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2005 General Session
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Under current Wyoming law, all meetings of the governing body of a public agency are open to the public at all times, with some defined exceptions for executive sessions that may be closed to the public. Until now, there were no penalties for not following the open meetings laws.
HB 165 added penalties for knowing and willful violation of the open meetings law. Intentional violation of the law became a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $750, and constituted sufficient cause for removal from office or position.
Supporters of HB 165 liked Wyoming’s open meetings law, but argued that it lacked teeth without any penalties. They argued that adding a penalty to the law was appropriate because it would encourage public officials to carefully follow the law and include the public in the public’s business. They noted that penalties would only apply to officials who intentionally tried to prevent public participation, and that it was entirely appropriate to punish people who intentionally break the law.
Opponents worried that HB 165 might stifle volunteer participation on public boards, as people might worry about prosecution for accidentally breaking the open meetings law.
HB 165 passed the House on third reading, 50-9 (1 excused). The Senate amended the bill to specify that a board member could formally object to an improper executive session and have his or her objection recorded in minutes of the executive session. While the rest of the executive session minutes would remain confidential (except under court order), any such objection would be made public at the next regular open session of the board, and this action would protect the objecting member from prosecution for violating the open meetings law.
The Senate passed this amended version of HB 165, 19-10 (1 excused). The House didn’t like the Senate’s amendments, and rejected the bill, which sent it into a conference committee. The first conference committee’s efforts were rejected by the Senate, which sent the bill into a second conference committee. This committee modified the Senate’s amendments but kept the basic concepts embodied in the original Senate amendments. This time, both the House and Senate accepted the conference committee version of the bill, and it finally was signed into law by the governor.
The votes listed below are the House and Senate third reading votes. A YES vote means the legislator supported adding penalties to Wyoming’s open meetings law. A NO vote means the legislator did not support adding these penalties to the law.
| Bighorn Basin Legislators | House 3rd 1/25/05 | Senate 3rd 2/17/05 |
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| S 18 | Hank Coe (R) | No | |
| H 24 | Colin Simpson (R) | Yes | |
| H 50 | Pat Childers (R) | Yes | |
| S 19 | Laness D. Northrup (R) | No | |
| H 25 | Alan Jones (R) | Yes | |
| H 26 | Elaine Harvey (R) | Yes | |
| S 20 | Gerald E. Geis (R) | Yes | |
| H 27 | Debbie Hammons (D) | Yes | |
| H 28 | Lorraine Quarberg (R) | Yes | |
| Casper-Area Legislators | House 3rd 1/25/05 | Senate 3rd 2/17/05 |
|
| S 27 | John Barrasso (R) | No | |
| H 35 | Roy Cohee (R) | Yes | |
| H 36 | Gerald Gay (R) | Yes | |
| S 28 | Kit Jennings (R) | No | |
| H 56 | Tom Walsh (R) | Yes | |
| H 57 | Thomas A. Lockhart (R) | Yes | |
| S 29 | Bill Hawks (R) | No | |
| H 37 | Steve Harshman (R) | Yes | |
| H 59 | Mary Gilmore (D) | Yes | |
| S 30 | Charles K. Scott (R) | No | |
| H 38 | Bob Brechtel (R) | No | |
| H 58 | Ann Robinson (D) | Yes | |
| Cheyenne-Area Legislators | House 3rd 1/25/05 | Senate 3rd 2/17/05 |
|
| S 4 | Tony Ross (R) | Yes | |
| H 7 | Doug Samuelson (R) | Yes | |
| H 41 | Becket Hinckley (R) | Yes | |
| S 5 | John Hanes (R) | Yes | |
| H 8 | Larry Meuli (R) | Yes | |
| H 42 | Pete Illoway (R) | Yes | |
| S 6 | Wayne H. Johnson (R) | No | |
| H 9 | Bryan Pedersen (R) | Yes | |
| H 10 | Rodney "Pete" Anderson (R) | Yes | |
| S 7 | Kathryn Sessions (D) | Yes | |
| H 11 | Wayne Reese (D) | Yes | |
| H 43 | Dan Zwonitzer (R) | Yes | |
| S 8 | E. Jayne Mockler (D) | Yes | |
| H 12 | Layton Morgan (D) | Yes | |
| H 44 | Floyd Esquibel (D) | Yes | |
| Gillette-Area Legislators | House 3rd 1/25/05 | Senate 3rd 2/17/05 |
|
| S 23 | John Hines (R) | Yes | |
| H 31 | Thomas E. Lubnau II (R) | Yes | |
| H 52 | Burke Jackson (R) | Excused | |
| S 24 | Michael Von Flatern (R) | No | |
| H 32 | Jeff Wasserburger (R) | No | |
| H 53 | Frank Latta (R) | Yes | |
| Lander/Riverton-Area Legislators | House 3rd 1/25/05 | Senate 3rd 2/17/05 |
|
| S 25 | Cale Case (R) | Yes | |
| H 33 | W. Patrick Goggles (D) | Yes | |
| H 54 | Del McOmie (R) | No | |
| S 26 | Robert A. Peck (R) | Yes | |
| H 34 | Frank Philp (R) | Yes | |
| H 55 | David Miller (R) | No | |
| Northeast/East Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 1/25/05 | Senate 3rd 2/17/05 |
|
| S 1 | C.L. Townsend (R) | Yes | |
| H 1 | Mark Semlek (R) | Yes | |
| H 2 | Ross Diercks (D) | Yes | |
| S 2 | Jim Anderson (R) | Yes | |
| H 5 | James C. Hageman (R) | No | |
| H 6 | Dave Edwards (R) | Yes | |
| S 3 | Curt Meier (R) | No | |
| H 3 | Deborah Alden (R) | Yes | |
| H 4 | Edward A. Buchanan (R) | Yes | |
| Sheridan-Area Legislators | House 3rd 1/25/05 | Senate 3rd 2/17/05 |
|
| S 21 | Bruce Burns (R) | Yes | |
| H 29 | Jerry Iekel (R) | No | |
| H 51 | Rosie Berger (R) | Yes | |
| S 22 | John Schiffer (R) | No | |
| H 30 | Jack Landon (R) | Yes | |
| H 40 | Doug Osborn (R) | Yes | |
| South Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 1/25/05 | Senate 3rd 2/17/05 |
|
| S 9 | Mike Massie (D) | Yes | |
| H 13 | Jane Warren (D) | Yes | |
| H 45 | Kevin A. White (R) | Yes | |
| S 10 | Phil Nicholas (R) | Yes | |
| H 14 | Kermit C. Brown (R) | Yes | |
| H 46 | James Slater (R) | Yes | |
| S 11 | Bill Vasey (D) | Yes | |
| H 15 | George Bagby (D) | Yes | |
| H 47 | Kurt Bucholz (R) | Yes | |
| Southwest WY Legislators | House 3rd 1/25/05 | Senate 3rd 2/17/05 |
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| S 12 | Rae Lynn Job (D) | Yes | |
| H 48 | Marty Martin (D) | Yes | |
| H 16 | Pete Jorgensen (D) | Yes | |
| S 13 | Tex Boggs (D) | Yes | |
| H 17 | Stephen Watt (R) | Yes | |
| H 60 | Bill Thompson (D) | Yes | |
| S 14 | Stan Cooper (R) | Excused | |
| H 18 | Mick Powers (R) | No | |
| H 39 | John Hastert (D) | Yes | |
| S 15 | Ken Decaria (D) | Yes | |
| H 19 | Owen Petersen (R) | No | |
| H 49 | Bruce Barnard (R) | No | |
| West Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 1/25/05 | Senate 3rd 2/17/05 |
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| S 16 | Pat Aullman (R) | Yes | |
| H 20 | Kathy Davison (R) | Yes | |
| H 21 | Randall Luthi (R) | Yes | |
| S 17 | Grant Larson (R) | Yes | |
| H 22 | Monte Olsen (R) | Yes | |
| H 23 | Keith Gingery (R) | Yes | |
See Southwest Region for H 16 and S 12 | |||