According to the Wyoming Constitution, bills must pass the Legislature by a majority of all the members elected to each house. This means a successful bill must gain 31 votes in the 60-member House, and 16 votes in the 30-member Senate.

The Wyoming Constitution also requires members with a "personal or private interest" in a bill to disclose this to their colleagues, and refrain from voting on the bill.

(The Wyoming Constitution does not define a personal or private interest. For years the Legislature has either denied the need for, or unsuccessfully wrestled with, a definition of conflict of interest.)

Because an individual with a conflict who does not vote cannot then be counted among the majority of members needed to pass a bill, declaration of a conflict of interest is effectively the same as voting no.

This leads to game-playing with declaration of conflicts, because a member who wants a bill to die anyway can nobly declare a conflict. But if a legislator with a conflict on a bill believes the bill is in the best interests of his/her constituents or the state, then that legislator is stuck on the horns of a dilemma.

HJ 1 offered a way out of the dilemma by proposing an amendment to the Wyoming Constitution providing that a bill shall pass by a majority of those elected to each house who are not prohibited from voting on the bill by a conflict.

For all practical purposes, HJ 1 would mean that a legislator declaring a conflict on a bill would not be counted among the membership of the house for that particular bill, so that a conflict would not translate into a no vote.

Constitutional amendments similar to HJ 1 have been proposed many times, most recently in the 1997 session, when a version sponsored by Rep. Cale Case (R-H54, Lander) died in the House Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee without a vote.

HJ 1 failed to get the two-thirds vote required to introduce a non-budget bill in a budget session, 36-22.