The Final Verdict is in With Victories, Half-Victories, and Losses
With the deadline looming for the Governor to sign, veto, or allow legislation to pass without his signature, yesterday, he acted on the final three pro-family bills that Wyoming Family Alliance has been championing.
Read below for updates on those bills, and in the coming days, look for our final summary and commentary, as well as the implications of the 204 legislative session for your family.
Legislation Watch
Wyoming Family Alliance actively monitors, supports, or opposes legislation based on its alignment with our mission to defend life, advance liberty, and preserve freedom for Wyoming families.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HB0090 Newborn Child Safe Havens-Age of Child
Yesterday, this bill that expands the window of opportunity to relinquish an infant to a safe haven provider has officially been signed by the Governor and passed into law!
Read More about the bill.
HB0092 Protection of Parental Rights
On Thursday, the Governor allowed this legislation to go into law without his signature, much like he did with a similar bill to protect parental rights, SF0009.
We will provide you with thoughts on the governor’s letter that accompanies this legislation in the days to come. Click here to read the Governor’s letter of explanation regarding why he chose not to sign the bill.
Read More about the bill.
HB0148 Regulation of Surgical Abortion
We have to report with sadness and disappointment that the Governor vetoed this important legislation that would have helped to ensure greater safety is practiced in Wyoming abortion facilities.
In a letter outlining the reasons for his veto, the Governor cited the fact that two other abortion bills, which passed in previous sessions, are being held up in the court system now.
What that fails to take into account is that HB0148 deals directly with ensuring that abortion clinics follow the basic safety protocols of other outpatient ambulatory clinics.
This legislation would have ensured that abortion facilities performing life-threatening procedures have licensed physicians and facilities that meet certain health requirements that can better prevent serious and long-term complications and injury (such as infertility) and even death of the patient.
State Representative Lawley (R, Worland) told Wyoming Family Alliance that she was “extremely disappointed” and found the reasoning behind the veto “completely unpersuasive.” She said, “As long as abortion remains legal, we have a responsibility to protect the health and the safety of women getting abortions.”
Click here to read the Governor’s veto letter for this bill.
Read More about the bill.
HB0166 Education Savings Accounts-1
Education Savings Accounts have finally made it all the way through the legislative process this year.
Unfortunately, while the Governor signed the bill, he exercised his line-item veto authority to eliminate several important features.
These vetoes have left much work to be done toward realizing broader educational freedom for all Wyoming families who would choose to participate.
In a letter explaining why he vetoed parts of the legislation, the Governor also signaled that he could see the “benefits associated with increased competition“ among schools and remarked that “this bill represents a good first step, and I look forward to the continued refinement of this effort in future legislatures…”
Click here to read the Governor’s letter regarding which line items were vetoed and why. We will unpack the effect of the governor’s line-item vetos in an upcoming email.
Read More about the bill.
SENATE
SF0099 Chloe’s Law-Children Gender Change Prohibition
Wyoming Family Alliance has been an avid supporter of this bill to eliminate gender change medical intervention for Wyoming children, protecting them from the irreversible damage of physical and psychological trauma.
While the Governor did sign this bill yesterday, he also signaled to the press his support was not enthusiastic, with his point of confusion centering on the much-contended subject of parental rights.
In a statement similar to those made by members of the education establishment during the legislative session, Governor Gordan said, “Our Legislature needs to sort out its intentions with regard to parental rights. While it inserts governmental prerogative in some places, it affirms parental rights in others.”
Wyoming Family Alliance believes the answer to that line of faulty reasoning is straightforward: The severing of fully functioning, non-diseased body parts from a minor child is vastly different from the other parental rights legislation that was brought forward this year.
Ensuring that schools work with parents and not intentionally hide critical information regarding their child’s physical and mental well-being is in a completely different category from allowing irreparable physical harm to be done to a child. Story after story exists, highlighting the shock and suffering of young adults who, after maturing and coming to understand the permanent damage that has been done to their bodies, start to ask, why would adults allow this to happen to them?*
Wyoming should always seek to protect children from bodily harm and not confuse it with a parents’ rights issue!
*Watch this video featuring Chloe Cole and others like her as they describe from personal experience why allowing gender changes for minors is so horrific.
Read More about the bill.
