Wyoming House wraps Committee of the Whole; dozens of bills pass or move forward, several votes recorded

The Wyoming House of Representatives completed an extended Committee of the Whole session on Feb. 20, 2025, advancing and voting on a large package of bills and resolutions that touch school finance, state trust funds, election rules, judicial treatment courts and energy policy. Several enrolled acts were signed by the presiding officer on the floor, and multiple concurrence and roll-call votes were recorded.

The work mattered because many of the measures affect how the state budgets and manages long-term trust funds, how courts and counties handle mental-health-related offenses, and how elections, local projects and utility wildfire mitigation decisions will be implemented. A handful of bills drew sustained floor debate and roll-call votes; others advanced by voice vote or were postponed.

Votes at a glance (selected items discussed/passed or otherwise acted on during the Committee of the Whole):

- House Enrolled Act 56 (orig. House Bill 117) — omnibus water projects: Motion to sign the enrolled act was taken and Speaker signed the enrolled act on the floor. Outcome: Enrolled and signed. Notes: omnibus water bill authorizing multiple projects, transfers and appropriations; sponsors and floor managers urged prompt action to secure project funding.

- House Enrolled Act 55 (orig. House Bill 79) — bond elections, voter threshold requirement: Speaker signed enrolled act number 55. Outcome: Enrolled and signed.

- House Enrolled Act 54 (orig. House Bill 90) — anthrax testing protocol for livestock: Speaker signed enrolled act number 54. Outcome: Enrolled and signed.

- Senate Enrolled Act 61 (orig. Senate File 103) — prohibiting certain diversity/equity/inclusion efforts in public institutions: Speaker signed enrolled act 61 on the floor; a governor's message concerning a different enrolled act was read later. Outcome: Enrolled and signed.

- Concurrences with Senate amendments on House bills: Multiple concurrence votes were held. Notable results recorded in roll calls include: • House Bill 90 (anthrax protocol): Concurred with Senate amendments — vote recorded as 58 aye, 4 excused. • House Bill 79 (bond elections timing language): Concurred with Senate amendments — vote recorded as 52 aye, 7 no, 3 excused. • House Bill 117 (water omnibus; later enrolled as House Enrolled Act 56): House concurred with Senate amendments — recorded as 34 aye, 26 no, 2 excused. • House Bill 154 (false voting amendments): House voted not to concur with Senate amendments — recorded as 1 aye, 57 no, 4 excused; a conference committee was appointed.

- Committee of the Whole: major bills advanced (Committee recommendation to pass): • Senate File 34 — school finance: routine and major-maintenance calculations (Committee of the Whole passed; floor managers described a roughly $38 million shortfall addressed by the bill; the Committee reported the bill do pass). • Senate File 70 — investment modernization for certain state trust funds: Committee reported do pass; floor debate described combining two trust funds and setting spending percentages (committee discussion referenced a 3% spending rate for one account and 4% for the other in the bill text). • Senate File 44 — "Fairness in Sports" (intercollegiate athletics): Committee of the Whole passed the bill with committee and Committee-of-the-Whole amendments incorporating language from a prior House bill; the bill drew extended floor debate on definitions and enforcement, and the Committee recommended passage with adopted amendments. • Senate File 95 — special purpose depository institutions (SPDI / "speedy banks"): Committee reported do pass with an amendment; floor discussion described lowering a minimum deposit threshold (from $5,000 to $1,000 in the statute) and higher capitalization requirements (20% capitalization threshold noted on the floor). • Senate File 91 — protection of petroglyphs/pictographs and related penalties: Committee recommended passage with an adopted standing committee amendment that removed a proposed appropriation while leaving the substantive protections and new penalty language in place. • Senate File 160 — expansion of treatment courts/diversion for mental-health-related low-level offenders: Committee recommended passage with a Committee of the Whole amendment clarifying eligibility; floor managers described pilot programs and an intent to reduce jail stays for people with qualifying mental-health conditions.

- Contested and roll-call outcomes of wider interest: • Senate Joint Resolution 1 (application for an Article V convention of states): Extensive floor debate occurred; the measure failed on roll call in Committee of the Whole and was indefinitely postponed after a roll-call result of 25 aye, 32 no, 5 excused. • Senate File 175 (unemployment insurance weeks reduction proposal): The bill failed on a roll call in Committee of the Whole and was indefinitely postponed after a vote of 23 aye, 36 no, 3 excused. (The standing committee amendment had earlier removed a proposed renaming and left a proposal to reduce maximum benefit weeks from 26 to 20.) • Senate File 109 (open enrollment within Wyoming school districts): Failed in Committee of the Whole (roll call result recorded as 16 aye, 40 no, 6 excused) and was indefinitely postponed on the floor.

- Conference committee and reconciliations: • The House appointed conference committees where the chambers did not concur (examples: House Bill 154 — a conference committee of Clauston (chair), Yin and Locke was named after the House voted not to concur with Senate amendments). The floor also adopted a House–Senate conference committee report on Senate File 74 (immunity for overdose reporting; the agreed report set a limit of two qualifying overdose-immunity occurrences per year; the House adopted the conference committee report).

What this list does not include: many technical or committee-level amendments, multiple short voice votes and several other Committee of the Whole motions that passed without roll-call tallies. Where the official roll-call tally was given on the floor, it is recorded above. Where the transcript shows a voice vote or the presiding officer announced "passed" or "signed," the article lists the outcome as "passed/Enrolled and signed." If a specific roll-call number was not read aloud or recorded in the transcript extract, tally is listed as "not specified" in underlying records.

Procedural note: Speaker Chip Nyman and reading clerks completed several enrolled-act signings on the House floor; multiple committee and floor managers (Representative Banks, Representative Knapp, Representative Locke, Representative Byron, Representative Brown, Representative Singh, Representative Lawley and others) moved concurrences, committee amendments, or reported bills in Committee of the Whole. Several Committee of the Whole amendments and standing-committee amendments were adopted on the floor; where adopted they appear alongside each bill in the legislative record.

Looking ahead: Several bills that passed Committee of the Whole move to second and third reading on the House calendar next week; members and floor managers noted that the time remaining in session constrains the window for possible veto overrides, so quickly completing transmittal and signatures for enrolled acts was emphasized by floor leaders.

Endnote: This summary lists outcomes recorded on the House floor during the Committee of the Whole session on Feb. 20, 2025. For complete roll-call transcripts, enrolled text, committee reports and final vote tallies consult the official House Journal and the Secretary of State’s posted records.