Labor Committee votes to adjourn early, frustrating some members – SVI-NEWS

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By Hannah Shields
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via Wyoming News Exchange

CHEYENNE — To the disappointment of some lawmakers, the Wyoming Legislature’s Labor, Health and Human Services Committee adjourned two hours into the second day of a two-day session in Cheyenne on Friday.

“It wasn’t worth spending taxpayer money to have the same conversations over and over again,” committee co-chairman Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, said in a phone interview with Wyoming Tribune Eagle after the meeting.

The first item on the agenda was a bill that would create a health care commission in the governor’s office. The commission’s goal is to work year-round to collect data and research on health care in Wyoming. The commission would present its findings to the Legislature, which could be used to develop new health care policy legislation.

In essence, it would be another tool for lawmakers to craft legislation that best meets the health care needs of the Cowboy State.

However, “there have been some social media posts and campaign materials” that have claimed lawmakers are allowing the governor to expand the bureaucracy by appointing the commission, Zwonitzer told WTE.

Based on discussions at previous committee meetings and conversations with lawmakers this morning, “there was no faith that the bill would ever get done,” he said.

Before lawmakers began work on the bill, Zwonitzer on Friday morning asked members if they wanted to devote 90 minutes to a bill that “likely” won’t be passed by the next legislative session.

“I know there are people in the audience who want to testify on this bill. But I also know that this has become a politically controversial issue and, because of some of the threads on social media, it has very little chance of passing this session, from what I understand,” Zwonitzer said.

In a straw vote, a majority of committee members decided to sidestep the issue.

However, the opportunity for public testimony was still open because government officials had set aside time in their schedules to testify.

Senior policy adviser for health and human services in the governor’s office Jen Davis was the first to take the microphone. Davis said she respected the committee’s decision not to consider the bill but added that it was an “important” topic nonetheless.

“To be successful, (we have to) have good health care,” Davis said. “We have a lot of challenges in Wyoming with our health care infrastructure, so the purpose of the commission is to really put health care at the forefront.”

Rep. Ben Hornok, R-Cheyenne, said the bill appears to violate the separation of powers because it establishes a health care commission in the executive branch. He pointed to the governor’s veto of a bill that would provide funds for the Legislature to engage in litigation, a power already held by the executive branch.

Governor Mark Gordon said the bill was “a clear attempt to cross, blur and trample the dividing lines between our co-equal but distinct branches of government.”

“How is it possible that the governor does not blur the lines of executive power by slightly exceeding the boundaries of legislative competence?” Hornok said.

Wyoming Medical Society Executive Director Sheila Bush said that’s a group of people who are seeking legislative approval to conduct health care research in Wyoming throughout the year. The commission will feed its findings back to the Legislature as a resource for health policy, she said.

“That is strictly the sole purpose of it; it is nothing more. It has no authority,” Bush said.

The committee spent the next hour and a half discussing House Bill 132, “Music Therapy — Application of Title,” which was successfully forwarded as a committee-sponsored bill for the 2025 general session by a vote of 9–4.

After returning from a 10-minute recess, Rep. Mike Yin, a Democrat from Jackson, made an “unusual” proposal.

“I may be a little selfish, but many of us have a long way home,” Yin said. “Since the number of people who will not return to this committee is high, I would like to drop the remaining two topics and end the deliberations so that we can still have daylight when we go home.”

After the primary elections, only four original committee members will return to the new Legislature next year. Zwonitzer, co-chair Sen. Fred Baldwin, R-Kemmerer, and several others will not return in 2025.

Zwonitzer led a roll call vote on the motion to adjourn the meeting early. Seven members, including both chairmen, raised their hands in support of the motion. Those voting in favor included Reps. Forrest Chadwick, R-Evansville; Ken Clouston, R-Gillette; Kevin O’Hearn, R-Mills; Sen. Eric Barlow, R-Gillette; and Yin.

However, not everyone was happy.

“It’s just not right,” said Sen. Lynn Hutchings, a Republican from Cheyenne.

Rep. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper, said she was looking forward to the 1:30 p.m. agenda item, House Bill 33.6, “Taxpayer Finance — Prohibited Sexual Events.” The bill would define “sexual events” and prohibit certain entities from “co-sponsoring or sponsoring sexual events.”

“I think it’s an important topic to talk about, and I’m very discouraged that we won’t talk about it,” Ward said. “I have a hard time understanding why we would.”

Rep. Sarah Penn, R-Lander, filed the bill after a sold-out drag show in Laramie that raised money for Wyoming AIDS Assistance, a nonprofit that supports men, women and children living with AIDS or HIV. The Wyoming Department of Health’s infectious disease unit distributed nearly $3,000 in federal grants for the event. She told WTE via text message that she was “shocked and very disappointed” the meeting was postponed earlier.

“This bill is highly desired by my constituents and many others across the state,” Penn wrote. “THE PEOPLE wanted it, and this morning some members of the Joint Labor, Health (and Human Services) Committee gave them the finger.”

Both Ward and Zwonitzer lost their re-election bids in the August 20 primary.