2015 Legislature To Consider Wide Range of Issues

The 2015 session of the Wyoming Legislature officially gets underway Tuesday, January 13 at noon in Cheyenne,

So far a total of 128 Senate Files, House Bills and Joint Resolutions have officially been filed on topics ranging from marijuana laws to the minimum wage to drone regulation.

Of those 84 bills are sponsored by a committee, while the rest are being put forward by individual legislators or small groups of lawmakers.

Some of the proposals include:

-A house resolution that would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment to make the state Superintendent of Public Instruction an appointed rather than elected position.

-A house bill to increase the state's minimum wage to $9 per hour.

-A senate bill to toughen the requirements for law enforcement to seize private property allegedly used in the commission of drug trafficking

-A house bill that regulates the use of drones by law enforcement.

Lawmakers are also expected to consider issues ranging from the possible expansion of the Medicaid program in Wyoming to allowing the use of firing squads to execute death row inmates.

The 2015 session is a general session meaning up to 40 days are allotted for lawmakers to consider a variety of issues. In a 20 day budget session, which is held every other year, a 2/3 majority vote is needed to consider non-budget issues.