House recalls House Bill 128 from committee after roll call, floor raises procedural challenge

The Wyoming House voted to recall House Bill 128 (public-health emergency definition amendments) from Committee 10 for further consideration, but members raised a procedural dispute immediately after the roll call.

Representative McCann moved the recall under House Rule 5-6 and the motion was seconded by members to meet the five-member requirement for a recall under that rule. After debate about whether the committee had held a hearing on the bill, the House proceeded to a roll-call vote. The chief clerk recorded the vote as 31 aye, 28 no, 3 excused; the chair announced, “Having received a majority vote of the elected members, House Bill 128 is recalled from committee number 10.”

Shortly after that announcement Representative Harshman raised a point of order and questioned whether the motion required a majority of members elected or a majority of members present. A member asked for clarification because 31 aye votes is not a majority of the full House if the full membership number is considered; the speaker and clerk indicated the announced count was correct. Later in the exchange a representative said, “That is true. Very good. So, Mr. Speaker, I would say the motion failed,” and another voice said, “The motion did fail then.” The transcript records both the initial announcement that the bill was recalled and the subsequent floor point of order and disagreement over whether the threshold had been met. The record in this transcript does not include a final, uncontested resolution to that point of order.

Representative Yen, who explained the recall motion on the floor, said the committee had “basically just ran out of time and…[she is] just trying to do due diligence to try and get this bill forwarded a little bit further.” Other members, including Representative Harshman, said the bill had not been heard in committee and questioned why it should be recalled without a committee hearing.

Because the transcript records both the roll-call announcement and an immediate point of order challenging the threshold, this report limits itself to what the House record shows on the floor: (1) a recall motion was made and the clerk called a roll; (2) a 31–28 vote with three excused was announced; and (3) a point of order was raised immediately after the announcement challenging whether the required majority had been achieved. The transcript does not include a final disposition resolving the point of order on the record provided here.