designed to pay for each individual student’s education to guard against potential fraud, which was another point critics had raised during floor debate.

When an attendee at Lovell questioned Banks about what research the  Legislature reviewed regarding the impact of voucher programs on other states and their education systems, Banks replied, “There was a bunch. We had testimony from, I think, five states that said not only did this boost graduation rates, it wasn’t graduation rates but college attendance following high school. And then they also said it boosts competition amongst the public schools as well because people are wanting to do good, they’re wanting everybody to succeed.”

“Not from Arizona, or Arkansas, or Iowa, or Louisiana?” the attendee inquired in response, going on to say that these states have implemented similar programs and “all rank near the bottom of education.”

U.S. News and World Report currently ranks Wyoming seventh in the nation for its education programs. The state consistently receives high marks in education evaluations, particularly for its higher education programs, with the University of Wyoming saying studies have sometimes called the state “the Best in the West.”

“I would hope that, at the state level, things were being considered, for example, if $7,000 was going to a student for the year, it isn’t being counted against public school funding for the year,” another attendee told the legislators. “If it isn’t working out, it’s usually public schools that are receiving those students back at an alarming rate. I hope the state is watching for that or there’s some accountability because public schools take all students regardless of their socioeconomic status and background.

“We hope that our public schools won’t be harmed because money gets taken out (when enrollment goes down). I worry if there’s not some protections there for public schools.”

House Bill 172

House Bill 172 originated in the Wyoming Senate as Senate File 37, written and sponsored by Senator Ed Cooper of Ten Sleep. It creates an enhanced conceal carry program that overrides the established order, making it legal for permit holders to carry “any school, college or professional athletic event not related to firearms … any elementary or secondary school facility … and any college or university facility,” thus overriding the established rule.

Previously, concealed carry was not permitted by any of Wyoming’s public school districts or college campuses, but some school boards independently adopted policies permitting teachers to conceal carry, a right afforded to districts by the state statutes. 

In a January 16 article from this paper, county superintendents argued that the matter should remain with local school districts and their boards to decide and said they had spoken with local representatives, voicing their concerns. They expressed frustration at what they felt was the  Legislature overriding local control in favor of statewide mandates on not just conceal carry but cell phone bans and other issues, which they felt contradicted a core tradition in Wyoming state politics: independence and local jurisdictional rule.

On Monday, March 24, in Lovell, Laursen and Banks said the bill would make local schools safer. Laursen told the assembly there was “not enough money” to fund School Resource Officers, or SROs, for every district and argued that the new conceal carry policy would enable “good guys with guns” to respond in the event of an emergency situation.

Banks told the assembly that the  Legislature heard “so much testimony” proving this theory and added, “Being able to protect ourselves, I think, is a vital part of getting back to our constitutional rights in the state.”

However, a study conducted by Texas State University analyzed 160 active shooter situation and concluded that just 1 in 3 cases were resolved with lethal force used by police or armed civilians. More often, the shooter was restrained by unarmed staff. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2020 found that “an armed officer on the scene was the number one factor associated with increased casualties.”

When asked by attendees how first responders would differentiate between an active school shooter and the “good guy with a gun” — a concern raised by local superintendents, particularly if a civilian were to disarm an active shooter -- Laursen replied, “The guy shooting the kids.”

Other legislation

The 68^th Wyoming Legislature passed additional bills, including Senate File 69 “Homeowner property tax exemption,” which slashes residential property taxes by 25% but does not provide a backfill to offset the lost tax revenue, which critics say will diminish county and municipal government services and make local communities more reliant on the state and its mineral industry; House Bill 275 “Treatment of animals,” which gives Game and Fish wardens the authority to enforce a new offense for the torture, mutilation or undue suffering of wildlife that has been taken into possession; and two bills cutting taxes for fossil fuel providers.

The Banks sponsored House Bill 60, “State land lease preference amendments,” which amends state statue to give those with state land leases, also passed. The amendment gives state land leaseholders, who are not in violation of the provisions set forth in the lease, preferred right to renew their leases by “meeting the highest bid offered by another qualified applicant whose bid is not less than the minimum fair market value as determined by the board.” 

Laursen’s Senate File 86, “Alternative teaching certificate,” was also passed and signed into law. The bill establishes an alternative certification method in which, Laursen explained, “an accountant with a four-year degree is able to undertake a certification program and go teach math at a school.”

In addition, the  Legislature overrode Gov. Mark Gordon on House Bill 64 “Chemical Abortions-Ultrasound Requirement,” which requires a transvaginal ultrasound to detect a fetus. Gordon called the procedure, which involves inserting a wand into a woman’s vagina, “invasive” and took exception to the bill’s lack of exception for victims of rape and incest, writing in his veto letter, “Intimate obstetric and gynecological examinations can be highly problematic for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, or victims whose pregnancy is caused by rape or incest, or a woman and her family who is forced to choose her health over that of the unborn.”

He continued, “To be clear, I am pro-life. Every year, we continue to lose unborn babies in Wyoming. Making it easier for mothers to have babies in Wyoming and supporting them afterward is a far better course. Mandating this intimate, personally invasive and often medically unnecessary procedure goes too far.”

At last week’s town halls, both Banks and Laursen said they were proud to have overridden the governor in the matter.