Committee weighs steps to give public fresher bill texts, sends rule idea to Management Council

Members of the Select Committee on Legislative Facilities, Technology and Process on Thursday heard testimony about several ways to give the public and legislators clearer, more up‑to‑date bill texts and voted to send a rule draft request to Management Council.

Advocates pressed the committee for more predictable posting of meeting materials and for easier access to bill texts after amendments. "On behalf of our coalition, I'd like to thank this committee and LSO for the improvements made to our legislative process, especially the live streaming and remote, testimony policies that have strengthened our public participation," said Marissa Carpia of the Equality State Policy Center. Tom Laycock of AARP Wyoming said other states he contacted generally provide updated bill copies within 24 to 48 hours and urged the committee to start a conversation about more frequent "fresh" copies after amendments.

LSO Director Obrecht told the committee that staff are working to revise guidance and that LSO will "strive to post all meeting materials 15 days prior to the scheduled start of the meeting," while noting the office still must prioritize work and cannot produce enrolled or recompiled bills for every request without additional resources. Obrecht and other staff described the difficulty: the current drafting system and the need to preserve line numbers and official versions make continual, official automated updates challenging. They said most practical solutions are procedural: limit when amendments are allowed, provide occasional enrolled/enrolled‑style PDFs when staff capacity permits, or produce unofficial tracked‑change versions for public use.

Lawmakers debated tradeoffs. Some members warned that a constantly changing, unofficial "live" bill could confuse voters and members about what is official, while others said a clearly labeled, unofficial redline or an enrolled copy on special request would improve public understanding. Several said AI tools could help produce unofficial explanatory copies, but staff cautioned AI does not remove the need for a careful legal review in complex cases.

On a specific procedural step, the committee adopted a motion to ask Management Council to consider a rule that would let the body vote to request an enrolled copy of a bill. Senator Larson moved to draft the rule; Representative Banks seconded. After discussion about whether the threshold should be a simple majority or two‑thirds, the chair reported the committee would forward the request to Management Council by a roughly 5–1 result.

What happens next: LSO agreed to research options and report back, including examples from other states and estimates of staff or technology needs. The committee asked LSO to consider policies and draft language that could be presented to Management Council before the next session.