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January 17, 2007Day 7 – Wednesday INDEX OF BILLS COVERED IN TODAY’S REPORT TODAY’S ACTION ON BILLS 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 unanimously passed HB 25 on third reading on Wednesday, and the bill has been sent to the Senate. 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 passed HB 36 on second reading on Wednesday, and the bill will move on to third reading on Thursday. HB 46: Workers’ Compensation
Coemployee Immunity HB 46 would amend the workers’ compensation co-employee immunity statute to give immunity from civil liability to an employee for causing a work related injury to a co-employee, unless there was a deliberate intent to cause physical harm or injury. HB 46 includes a declaration of legislative intent to change the effect of a recent Wyoming Supreme Court decision that interpreted current law to include a different standard of liability (Bertagnolli V. Louderback, 2003). The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee will resume consideration of HB 46 on Wednesday after the House adjourns. 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 passed HB 47 on Wednesday, 46-14. The bill has been sent to the Senate. HB 59: Moist Snuff Tobacco Tax HB 59 would add a specific tax on moist snuff tobacco, which is currently taxed in a group with all tobacco products other than cigarettes at a rate of 20% of wholesale purchase price. Under HB 59, moist snuff (also known as chew) would be taxed at a rate of fifty cents ($0.50) per ounce. The House Revenue Committee passed HB 59 on Wednesday, and the bill is on general file. 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 Appropriations Committee will hear HB 60 on Thursday at about 9:00 a.m. HB 70: Game and Fish – License
Fees HB 70 would increase hunting and fishing license fees by 20%, effective in 2008. It would also increase application, conservation stamp and permit fees, selling agent fees and landowner coupon payments by 20%, and would generate about $5.6 million in additional revenue for the Game and Fish Department annually. The House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee passed HB 70 on Wednesday, and the bill is on general file. HB 71: Game and Fish – License
Fees 2 HB 71 would automatically adjust all fees charged by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and landowner coupon payments to account for inflation, using the implicit price deflator as published by the United States Department of Commerce as the index to determine the annual rate of increase or decrease. The House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee passed HB 71 on Wednesday, and the bill is on general file. HB 85: Game and Fish - Funding HB 85 would provide a one-year appropriation of $5.66 million from the general fund to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, to be used for specified programs that benefit Wyoming citizens in general, regardless of whether they hunt or fish. The programs on which the general fund money could be spent would include sensitive species programs (including terrestrial and aquatic native nongame species and trophy game conflict resolution); habitat programs; conservation education programs; sage grouse planning and protection; and veterinary programs (including brucellosis, chronic wasting disease and other disease management programs). The House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee unanimously passed HB 85 on Wednesday, and the bill has been re-referred to the House Appropriations Committee. 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 was scheduled to hear HB 99 on Wednesday, but no action was reported by Wednesday night. Check tomorrow’s report for an update. 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 types 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 Appropriations Committee will hear HB 120 on Thursday at about 7:30 a.m. HB 124: Eminent Domain - 2 HB 124 would strengthen landowners’ standing in legal actions to condemn their private property for public or private projects. It would allow better compensation for landowners, would require reclamation and restoration of property acquired by eminent domain, and would limit condemnation authority for urban renewal projects. It would also eliminate the maximum amount on relocation expenses for a displaced farm, organization or small business (now capped at $10,000). The House Agriculture, Public Lands and Water Resources Committee will resume consideration of HB 124 on Thursday at 7:30 a.m. 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 passed SF 33 on Wednesday on second reading, and the bill will move on to third reading on Thursday. 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 passed SF 46 on Wednesday on second reading, and the bill will move on to third reading on Thursday. SF 51: Temporary Instream Flows SF 51 would permit the state buy, lease, or accept water rights for temporary instream flow purposes. Currently, temporary water use laws do not allow instream flow as a temporary use. SF 51 would allow temporary use for instream flows for up to two years, and a temporary transfer of water rights for instream flow would not be allowed if another water appropriator was harmed by it. The Senate Committee of the Whole passed SF 51 on Wednesday, and the bill will move on to second reading on Thursday. SF 72: Indian School Education Programs SF 72 would require the State of Wyoming and the joint business councils of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Indian Tribes to provide educational programs that address conditions of unemployment, poverty and lack of adequate job skills on the Wind River Indian Reservation. The bill would provide an appropriation of just over $1 million from the general fund to the governor’s office to fund the contracted programs for the coming year. The Senate Appropriations Committee will hear SF 72 on Thursday morning at 8:00 a.m. SF 73: State-Federal Partnership Schools SF 73 would authorize partnership agreements between Wyoming and the federal government to establish state-federal partnership school districts in Wyoming. Such agreements would allow partnership school districts on the Wind River Indian Reservation to be incorporated into the state school system, and partnership schools would be included in Wyoming’s system of school finance, state retirement and school building maintenance programs. State financial support for partnership schools would be reduced by any federal revenue that was available to partnership schools. The Senate Revenue Committee will resume consideration of SF 73 on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. 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 Committee of the Whole passed SF 83 on Wednesday, and the bill will move on to second reading on Thursday. SF 100: Public School Teacher Incentive Programs SF 100 would provide funding for school districts for incentive payments of $2,000 to teachers who are certified and teach in more than one subject area throughout the school year, and for incentive payments of $4,000 to teachers who hold national board certification. It would cost the school foundation fund about $628,000 to fully fund these two incentive programs. The Senate Education Committee passed SF 100, and the bill has been re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. SF
102: Children’s
Advocacy Centers SF 102 would allow children’s advocacy centers (which provide comprehensive services to children who are victims of sexual and physical abuse and neglect) to apply for state and federal funding from the attorney general’s office, through the crime victim’s compensation program. SF 102 would appropriate $1.5 million from the general fund to pay for the program. The Senate Education Committee unanimously passed SF 102 on Wednesday, and the bill has been re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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