11/03/2021 – SPECIAL SESSION FINAL DAY –

My fellow legislator said it pretty well so I am sharing his post. Unfortunately protecting big business was far more important than protecting our citizen’s God given rights. What they forget is it is the people that make up the businesses. I am not sorry we had the session as we have to fight for the people, I am just sorry that the outcome was hijacked by political games.
—Representative Mark Jennings

I am not proud to tell you that the Wyoming Legislature failed to pass any meaningful legislation during the 7 days that we were in session. The House sent HB1001 to the Senate last week that we worked on for 4 days but they killed the bill on 3rd reading yesterday. This was a meaningful bill that would have protected individuals as well as businesses in Wyoming while pushing back against the federal governments’ unconstitutional mandates.

Both the House and Senate approved HB1002 and sent it to the Governor for his signature or veto. It appears that we have enough votes to override a veto if needed, but the bill really doesn’t do much to protect our freedom or individual rights. This bill gives $4 million dollars to the governor’s office to try and entice him to start fighting federal mandates. The rest of the bill is mostly just a resolution that says we don’t like mandates. It is for optics without making any meaningful stand like Tennessee and Iowa did with their recently passed legislation. As we adjourned last night, I heard some of the more moderate republicans congratulate each other that the session did no good, neither did it do any harm. It was obvious that their intention was to obstruct as much as possible from the beginning.

I make no excuses for the outcome as I am a member of this legislature. The conservative members fought hard to protect our liberty and freedom, but many members of the legislature do not feel that the state should do anything and opposed everything we tried to do. It was a hard and spirited fight, but unfortunately, we did not win this one. The only good thing that came out of the special session was that we were able to put some focus on the damage the federal mandates are causing in Wyoming as many individuals are losing their jobs as a direct result.

Please do not lose hope. We will continue to fight for unconstitutional overreach and protect our individual rights and freedom. As I have said on numerous occasions, we need a few more conservatives in our state legislature to be able to win some of these close votes. I am hopeful that with your continued support, we will be able to do this soon.
—Representative Scott Heiner

UPDATE AFTER WEEK – 1

10/26/2021 – 10/29/2021 – Special Session Update after Week 1 – This week we spent 4 days debating HB1001 – “COVID vaccine employer mandates”. There were nearly 50 amendments to the bill over the course of 4 days and 3 readings of the bill. I don’t think we have ever seen a bill changed and altered as much as this bill has been. Some of these changes watered down the bill and made it less enforceable. From a positive side, as it stands right now this bill allows employers to require vaccine mandates but employers must accept exemptions including medical, religious, and natural immunity. Religious exemptions would not require certification from clergy, but only a strongly held belief. Medical exemptions would require a signature by a licensed physician. An exemption for medical contraindication (natural immunity) would require written evidence that the individual has fully recovered from COVID.

On the negative side, an amendment (HB1001H3007) was added on Friday to HB1001 that allows employers to demote and reduce wages of any employee that does not get the vaccination. We fought hard to prevent this from happening but did not have the votes to stop it in a close vote. Hopefully, our friends in the Senate will strip this amendment from the bill next week as the entire bill has now been sent to the other chamber. This bill passed the House 38-20 and was sent to the Senate.

HB1002 prevents a public entity from enforcing a federal mandate until the mandate takes legal effect (the federal government has not finalized the rules yet). The bill prevents a public entity from requiring proof of COVID vaccination for the person to receive or qualify for any public benefit. It also sets aside an additional $250,000 for legal action by the Executive Branch against the overreaching federal mandate. This bill passed the House 41-14 and was sent to the Senate.

SF1003 failed in the Senate on 3rd reading 13-15. This bill was to prevent vaccination passports and discrimination practices. No COVID-related bills were passed out of the Senate.

— Rep Scotte Heiner