Wyoming LAP Book - Reapportionment

REAPPORTIONMENT TRIGGERS GREATER ACCOUNTABILITY

      Wyoming's 1992 legislative elections were the first in the state's history to be held by legislative district. Until that time, legislators were elected at-large by county, with the larger counties electing more legislators to both the House and Senate.
      Unlike the U.S. Congress, where each state is represented equally in the Senate and proportionately by population in the House, both houses of a state legislature must be apportioned according to population.
      The at-large system was ended by a lawsuit brought by a group of citizens who successfully contended that it did not provide equal representation as required by the U.S. Constitution.
      For example, Niobrara County had one representative for approximately 2500 people, while Washakie County had one representative for approximately 8000 people.
      Besides the inequity in representation, another damaging aspect of the at-large system was the inability to hold individual candidates accountable when all the candidates in counties with several legislators were running in a "pack."
      After the citizens won the lawsuit, the 1992 Legislature fashioned a legislative districting system comprised of 30 single-member Senate districts. Each Senate district was divided to form two single-member House districts, creating a 60-member House of Representatives.
      Thus every Wyoming citizen, regardless of residence, has one Representative and one Senator in the Legislature.
      The new legislative districting system is not perfect - but one of its principal advantages is greatly increased accountability. With only one Representative and Senator apiece, it is possible for Wyoming citizens to more accurately assess the performance of their own representatives and senators in Cheyenne.

The Wyoming LAP* Book seeks to aid your ability to evaluate your legislators by providing campaign contribution data and voting records for each Senator and Representative.

The following sections -

How a Bill Becomes Law,
Accountability of the Legislature to Wyoming Citizens and
How Legislative Campaigns are Financed

- provide background information on how candidates are elected and how they work once they get to the Legislature. Campaign contribution information and descriptions of key votes from the 1997-98 legislative biennium are provided on the pages following How to Locate Your Legislators and Key Votes of the 1997-1998 Biennium.
In addition, background information on the Wyoming Supreme Court's decision requiring equalization of school funding and Wyoming's tax system are found in the K- 12 Education and Taxation & Revenue sections, respectively.