Well, here we are: The end of the day on the last deadline day of what is affectionately knows as Crossover Week in the Wyoming Legislature.
As you know, Monday was fast and furious - and LONG. Round about 10:24pm well past the 13 hour mark, they called it. Lots of good bills ended up on the cutting room floor. Some pretty marginal bills with powerful backers continued their forward progress.
Tuesday required all of those bills to get through second reading - or die. The House, having a far longer list than the Senate and twice as many members (and well more than twice as many men who like to explain things), had some work to do to keep everything moving. And so they used rule 7-7, a little bit of procedural hocus-pocus, to keep the non-controversial items from wasting all our precious time.
Wednesday required all of those bills to get through third reading - or die. So tonight we buttoned up the last of the bills in their chambers of origin. Tomorrow, all of it will have crossed over.
So here's the recap on the bills we've been talking about, all of which were still alive at the beginning of the week, some of which no longer are. We offer these updates without comment tonight (for blow-by-blow on the floor debates or editorializing or notes correcting statewide reporters, check out our twitter fee
HB0071 Equal pay - penalties: Passed the Senate Committee of the Whole on 2/6/19.
HB0084 Wage equality - state employees and programs: Failed in Senate Transportation 2-3.
HB0103 Abortion - reporting requirements: Passed the House on 3rd reading with the House adopting two amendments (and rejecting two). You can check out the bill here, the first amendment here, the second amendment here.
HB0107 Sexual assault - parental rights: Passed the House on 3rd reading with an amendment. You can check out the second reading amendment here.
HB0140 Abortion - 48 hour waiting period: Referred to Senate Labor/Health, date TBD.
HB0244 Medicaid - work requirements and expansion: Failed the House Committee of the Whole.
HB0273 Minimum wage: Failed the House Committee of the Whole 2/4/19.
SF0072 Sexual assault biological evidence reporting: Referred to House Judiciary, date TBD.
SF0128 Unborn victims of violence act: Failed the Senate Committee of the Whole 2/4/19.
SF0144: Medicaid and SNAP eligibility: Passed the Senate on third reading. Referred to House Labor/Health to be heard Thursday 2/7/19 upon adjournment.
SJ0003 Wyoming's Women Suffrage Day: Passed the House on 2nd reading on 2/6/19 with three amendments including one to better reflect the experience of indigenous women in Wyoming (you can read two of those amendments: here and here).
Starting tomorrow, all House bills will be in the Senate, all Senate bills will be in the House. We'll keep you posted on what happens from here. There is drama afoot, or so we are told. (Ed. note: Drama confirmed.)
See you tomorrow in the Jonah! (Or on the audio feed, if you're snowed in somewhere.)
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