Stronger OSHA enforcement urged by state & national advocates

More than 4,600 workers were killed on the job in the United States in 2011 – the latest year for which complete data is available, and in Wyoming, 29 workers were killed on the job that year.

Kathy Morgan holds a photo of her deceased husband David. Morgan talked about the impact of a job-related death on families and their communities.

An analysis by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) found Wyoming had the worst rate of worker fatalities in the country from 2005-10 and that its 6-year average was at least double the average fatality rate in all but eight other states. The state’s fatality rate in 2011 was second worst in the U.S., trailing only North Dakota.
The number of job deaths in Wyoming dropped in 2012. State officials report that 23 workers were killed in events in Wyoming’s oil and gas fields, on construction sites, highways, and on its ranches.

A Wyoming commemoration of Workers Memorial Day April 29 featured the widow of a Casper man who was killed while working in a warehouse last summer. Kathy Morgan wants people to know that job deaths bring loss “not to just our families” but also “to our communities and our state.”

David Morgan was killed on the job in August 2012 when he was crushed by a 4,000-pound storage container that contained gasoline additives at a Baker Hughes building. He had been only weeks away from his retirement.
Ed Simmons asked to speak near the end of the event. Simmons is the father of Anthony Simmons, who was killed while working at

Ed Simmons

Teton Homes in Casper on April 10. Simmons demanded to know why OSHA and state politicians don’t do more to assure safety on the job. His son, he said, was not trained to be doing the work he was doing when he was killed.

Other speakers included Riverton attorney and former mayor John Vincent, long an advocate for safety in the oil and gas patch; John Ysebaert, administrator of the Department of Workforce Services Office of Standards and Compliance; Mark Aronowitz, an attorney for SAFER, the Spence Association for Employee Rights; and two state legislators, Rep. Don Burkhart of Rawlins, and Sen. John Hastert of Green River. Gov. Matt Mead supported the event with a lettercalling for more to be done.

The ESPC believes there is much to be done to ensure that Wyoming workers return safe and whole from every shift. The state has hired more inspectors, but still has just nine compliance inspectors to monitor thousands of job sites. The Mine Health and Safety Administration has nearly six times that number of inspectors to ensure safety in Wyoming’s coal, trona, and other mines.

Efforts to make the oil patch safer are hampered because state inspectors don’t know where drilling rigs are operating. Those inspectors could do more if the state required drilling companies to report when they move to a new well location and begin drilling. At present, there’s no central reporting point to inform state inspectors exactly where drilling rigs are making holes. Reporting a GPS location to OSHA when drilling starts and when a drilling company departs a completed well would provide that information.

The National COSH released its report, “Preventable Deaths: The Tragedy of Workplace Fatalities,” April 23 as part of Workers Memorial Week.

“Each worker killed is a tragic loss to the community of family, friends and co-workers – and the worst part is, these deaths were largely preventable,” Tom O’Connor, executive director of National COSH, said when the report was released.

“Simply by following proven safety practices and complying with OSHA standards, many of these more than 4,600 deaths could have been avoided. But as companies decry regulations and emphasize profits over safety, workers pay the ultimate price.”

The National COSH report points to the following reforms that are needed:

• State legislation to implement minimum penalty amounts for serious safety citations related to workplace fatalities, which can be modeled after Minnesota’s legislation that requires its state OSHA program to levy fines of no less than $25,000 for every serious violation and, in cases involving repeat or willful violations, no less than $50,000.

• Meaningful immigration reform, which would bring undocumented workers out of the shadows and give them protections afforded to all workers.

• A stronger Occupational Safety and Health Act, which would make felony charges possible when repeat or willful violations result in a worker’s death or serious injury, and would increase the penalties OSHA can impose on negligent employers.

• An Injury and Illness Prevention Standard, which would require employers to find and fix health and safety hazards in the workplace.

• States should examine health impacts from silica dust during hydraulic fracturing and consider possible state regulations.

• And many other reforms reviewed in the report.

Wyoming Workers Memorial Day is sponsored by the Wyoming State AFL-CIO, the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association, the Spence Association for Employee Rights (SAFER), and a new project of the Equality State Policy Center, the Wyoming Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health: WyCOSH.

Visit www.workersmemorialweek.org for more information.

This post was updated following the Wyoming Workers Memorial Day event Monday morning, April 29.

Insurance coverage can prevent family economic disaster

Sens. Drew Perkins, left, and Ray Peterson on the floor of the state Senate.

Wyoming legislators deserve Workers Compensation coverage when they drive across the far-flung reaches of Wyoming to attend committee meetings around the state and while serving in legislative sessions in Cheyenne.
The coverage will cost little. It simply insures that if a citizen legislator suffers an injury, he or she will get the medical care they need to enable them to return to work as quickly as possible. Wage benefits coverage means the legislator’s family may be able to avoid dire economic losses because of an injury suffered while on official legislative business.

If the legislator’s injuries result in death, Workers Comp benefits may help surviving family members avoid bankruptcy while they scramble to replace income lost as a result of a fatality.

Never happen, you say? We know at least one legislator was killed while traveling. In 1971, Rep. Nancy Wallace, a Uinta County Republican, died in a crash while driving home from Cheyenne.

Unfortunately, the Star-Tribune has chosen to attack the idea. The ESPC and the League of Women Voters suggested a study by the Legislature’s Management Council after it learned of the economic troubles faced by Rock Springs Rep. Steve Watt after he fell at a legislative training session last December and was taken to the local hospital by ambulance. Watt had no personal medical insurance to cover the medical costs.

Rep. Steve Watt

But that didn’t stop the Star-Tribune from attacking Watt personally in an attempt to discredit the idea.

“ … Rep. Steve Watt miscalculated a sneaky chair that slipped out from under him. Will the state cover the rest of us who fell off our chairs laughing when we read about the idea?” the CST wrote in its March 23rd Cheers and Jeers section.

Sometimes, Steve Watt does have a difficult time sitting and walking. Sometimes the former Wyoming Highway Patrolman must use a wheelchair because of the injuries he suffered when he was shot five times by a bank robber during a 1982 traffic stop in Sweetwater County. One of the bullets remains in his body, near his spine, more than 30 years later.

Providing Workers Compensation coverage to legislators is not a radical idea. Others states already do. For instance, “employee” is defined under Connecticut’s Workers’ Compensation Act to include any person who “is elected to serve as a member of the General Assembly of this state.” See: CSG 31-277 No matter if the legislator is part time or full time, if a legislator is collecting a salary and is otherwise on the state’s “payroll,” she should be eligible to be covered by Workers’ Compensation while providing services to the state.

The cost of ensuring Wyoming legislators would be low, just over $300 a year per legislator, according to initial estimates provided by the Department of Workforce Services.

When a state legislator like Rep. Watt does incur an injury on the job, justice dictates that we provide him fair and equal treatment in consideration of his injuries. These civil servants should be afforded the same protection as other state employees – many of whom also have families to support whether they are healthy or otherwise.

Workers’ Compensation exists to provide the medical care an injured worker needs to get back to his or her job after an injury. It means a family suddenly deprived of a primary breadwinner has decent support from the Workers Compensation fund.

In return, employers know they face no civil liability for ordinary or even willful negligence. The insurance policy buys them protection, too.

That’s the promise of Workers’ Compensation in the private market. It protects both parties to the contract. We urge the Management Council to give the idea careful consideration.

(ESPC op-ed on this proposal was published April 5, 2013 in the Casper Star-Tribune.)

Withdraws bill from “free committee” consideration

HB112 took wages for distribution to others by employers

The tip pooling bill finally expired this week when the sponsor withdrew it from consideration by a conference committee Thursday.

Rep. Ruth Ann Petroff

Sponsor Rep. Ruth Ann Petroff convinced legislative leadership to name a “free committee” to take the bill up. Unlike an ordinary conference committee, which is restricted to working only on the differences in the versions of the legislation passed by the House and Senate, a free committee can work on all aspects of a bill.
But Petroff called off the discussion. In a Thursday story that appeared in the Sheridan Press, she blamed the media for distorting the bill’s effect.
“Because the perception has gotten so far off base because of some of the media coverage, we didn’t want to proceed and have people think we were trying to harm the employees,” Petroff told the Sheridan paper.
Though couched in assurances that the bill, HB 112 Tip distribution policies, would ensure fair pooling of tips to a “team” of employees, the ESPC believes one intention of the sponsors was to legalize an employer’s use of money that servers contribute to tip pools to pay the federal minimum wage owed other workers.
Here’s how it would work: State law says a worker cannot be considered a tipped employee unless they receive at least $30 per month in tips. Most bus staff and many other workers don’t meet that threshold. Employers must pay those workers the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
But if employers can force those workers into a tip pool, they will receive more than $30 a month in tips.
Once a worker hits that threshold, the employer can pay the state authorized “tipped minimum” wage of $2.13/hour rather than the federal minimum of $7.25/hour. With the pool set up, the employer then can close her checkbook and take money from the tips pool to bring the bus staff (and/or other “qualifying” employees) up to the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
The bill is dead for 2013, however, the restaurant industry will not give up its effort to get their hands on wages earned via tips. Tip pools have been legalized in many other states. They are authorized under federal law with fewer restrictions than those Rep. Petroff included in her bill.
Unfortunately, most of the targets of this legislation are low-wage workers with few benefits. A 2011 paper titled “Tip-Misappropriation, Minimum Wage, and other Common Service Industry Wages Issues” notes this:
“The typical tipped employee is an adult woman who is poor and has few fringe benefits. Of all tipped employees, 70% are women, 47% have a high school education or less, 45% are age 30 or older, and almost 15% are below the federal poverty line (more than double the rate for all workers).
“Compared with all working people, food service workers are only about half as likely to have health insurance, sick leave, and retirement benefits, and only two-thirds as likely to have paid vacations.”

Fails in conference committee; Will it rise again?

Hike in fuels tax clears Senate; pension bill in limbo

A bill allowing restaurant owners to establish and manage tip-sharing pools may be dead for the session – or maybe not.

Meanwhile, more money for Wyoming roads will be coming soon in the wake of the passage of a 10-cents-a-gallon hike in fuel taxes.

Servers in the state have been watching the tip pooling measure. The Senate on Wednesday approved House Bill 112 Tip distribution policies, engrossed, but tacked on two amendments. Both addressed criticism that the bill imposes a wealth distribution plan on tipped employees and paved the way for employers to use tips taken in by one server to bring the earnings of other servers up to the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour.

Sen. Drew Perkins, SD29, R-Casper, authored one of the amendments to make the bill, as he said, more capitalistic. His change gave servers the right to “opt out” of an employer’s tip pooling plan. Several critics noted that server could expect fewer and less desirable work shifts.

A second amendment added on Third Reading by Sen. Curt Meier, SD3, R-LaGrange, aimed to prevent employers from using the tip pool to pay the “offset” necessary to assure that all employees make at least $7.25/hour. The language was criticized as vague and off the mark when debated on the floor but Meier made his intention clear and the amendment was approved.

The Meier amendment became the linchpin of compromise efforts in the conference committee. The bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Ruth Ann Petroff, HD16,

Rep. Ruth Ann Petroff

R-Jackson, accepted the Perkins amendment but called the Meier amendment “circular” and said it would make the tip pooling unworkable. She said employers already use voluntary tip pools to bring the pay of some employees, such as bussers and drink servers, up to the federal minimum wage,

Federal law allows employers to pay a base minimum wage of$2.13/hour to tipped employees. If their total tips do not make up the difference between the base minimum and the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour, the employer must make up the difference. The payment is known as the “tip offset.” Petroff said employers already use shared tips to pay that difference, essentially taking wages from one employee to ensure that a second employee’s pay meets the federal minimum.

Sen. Phil Nicholas, one of the Senate members of the conference committee, complained that the bill “sanctions the food industry to run roughshod over everybody.” When fellow Sen. Leland Christensen noted that 47 other states allow tip pooling, Nicholas challenged him to show a statute from another state that does the same thing as HB112.

The bill puts the state in the position of enforcing the federal minimum wage law, Nicholas said. “It’s not the state’s responsibility to enforce federal law,”

Christensen made a motion to approve a compromise leaving the Perkins amendment in the bill but removing the Meier amendment. Petroff supported the motion but Perkins, Nicholas, Rep. Patrick Goggles, HD33, R-Ethete, and Rep. Mike Madden, HD40, R-Buffalo, opposed it.

“We’ve finished it,” Madden said as the conference committee adjourned.

Madden said later that he believes the bill is dead. Christensen indicated Thursday evening that an effort may be made to resume the discussion with a second conference committee.

Other bills

Fuels tax hike approved –The Senate passed HB 69 Highway funding on Third Reading on an 18-12 vote. With no amendments on the bill it was immediately signed by the House Speaker and Senate President as House Enrolled Act 38. The bill now goes to the governor for his signature.

ROLL CALL

Ayes:  Senator(s) Anderson JD S02, Anderson JL S28, Burns, Christensen, Craft, Emerich, Esquibel, F., Geis, Hastert, Hines, Johnson, Landen, Nicholas P, Nutting, Ross, Rothfuss, Schiffer and Von Flatern.

Nays:  Senator(s) Barnard, Bebout, Case, Coe, Cooper, Dockstader, Driskill, Hicks, Meier, Perkins, Peterson and Scott.

Ayes 18    Nays 12    Excused 0    Absent 0    Conflicts 0

Pensions –A bill originally aimed at strengthening three of the state’s pension plans also must go through a conference committee to address major differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. House Bill 250 Public employee retirement plans originally directed the state to pay for increasing contributions to the pension funding formula. The Senate added amendments requiring state and other public employees to pay half those contributions. A conference committee has been appointed but as of late Thursday afternoon, no meeting had been scheduled.

Panel hears the good, bad, and ugly about guns in schools

UW, college presidents,districts, teachers, police oppose HB 105

The haunting tones of the theme to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly rang from Wyoming Gun Owners Association Director Anthony Bouchard’s cell phone as yet another witness stepped up to tell the Senate Education Committee why it’s a bad idea to allow concealed guns in state schools, community colleges, and at athletic events.
Bouchard quickly turned the sound off, but not before Chairman Hank Coe asked if Clint Eastwood was joining the packed hearing of HB 105, Citizens’ and Students Self-Defense Act. The bill opened the door to guns in schools by allowing school employees with concealed carry permits to take a concealed gun into school district buildings after notifying the school district superintendent and school principal or other person responsible for a district building.

University of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan outlined a long list of reasons why the UW campus should remain gun free, chief among them the fact that college-age students are much safer on university campuses that bar guns compared to the risks they face off campus.
Weapons in classrooms “would have a chilling effect” on academic instruction for both students and faculty, he said.

Jason Vela, chief of police for the Northern Wyoming College District said the Gillette campus has well-trained officers. He was among many speakers who noted that obtaining a concealed carry permit does not require any crisis training.

Proponents hit the gun lobby’s often recited talking points that ‘a good guy with a gun might stop a bad guy with a gun’ and that recent gun mass gun shootings have taken place in “gun-free zones.” Bill sponsor Rep. Allen Jaggi referred to holders of state concealed carry permits as “this select group.”

But opponents noted that a person pulling a private weapon to fire at a shooter might find himself the target of a SWAT team responding to an emergency at a school. “A person with a gun will be taken out,” said Steve Barlow, assistant dean for student services at Central Wyoming College in Riverton.

Others expressed worries that students would quickly learn which teachers “carry” and could try to get their guns. One administrator expressed deep concern about allowing guns in school athletic events. He said he once had to shield a door to a referees’ dressing room from a hostile crowd. He said he faced them down but wondered how differently he would have reacted if he knew the crowd was armed.

Others noted that virtually all teachers have stories of confrontations with angry parents. Some get physical, one Cheyenne administer said. He reported that a parent had to be pulled off a school employee the parent attacked in a school office.

Upon conclusion of nearly two hours of testimony, Chairman Coe called for a motion. When none of the committee members offered a motion on the bill, Coe declared HB105 dead for the session.

(Editor’s note: Jason Vela’s name and title were corrected Feb. 9.)

Measure also OKs guns on UW, college campuses

Other action: Public pension bill clears first Senate floor vote

The Senate Education Committee will take testimony on a controversial House bill Friday morning that allows certain people to take concealed guns into schools and other buildings. Current law bars guns from most public schools.
House Bill 105 Citizens’ and Students Self-Defense Act allows school employees with concealed carry permits to take a concealed gun into school district buildings after notifying the school district superintendent and school principal or other person responsible for a district building.
The committee, under Chairman Hank Coe of Cody, will open the morning hearing at 8 a.m. (Feb. 8, 2013) in room S-11. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Allen Jaggi, R-HD19, Lyman.
Under HB105, parents or guardians of students could carry a gun into their student’s school provided they notify the person responsible for the building and they have a concealed carry permit. The measure also allows anyone with a permit to carry a concealed weapon to take a gun into any facility at a Wyoming college or the University of Wyoming.
It also specifically allows those with concealed carry permits to take a concealed gun to any athletic event conducted on public property. The measure is one of a passel of bills that either liberalize Wyoming gun laws or attempt to thwart anticipated new federal gun control laws in the wake of shootings in Colorado, Connecticut and elsewhere that claimed dozens of lives.

Proponents have taken the position that more guns in schools might have prevented some of the deaths in the mass shooting in Connecticut and elsewhere.. Opponents say that the potential for accidents in schools or heated arguments at athletic events that could turn violent make this poor public policy for Wyoming.

Public pensions

Public pensions again were addressed in the Senate Thursday when Sen. Curt Meier, R-SD3, LaGrange, explained a bill that will pour $5.5 million into the system in FY 2013 and FY 2014.
House Bill 250 Public employee retirement plans is part of an effort to have all the state’s retirement plans fully funded in 30 years, or 2042. It increases employee contributions to the plan by .5% beginning Sept. 1, 2013. Employer contributions to retirement funding will increase .5% on Sept. 1, 2014.
In what is, in effect, a pay increase, Meier noted that the bill calls for employers to pay the additional employee contribution due Sept. 1 2013.
The bill Majority Floor Leader Phil Nicholas, R-HD10, Laramie, reminded senators that properly financing the funds maintains a good plan that serves both the state and its employees. He noted that legislators considered closing the existing defined benefit plans to move to a 401k-like defined contribution plan for state employees. A study of the cost of closing the existing plan revealed that it would cost the state about $1 billion, he said.
Nicholas and Meier were among the senators backed the very conservative plan on a voice vote in Committee of the Whole. The bill still must pass second and third readings.

Voting rights

Also on Thursday, Senate leadership referred to the Senate Corporations, Elections, and Political Subdivisions Committee a bill that will ease restrictions on restoring voting rights to non-violent felons. The measure passed the Wyoming House Wednesday.
State Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R –HD43, Cheyenne, hopes to make it easier for non-violent felons to become voters. He drafted HB 129 Voting rights, which would reduce the waiting period for restoration of rights from five years after completion of any sentence, probation and parole requirements to just one year.
The bill represents an effective way to help disenfranchised citizens become active participants in civic life.

Still of concern

Two other worrisome bill were passed by the House and sent to the Senate.
House Bill 228 Transfer of federal lands – study funds a study of transferring all federal lands in Wyoming to the state or private individuals (Remember, I get Titcomb Basin), except for Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway, Devils Tower and Fossil Butte national monuments, Fort Laramie, and the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.
House Bill 237 Unemployment – Worker misconduct requires the state to deny unemployment insurance benefits to workers who are terminated for “willfully” doing something the employer considers against her/his interests. The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Tom Reeder, R-HD58, Casper.

A pro-job safety bill, HB95 Railroad crossings-on-track vehicles, won unanimous approval this week in the Senate Transportation committee. The proposed law would require drivers to obey all crossing signals at railroad crossings when an “on-track vehicle” used by right-of-way repair crews approaches the crossing. The bill is a safety measure aimed at protecting both the public and railroad maintenance workers.

Bill cuts waiting period for ex-felons from 5 years to 1

Feb. 4 last day for Committee of Whole in house of origin

A bill easing restrictions on restoring voting rights to non-violent felons looks likely to be heard on the floor of Wyoming’s House of Representatives Monday.

The first floor debate in each house is called “Committee of the Whole.” If a bill is approved in Committee of the Whole, the Second and Third REading will follow on three consecutive days. (A bill can be amended in each of these three debates.) Since we’re at the halfway point of the 40-day General Session, any House Bills or Senate Files that are not brought up Feb. 4 for the first of these three potential floor debates in their chamber of origin will die.

State Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R –HD43, Cheyenne, long has sought to make it easier for non-violent felons to become voters. Wyoming, he said, imposes the “third-worst” restrictions in the nation limiting restoration of voting rights for felons. Virginia and Kentucky prohibit restoration of voting rights after conviction for any felony.

Rep. Dan Zwonitzer

This year Rep. Zwonitzer drafted HB 129 Voting rights, which would reduce the waiting period for restoration of rights from five years after completion of any sentence, probation and parole requirements to just one year.
The Equality State Policy Center stands firmly in support of the measure as an effective way to help disenfranchised citizens become active participants in civic affairs.
In Wyoming, nearly 6 percent of the population has been convicted of a felony, according to the American Civil Liberty Union’s Jennifer Horvath. She noted restoration of voting rights can improve public safety. Research has shown that former felons who vote are less likely to commit crimes.
The Department of Corrections supports the bill, noting that part of the system’s rehabilitation efforts including promoting “pro-social behavior.”
In short, people who can and do the right thing in one aspect of social life will act positively in other areas of life.

The Equality State Policy Center conducts voter education and mobilization efforts in low-income precincts in communities across the state. Volunteer canvassers often are surprised at the high number of people they meet who cannot vote because they were convicted for committing a felony. Many ex-felons are not aware that they can or could have had their voting rights restored five years after completion of sentence.
Zwonitzer’s bill improves the restoration process by turning it over to the Department of Corrections, where it can be integrated with other correctional programs. On completion of sentence, the person would be issued a certificate that notes voting rights can be restored one year later by filing an application to the department. An application would be issued with the certificate.

Also in Committee of the Whole …

Supporters of the idea of keeping public lands in public hands should watch what happens to House Bill 228 Transfer of federal lands – study. The measure seeks an $18,000 study of transferring all federal lands in Wyoming to the state or private individuals (I’ll take Titcomb Basin), except for Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway, Devils Tower and Fossil Butte national monuments, Fort Laramie, and the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.
That’s right, all the U.S. Forest Service and BLM lands, including wilderness, and national wildlife refuges could be transferred not just to the state but to private parties.

There’s another effort to undermine workers that could come up in Committee of the Whole in the House. House Bill 237 Unemployment – Worker misconduct would require the state to deny unemployment insurance benefits to workers who are terminated for “willfully” doing something the employer considers against her/his interests. This potentially could discourage reporting violations of workplace safety rules.

The supplemental budget bill will be heard this week. The Legislature uses special rules for the bill, which follows mirror processes in the House and Sentate. It likewise must get through Committee of the Whole on Monday. Under the special rules, each chamber hears an explanation of the bill during Committee of the Whole but amendments are prohibited. Legislators are urged to bring amendments for Second and Third Readings. The mirror bills are HB1 General government appropriations and SF1 General government appropriations-2. The bills outline about $223.7 million in additional state spending.

The Senate has only one other measure listed by Majority Floor Leader Phil Nicholas on its General File (the list of bills waiting to be heard). The measure, SF 109 Highway and road funding, would use a diversion of severance tax revenues to send $53.5 million to the Department of Transportation for highways; $14.3 million to counties for roads; and $3.6 million to cities and towns for streets. Those diversions would occur in FY2014. The amounts are projected to increase in FY2015 and 2016.

On adjournment Monday, the Senate Transportation Committee will consider HB 95 Railroad crossings – on-track vehicles. The bill will require drivers to obey all crossing signals at railroad crossings when an “on-track vehicle” used by right-of-way repair crews approaches the crossing. The bill is a safety measure aimed at protecting both the public and railroad maintenance workers.

Gay rights advocates demonatrate in front of the Wyoming Capitol

Civil rights take a step forward

Domestic partnerships bill approved by House panel

More action Tuesday on gun bills, voter ID, and campaign finance

Equal rights for all took a step forward Monday with passage by the House Corporations committee of a bill authorizing domestic partnerships in Wyoming.
The measure offers people in domestic partnerships the same kinds of legal protections that married couples often take for granted. People in these partnerships can make medical treatment decisions and address other questions that the law currently reserves to next of kin if no marriage contract exists between two people, no matter what commitment they’ve made to a relationship.
The domestic partnerships bill, HB 168, was paired with HB 169 Marriage definition, by House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee Chairman Rosie Berger, R-HD51, Big Horn. Berger, who at one point noted that it was a mistake to pair the two bills, took public comment for about 75 minutes from proponents and opponents of both bills.
The prime sponsor of both bills was Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-HD13, Laramie. She and her co-sponsors declared that it’s time for Wyoming to “step up” on civil rights for the gay community. Public comments revolved around the religious understanding of homosexuality as interpreted by both fundamentalist churches and more liberal ones, and the importance of extending the protection of state law to same-sex couples equal to the protections and privileges the law grants married heterosexual couples.
Rep. Lynn Hutchings, R-HD42, Cheyenne, who is African-American, told the committee that proponents of equality for people regardless of sexual orientation should not compare their struggle with the civil rights movement of the 20th century. She declared homosexuality “is a choice” unlike race.
“Please stop carpet-bagging on our civil rights movement,” Hutchings said.
That comment prompted a later a “push back” from Rep. James Byrd, D-HD44, Cheyenne, who likewise is African-American.
“I find that comment distasteful,” Byrd said of Hutchings’ reference to carpet bagging. The lesbian, gay, and transgender community has experienced its own forms of injustice, he noted.
Byrd said he asked himself how the civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., might have addressed the question. “He would tell us that people are created equal,” Byrd said.
In the end the committee voted down the marriage definition bill, which would have declared marriage a contract between two natural persons, rather than between a man and a woman. The vote was close, 4-5.
But the committee voted 7-2 to send the domestic partnerships bill to the House floor for debate. It’s a major step forward for civil rights for gay and lesbian couples, especially given past years of struggle against legislation intended to bar both same-sex marriages and civil unions.

Here’s the committee vote:

Ayes:  Representative(s) Blikre, Byrd, Greene, Paxton, Petroff, Zwonitzer, Dn. and Berger

Nays:  Representative(s) Gay, Kirkbride

Gun bills in House Judiciary

HB 103, Regulation of firearms-state preemption, sponsored by Rep Allen Jaggi, R-HD19, Mountain View, prohibits local governments from regulating gun use in any way (think about it.) HB 104, Firearm Protection Act, is a nullification bill sponsored by Rep. Kendall Kroeker, R-HD35, Casper. It prohibits federal agents from enforcing federal gun laws in Wyoming. The U.S. fought a long, bloody civil war over states’ rights. This bill will have no legal effect if passed but will send a chilling message to federal agents responsible for gun-law enforcement operating in Wyoming.
Campaign finance – The House Corporations, Elections, and Political Subdivisions will consider two campaign finance bills. The first, HB99 Campaign funds-personal use, prohibits a candidate from converting left-over campaign contributions for personal use.
HB 187 Campaign finance, closes a loophole in state law by limiting contributions from a political action committee to any single candidate to $2,500 per election. It also raises the personal contribution limit in statewide races to $2,500. The ESPC supports both bills.
Voting rights – The Senate Corporations, Elections, and Political Subdivisions Committee will resume discussion of SF134 Voter identification. According to committee Chairman Cale Case, R-SD25, Lander, technical problems with the bill will prevent it moving forward, but the committee may consider an interim study of questions around the residence of voters.
Pooling tips – The Senate Revenue Committee will consider HD112 Tip distribution policies, engrossed, which would allow restaurants and other businesses to require tipped employees to participate in tip pooling. The ESPC opposes this bill.

House panel will consider marriage equality, partnerships bills

First gun and abortion bills in other House committees Monday

Marriage equality, domestic partnerships, abortion, and gun legislation stand out among several controversial social bills the Wyoming House will take up on Monday.

Our friends at Wyoming Equality have worked hard to organize around several bills aimed at ending discrimination that deprives people of their civil rights because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. With support from the Human Rights Campaign, they’ve hired an experienced lobbyist, Marian Schulz, to assist them.
There’s a marriage equality rally at the Capitol Monday morning at 9. Called the Dress for Success Rally, the group will demonstrate to support the legislation through the morning.
“Come dressed in your best business casual because we mean business!” the organizers say.

Rep. Cathy Connolly

Two of the Wyoming Equality-backed bills will be heard by the House Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee upon the noon recess. They include HB 169 Marriage-definition, and HB 168 Domestic partnerships-rights and responsibilities. Both are sponsored by Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-HD13, Laramie.

The House Judiciary Committee will hear two gun bills on the noon recess. The first bill, HB200 Concealed weapons-government meetings, requires people with concealed carry permits to get permission to take a concealed firearm into a government meeting. The second bill, HB 216 Deadly weapons in a courtroom prohibits taking a deadly weapon into a courtroom though it expressly permits a judge doing so.
Topping off the social legislation hearings on Monday is a HB 97 No abortion after heartbeat. The measure outlaws abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat. The House Labor, Health & Social Services Committee will hear the bill 10 minutes after the House adjourns for the day. The hearing is in Room H-17, a small venue so people should arrive early if they want a seat. Chairman Elaine Harvey has scheduled 90 minutes of testimony, 45 minutes each for opponents and proponents of the bill.

But wait, there’s more …

A successful media lawsuit that forces the University of Wyoming to disclose the names of applicants for the UW president’s job spawned HB 223, Public records-institutions of higher education. It will make secret applications, references, and “records or information relating to the process of searching” for a president if the information could be used to identify a candidate. The gag rule applies to the university and Wyoming’s seven community colleges. If approved, the law takes effect immediately and will negate the media’s court victory.

Worker safety – The Speaker’s job safety bill will be considered in Senate Minerals Monday. House Bill 52 Workplace safety initiatives offers another carrot to entice employers to participate in courtesy job safety inspections. If passed, participating employers will get a discount of up to 10% on their workers compensation insurance premiums.

Medicaid Expansion – After getting out of the Senate Labor Committee on a “Do Not Pass” motion, SF 122 Expansion of Medicaid was heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee over the lunch hour Friday. Members of the Wyoming Coalition for the Medicaid Expansion spoke in both venues. There has been no testimony opposing the bill. Sen. President Ross has said he wants to get the bill up on the floor for a full debate. (See  “Medicaid Expansion negatory” for an explanation of this unusual procedural maneuver.) We understand that the ideological opposition to federal health care reform means the bill has virtually no chance this year – unless the public speaks up and demands doing what’s best for Wyoming citizens. The expansion saves the state about $125 million over seven years while improving population health.

Pensions – The House Appropriations Committee decided Friday to draft a bill that would require an overall .5% increase in employee contributions to the big state plan, the Fire Fighters Plan B and the Game Wardens plan. Employers would be required to make the contribution. (The committee did not specify how this is done, although Chairman Steve Harshman, R-HD37, Casper, said it costs the state less to pay a .5% retirement contribution than to give a .5% raise.) A similar contribution increase will be imposed on employers in 2014. The bill structures the contributions so the contribution to the Big Plan is .5%; to the FF plan it is .225% and to the Game Wardens plan .9%. In another public employee pay move, the supplemental budget proposal bill includes a 1% “retention incentive” for all employees. The raise for employees making more than $125,000 will be held at $1,250. (So the football coach’s 2013 retention incentive will not be complicated by the base pay and incentives that brought him more than $800,000 in 2010.)
Meanwhile, HB 45 Fireman pension plan A, was killed in House Appropriations on Thursday. It would have taken the mandatory COLA provision out of the plan.

Procedural maneuver may lead to Senate floor debate

Elsewhere: Vote ID bill Thursday; LGBTQ rights bills on Monday docket

A procedural maneuver got a proposal to expand Medicaid in Wyoming out of the Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee but enabled senators voting in favor of it to avoid going on record in favor of the idea.
Committee members appeared to take little note of comment from organizations supporting the expansion. Not one public comment against the measure was offered during the meeting.

Sen. John Hastert

Though hampered by cold-sapped voice, Sen. John Hastert, D-SD13. Green River, laid out the advantages of the measure to a committee he considered skeptical. “Great things can happen if everybody can keep an open mind,” he said.
Bill opponents argued that the federal government will not keep its promise of paying not less than 90% of the costs of the expansion.
The committee voted down a “do pass” motion 4-1. Acknowledging the magnitude of the issue – there are millions of dollars at stake – Chairman Charles Scott, R-SD30, Casper, said he would support a “do-not pass” motion. Sen. Jim Anderson, R-SD28, Casper, made that motion and it was approved.
The maneuver, a positive vote on a motion, means the bill will not be “laid back” and makes possible a potential Senate floor debate of SF 122 Expansion of Medicaid – though it is not assured. Two senators who support the Medicaid Expansion said Senate President Tony Ross promised a floor debate of the measure.
The fiscal case for the bill is very strong: mandatory elements of the Affordable Care Act will require the state of Wyoming to spend a net total of more than $79 million between 2014-2020 to cover some 6,900 newly eligible children and a second group of people who are eligible under current rules but have never signed up.
But the optional expansion to cover 17,600 childless adults who currently do not qualify will save the state millions of dollars. Services now covered directly from the state General Fund for programs such as colorectal screening and behavioral services will be covered by Medicaid. Dan Perdue, executive director of the Wyoming Hospital Association, reminded the committee that a state study found that those offsets result in a “swing” of more than $125 million, producing a net savings to the state of more than $47 million from 2014 to 2020.
Unfortunately, years of ideological opposition to the Affordable Care Act means some legislators have painted themselves into a corner from which they seem unable to escape. They need constituents to express support for this program. The expansion of Medicaid will strengthen Wyoming’s hospitals and other aspects of the medical system, reduce cost-shifting that drives up insurance costs, and enable many uninsured state residents to get the care they need, including preventive care that will reduce costs across the system.

Here’s the committee vote:

Roll Call

Ayes: Senator(s) Anderson, J.L. (S28), Nutting, Peterson and Scott B
Nays: Senator(s) Craft.

Voter ID bill in Senate Corporations Committee

The Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee will hear SF134 Voter identification Thursday morning (Jan. 24). The bill demands that voters provide a photo ID. The measure requires that voters show a photo ID issued either by the state or the United States. That means IDs issued by the tribes of the Wind River Reservation would not be acceptable. Similar legislation was proposed in 2009 and failed in committee. The ESPC opposes the bill as an unnecessary obstacle to citizens exercising their right to vote. We know of no reports of voter fraud in Wyoming.

Marriage Equality and Domestic Partnerships

It looks like these efforts to extend basic civil rights to Wyoming’s LGBTQ residents will be heard by the House Corporations Committee on Monday. The bills are HB 169 Marriage Equality and HB168 Domestic Partnerships. Allies at Wyoming Equality are excited.

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