An independent voice for Wyoming people
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For an ESPC perspective on the Wyoming policy scene, click here
ESPC executive director Dan Neal offers insights, analysis and comment.
Read or listen to the latest stories from Public News Service-WY here.
The income gaps between Wyoming's richest, middle and poorest families are growing.
The State of Working Wyoming
Who benefits from the boom? This February 2008 report provides statistics and other information on the economic facts of life for Wyoming’s working families … click here to read more.
The Wyoming LAP* Book
(*Legislative Accountability Project)
Information on the 2008 session’s key bills, votes, and legislators’ campaign contributions...click here to read more.
Programs provide voice for Wyoming people
ESPC pushes civic participation, government accountability
The Equality State Policy Center, a broad-based coalition of Wyoming interests, works through research, public education and advocacy to hold state and local governments accountable to the people they represent, and to help Wyomingites participate effectively in public policymaking.
The ESPC’s programs fall into three areas: government accountability (open government, campaign finance reform, lobbyist reporting); tax and fiscal policy (mineral severance taxes, property taxes, tax breaks or incentives, economic diversification); and Wyoming working families (access to health care, minimum wage, gender wage gap, worker safety, quality child care).
Across all these program areas, the ESPC provides trainings for citizen advocates and lobbyists to boost public participation and civic engagement in policymaking. Its election-year voter education and mobilization campaigns make historically un- and under-represented voices heard where policy decisions are being made.
The VOTE Project
The ESPC is a partner in the VOTE Project, a regional effort under the auspices of Western States Center, to educate and mobilize voters and potential voters. VOTE stands for Voter Organizing, Training and Empowerment Project.
Workers’ Compensation reform
The Wyoming Workers’ Compensation system was set up nearly 100 years ago to ensure that injured workers receive medical care necessary to restore health and just benefits if they suffer temporary or permanent disabilities.
Unfortunately, too many injured workers find the bureaucracy difficult to navigate. Many experience delays as they seek compensation for debilitating injuries. The system is broken.
The Equality State Policy Center has joined the Wyoming State AFL-CIO and the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association in an effort to document the system’s problems. Forums in Casper, Cheyenne and Rock Springs revealed the inadequacy of death benefits and the economic devastation some families suffer following a workplace injury. A fourth forum will be held in Gillette on Sept. 10 at the Campbell County Public Library. The forum begins at 7 p.m.
On June 2, injured workers aired their grievances at a hearing before the Joint Labor Health and Social Services Committee. The committee will draft a number of bills addressing the system’s problems and consider them at a subsequent hearing later this year.
For more information, contact Dan Neal.
All banner photos on this web site are copyrighted and courtesy of The Equipoise Fund.
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