House District 28 Representative Winter gives Legislative Session details

Republican John Winter is the House District 28 Representative for Hot Springs, Big Horn, Fremont and Park Counties. He resides in Hot Springs County.

Winter has presented a summary of bill information and some of his thoughts from the 2024 Legislative Session stating, “I believe that the citizens of Wyoming should understand a little about what happened at the Budget Session this year. First of all, everyone should understand that this year’s budget is the largest in state history. Governor Gordon originally submitted a $9.95 billion budget but ended up pushing the budget to $10.8 billion, which is considerably larger than what the Governor inherited in 2018 which tends to dispute his claim of the budget being affordable and sustainable.”

He added, “After much wrangling with the budget, the funding for the UW Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was defunded; however, the budget still funds the UW Gender Studies College and gender reassignment procedures at the UW Family Practice Clinic in Casper.”

“We ended up with a difference in the House and Senate of $1.1B. The final tax and spend budget was passed at $11+B. Based on the many facets which made up this budget, I could not bring myself to vote for it. I voted no!” said Winter.

The following is a brief summary compiled by Winter on some of the bills passed and presented during the session. Not all have been signed by the Governor at press time.

Property Taxes

HB0003-Property tax exemption for long-term homeowners (limited relief). Primary residence only for owners over 65 years of age and who have paid property taxes in Wyoming for 25 years or more.

HB0004-Property tax refund program (limited relief). Already in existence but with expanded options including increased funding.

HB0045-Property tax exemption- residential structures and land. 4% cap on annual increases to assessed value - Originally a 5% cap was in place, efforts were made to bring it down to 3% but compromised to 4%

SF0054-Homeowner tax exemption. All residential real property in 2024 and 2025 - 25% of assessed value up to $2 million. Expires after 2025

“It is important to remember that, with the exception of additional school funds, the Counties and municipalities rely solely on the property taxes for funds including water and irrigation districts,” stated Winter.

Parental Rights

SF0009-Parental rights in education (became law without governor’s signature). “This bill began as a weak, campaign-bill so some could claim they protected parental rights. The bill was greatly improved with multiple successful amendments,” stated Winter. The Governor allowed this bill to take effect without his signature, calling the bill “dangerous.” 

HB0166-Education savings accounts (awaiting governor’s signature). This bill provides up to $6,000 to Wyoming families to be used outside the public school system (including one year of pre-kindergarten in programs approved by the State Superintendent). Home school protections remain in place under HB0166. 

Children gender change prohibition

SF0099-Chloe’s Law (awaiting governor’s signature). “This bill prevents all “gender affirmation” abuses in Wyoming, including the use of chemical drugs like puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, as well as surgeries,” said Winter. 

Regulation of Abortions

HB0148-Regulation of abortions (awaiting governor’s signature). This bill requires surgical abortion centers in Wyoming to have safety measures in place and also requires an ultrasound before obtaining chemical abortion drugs. 

Second Amendment Protections

HB0125- Repeal gun free zones (awaiting governor’s signature). “This bill repeals dangerous gun-free zones in Wyoming, allowing the statistically safest individuals to carry concealed weapons in public spaces,” stated Winter. This bill was killed by the Senate Judiciary Committee but revived by the Senate. 

SF0109-Prohibit Red Flag Gun Seizure Act (awaiting governor’s signature)This bill prohibits federal red flag gun seizures from being implemented in Wyoming and prevents local governments from enacting red flag gun seizure ordinances. “This bill protects the Second Amendment, Fourth Amendment (freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures), Fifth Amendment (due process), and Fourteenth Amendment (due process) rights of Wyoming citizens,” stated Winter.  

SF0105-Wyoming Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act (awaiting governor’s signature). This bill prevents the creation of a firearms and ammunition registry in Wyoming by preventing payment processors from creating merchant category codes for purchases of guns and ammo.

Foreign Ownership of Land

“HB0168 and HB0183 both sought to prevent our enemies from buying land, including mineral rights, in Wyoming. HB0168 died in committee and HB0183 was never introduced by Speaker Sommers,” stated Winter. 

“SF0102 and SJ0002 would have banned our enemies from owning land, including mineral rights, in Wyoming. These bills were both killed by the House Appropriations Committee,” stated Winter. 

Natural Resource Protection Act

Winter stated, “The Natural Resource Management Committee, of which I am a member, brought forward HB 36-Natural Resource Protection Act and I carried it through the process. This bill was written to offset the potential damage to Wyoming’s resources, i.e., oil and gas, coal and trona mining; public access; increased wilderness designation and livestock grazing concerns among other damaging policies as proposed by the Bureau of Land Management by their Resource Management Plan (RMP) in the Rock Springs District in southwest Wyoming. A mandate for the BLM is to manage for conservation and sustained yield. Alternative “B” of the RMP which was selected by the BLM as the preferred alternative did not align with the BLM’s mandate, thus the development of this Natural Resource Protection Act.”

Animal Reimbursement Program

“The animal reimbursement program account amendments HB 0093 was brought forward by an individual Legislator. This bill increased the amount the Livestock Board can reimburse livestock owners for quarantine efforts due to exposure to or a positive test for contagious disease such as brucellosis. The maximum reimbursement is increased from $25,000 to $50, 000 for any single quarantine effort,” stated

Others

HB0011-State Land Lease Amendments was sponsored by the Agricultural Committee and allows for State Lease Renewal applications and rental payments to be filed on the date of the postmarked stamp on the envelope which they are mailed. Appropriate payment methods will be determined by the Office of State Lands and Investments.

HB 0010-Grace Period State Land Lease Renewals allows current lessees of State lands to have a 30-day grace period to submit land lease applications.

HB0070 appropriates $146, 250,000 to the Office of State Lands and Investments for distribution to cities, towns and counties and establishes a formula and schedule for making these distributions. This is an increase from $105,000,000 in 2022-2023.

HB 0060-Excess Wildlife Damage Amendments “passed the House, but the Senate failed to introduce the bill to the Senate Committee of the Whole (COW) thus it died leaving the ranchers in that area to continue to deal with the overabundance of elk. The Game & Fish is, however conducting extreme efforts to reduce the elk numbers by contract hunting and increased landowner permits for cow elk,” stated Winter.

SF 0042 Low-carbon Reliable Energy Standards -Amendments passed the House 39 to 23. Winter stated, “I could not vote for this bill – it is opposite any common sense and reliability on our natural resources. According to the bill, “…To the extent a public utility can demonstrate that it will incur incremental costs to comply with the reliable and dispatchable low-carbon energy standard, the commission shall authorize the public utility to implement a rate recovery mechanism that collects a surcharge from customers……”. The bill included several rate recovery mechanisms for costs including non-utility funding for exploration and technologies. In my opinion, this bill is contradictory to our long-standing reliance on our natural resources in order to satisfy the federal government’s control over our energy sector. I voted No. This is just another effort to subject our citizenry to the fantasy of climate change and associated pressures on our freedoms.”

SF 0111 Mule and Whitetail Deer Separate Hunting Seasons was brought forward to focus attention to the increased numbers of whitetail deer versus the reduced numbers of mule deer. “I introduced an amendment to put more pressure on the whitetail deer by reducing the price of the Whitetail licenses. For politically motivated reasons based on constituent opinions, the bill did not pass the House,” stated Winter.

SF0118 Big Horn and Domestic Sheep Relocation -Federal Action was an effort to allow the Game & Fish to reintroduce Big Horn Sheep into the Sweetwater Rock area in Central Wyoming. “The ranchers in that area of Wyoming are concerned that the Federal Government, i.e., Bureau of Land Management may use the presence of Big Horn Sheep in the area to dictate how they will administer the livestock grazing permits presently recognized in the area; much like the proposals being disputed in the Rock Springs District,” stated Winter. The bill passed the House and awaits the Governor’s signature.

Representative John R. Winter can be reached at 307-690-0185 or John.Winter@wyoleg.gov