|
January 12, 2007Day 4 – Friday INDEX OF BILLS COVERED IN TODAY’S REPORT Legislative Rules Vote HB 19: Incest – Increase in Penalties TODAY’S ACTION ON BILLS Legislative Rules VoteOn Monday, the House will vote on the rules that will govern its operations this session. Rep. Alan Jones (R-H25, Powell) has proposed a rules change that would require the House to take roll call votes when it changes an appropriation. This proposal mirrors a Senate rule that was implemented during the 2006 session. The Equality State Policy Center urges everyone concerned about government accountability to e-mail your representative over the weekend and encourage him or her to VOTE FOR THIS RULE CHANGE. Decisions about appropriations (funding) can make or break a program. They may be among the most controversial issues of a session, but without roll call votes there is no accountability. For example, House votes on funding for the Wildlife Trust Fund and the sales tax exemption on groceries during the 2006 session were not recorded, since both issues were dealt with as amendments to the budget bill. HB
19: Incest – Increase
in Penalties HB 19 would increase the penalties for a felony conviction for incest. A conviction would be punishable by imprisonment up to 15 years (compared to the current maximum of 5 years), a fine up to $10,000 (compared to the current maximum of $5,000), or both. The House HB 19 on second reading on Friday, and the bill will move on to third reading on Monday. HB 25: Domestic Violence Counseling Period HB 25 would amend the time period a person who has committed an act of domestic abuse may be required to participate in counseling or other appropriate treatment. Currently, counseling may be required for up to 90 days. HB 25 would allow counseling or other treatment for the abuser to be required for as long as a protection order was in effect. The House Judiciary Committee passed HB 25 on Friday morning, and the bill has been placed on general file in the House. HB 36: Rape Shield Law HB 36 would specify the type of evidence related to a victim’s sexual conduct that is admissible or not admissible in a sexual assault trial. The House Judiciary Committee will hear HB 36 on Monday morning at 8:00 am. HB 47: Prevailing Wage Amendments HB 47 would authorize a single statewide wage district for the purpose of calculating the prevailing wage on state-funded contracts, would authorize the Department of Employment to investigate prevailing wage violations upon its own volition, would remove a requirement that prevailing wage determinations must use employment security law wage reports, and would provide a bid preference of one percent (1%) to contractors who participated in the Department of Employment’s prevailing wage survey. The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee passed HB 47 on Friday, and the bill has been placed on general file in the House. HB
60: Home Owner’s Tax Credit HB 60 would simplify and expand for one year a current state program that provides a tax credit to eligible homeowners. These changes would apply to property taxes imposed during the calendar year 2007. The bill would appropriate $5.3 million from the general fund to pay for the tax credits. The House Revenue Committee will hear HB 60 on Monday morning at 8:00 am. HB 62: Natural Resources Large Project Funding HB 62 would authorize funding for two large projects under the Wildlife and Natural Resource Funding Act that have been approved by the board of the trust fund. The Bates Creek Watershed Restoration project would receive $200,000 and the Lander Front mule deer project would receive $230,000. The House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee will hear HB 62 at 8:00 am on Monday morning. HB
93: Sales Tax on Food – Permanent Exemption 2 HB 93 would permanently exempt groceries from sales taxation. The bill would also alter the sales tax distribution formula to reimburse local governments for the estimated revenue decrease they would otherwise experience as a result of not applying sales tax to food. The House Revenue Committee passed HB 93 on Friday, and the bill has been placed on general file in the House. HB 97: Hathaway Scholarship Eligibility HB 97 would define the success curriculum that will be required for high school students to qualify for Hathaway student scholarships for college. The specified curriculum would be applied to students graduating from high school during the 2010-2011 school year, and would be phased in for students graduating before 2010. The success curriculum would include four years of math, four years of language arts, four years of science, and three years of social studies. In addition to completing the success curriculum, students would have to score at least proficient on the 11 th grade proficiency assessment (PAWS test) to be eligible for a scholarship. The House Education Committee will hear HB 99 on Monday upon adjournment of the full House. HB 99: Hathaway Scholarship Program HB 99 would expand the Hathaway scholarship program to graduate and professional degrees and would extend the time students could attend post secondary educational institutions. HB 99 would clarify how to handle scholarships when a student attends more than one eligible school whereby the student would designate a home school that would be paid the entire scholarship amount granted to the student. The House Education Committee will hear HB 99 on Monday upon adjournment of the full House. HB
107: Home Owner’s Tax Credit – County Option HB 107 would authorize an optional homeowner’s tax credit at the county level. The House Revenue Committee will consider HB 107 on Monday morning at 8:00 am. HB
108: Property Tax – Assessment Rate HB 108 would reduce the taxable value that personal property is taxed in Wyoming from the current 9.5% to 8.25% of fair market value. HB 108 would reduce property tax revenue to the state by an estimated $102 million during fiscal years 2009 and 2010. Local governments and the school foundation account would receive $85.2 million and $16.8 million respectively during 2009 and 2010 to make up for the revenue they would otherwise lose. The House Revenue Committee will consider HB 108 on Monday morning at 8:00 am. HB 115: School Finance - Amendments HB 115 would address a number of matters relating to the financing of public schools in Wyoming. The bill would extend the summer school, extended day school, and instructional facilitator programs, would clarify the enrichment program part of the extended day program, and would direct the Wyoming Department of Education to recommend permanent funding for these programs for consideration by the 2008 Legislature. HB 115 would continue the ongoing review and evaluation of the at-risk program, and would initiate a review of distance education programs. The House Education Committee passed HB 115 on Friday, and the bill has been placed on general file in the House. HB 120: Sex Offender Registration HB 120 would amend a number of provisions related to required registration of convicted sex offenders. The bill would reduce the time in which an offender must register, eliminate district court hearings to determine the level of risk for re-offense that an offender may pose, eliminate risk levels for re-offense, require all levels of sexual offenders to register, make registration information about all offenders public, increase the time of required registration for offenders, and increase the penalties for failure to register. Opponents of this bill argued that it would remove due process safeguards, take away judicial discretion, and treat all sexual offenders including adolescents as sexual predators, with no consideration for specific case circumstances or likelihood of re-offense. The House Judiciary Committee unanimously passed HB 120 on Thursday, and the bill has been placed on general file in the House. HB
154: Sales Tax on Food – Exemption HB 154 would extend the exemption of groceries from sales taxation until July 2013. The bill would alter the sales tax distribution formula to reimburse local governments for the estimated revenue decrease they would otherwise experience as a result of not applying sales tax to food. The House Revenue Committee set aside HB 154 in favor of HB 93 (see above) on Friday. SF 12: Sex Offenses by Corrections Personnel SF 12 would establish a crime for sex offenses committed by corrections staff against persons under supervision by the corrections facility. It would also provide that consent of the victim is not a defense against such crimes. Wyoming currently has no law against sex offenses by corrections staff against residents or inmates of the correctional system. The Senate passed SF 12 on second reading on Friday, and the bill will move on to third reading on Monday. SF 33: Open Containers of Alcohol SF 33 represents the fifth attempt in five years to strengthen Wyoming’s law regulating open containers of alcoholic beverages in motor vehicles. Current law (adopted in 2001) only prohibits the driver of a vehicle from possessing an opened container of alcohol, but does not apply to passengers in vehicles. SF 33 would extend the prohibition on open containers to any person in a motor vehicle while it is in motion. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hear SF 33 on Monday morning at 8:00 am. SF
46: School Finance – Recapture – 2 SF 46 would implement an amendment to the Wyoming Constitution that was approved by the voters of the state in the 2006 general election. SF 46 would statutorily require school districts that are subject to recapture to remit the excess revenues to the state for the 2006-2007 school year and every year thereafter. Contractual obligations encumbered before March 15, 2007 would be honored and deducted from 2006-2007 recaptured amounts. Recaptured revenues would flow into the public school foundation account. The Senate Education Committee passed SF 46 on Friday, and the bill has been placed on general file in the Senate. SF 73: State-Federal Partnership Schools SF
83: Wyoming Business Council – Repeal Sunset SF 83 would repeal the sunset date for the Wyoming Business Council, which currently stands to be terminated on July 1, 2008. The Senate Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee passed SF 83 on Friday. The Equality State Policy Center argued against the bill, noting that the corporate style structure of the Wyoming Business Council, with at-will employees and public-private funding (primarily public to date) was supposed to be experimental. A report by the Legislative Service Office last year was inconclusive about the effectiveness of the Council, and the ESPC argued that the sunset date should not be repealed before additional, serious evaluation of the success or failure of the experiment has taken place.
Please Visit The Following Links:
|
| 2007 LAP* Book Home | | | | | Votes on Key Legislation |
| LAP* Book Home | | | ESPC Home | | | Contact Us | | | Contribute |
|
Equality State Policy Center 340 West B Street Suite 203 Casper WY 82601 307-472-5939 dneal@equalitystate.org www.equalitystate.org |