News & Commentary

As usual the first week of the 2014 Wyoming legislative budget session was brisk and many non-budget bills had been filed for consideration. During a budget session any bill that is not an appropriations or budget bill must receive a 2/3 vote for introduction.  A number of bills received that 2/3’s vote this year giving committees a lot of work to accomplish in the first weeks of the session. Thursday February 20, 2014 was the last day for bills to be reported out of the Committee in the House of Origin. Those bills that were not reported out were effectively dead for the rest of the session.  The last Medicaid expansion bill to be considered was not reported out of committee and so died in committee on Wednesday the 19th. The Chairman of the Committee did not hold a vote on the bill and effectively killed it without having any of the members on record with a vote.

Sorry, Wyoming. You have the worst gender wage gap in America. Our state ranks dead last in the nation for the gap between the wages of men and women whether calculated by year round work or measured by hourly or weekly wages. Nationally, women working full-time make on average 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. In Wyoming, women earned only 67 cents for every dollar earned by men.To honor the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the ACLU Women’s Rights Project has joined a coalition of national and state-based women’s rights organizations for the Equal Pay Today! Campaign which calls for an end to the gender wage gap that exists in nearly every industry and profession in the country. They are joining together to call for action to end the practices and close the loopholes in existing laws that contribute to shocking wage gap. These practices include: 

Because the character of society is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members. In a country that imprisons more people than any other in the world, someone must look out for the vulnerable human beings behind bars — both for their sake while they are incarcerated and for society's sake when they are released. In fact, about 97% of Wyoming prisoners will eventually return to our communities. How we treat prisoners should give us an idea of what we should expect from them when they come home.Data compiled from complaints received from prisoners in Wyoming is being released in the second annual report “Incarceration In Wyoming,” which provides details about the numbers and nature of complaints the organization received in 2012. Deficiencies in medical and mental health care continue to top the list of complaints from prisoners in Wyoming. Poor medical and mental health care generated thirty percent of complaints from prisons, and well over a quarter of the complaints from jails. We hope that making this information available will increase public awareness, accountability and transparency of detention facilities in Wyoming. Promoting humane conditions of confinement, consistent with constitutional protections like health, safety and human dignity, is one of our highest priorities. We have also started to look at the effects of solitary confinement on prisoners in Wyoming – the practice of confining a prisoner alone in a cell for 22‐24 hours a day with little human contact and severe restrictions on privileges, such as reading material, television, visitation and participation in rehabilitative group activities. There is a popular misconception that solitary is used only for the most violent and dangerous prisoners. In fact, many low‐risk prisoners may be housed in solitary because they have broken minor rules or filed lawsuits. At WDOC institutions, 506 prisoners were held in solitary confinement in the past year, 146 of them diagnosed as mentally ill.Wyoming has no statutes that address minimum standards for jails or prisons. The Wyoming ACLU is the only agency in the state that will investigate or review inmate complaints regarding the conditions of confinement. “Incarceration” includes a directory of all Wyoming Department of Corrections institutions and county jails, along with “Know Your Rights” information. We distribute these resource guides to inform prisoners of their constitutional rights based on the nature of their complaint. Download below:“Incarceration in Wyoming: 2012 Report on Prison and Jail Complaints” (in pdf)

Jordon Steffen’s March 2013 article in The Denver Post began with this sentence: “The number of juveniles committed to the Colorado Division of Youth Corrections has dropped by 44 percent in seven years, the result of programs that have put more focus on rehabilitation than detention.” Joshua Wolfson’s February 26 Casper Star Tribunearticle, “Wyoming locks away fewer juveniles, but still lags behind rest of nation,” states that even though Wyoming is jailing fewer children that it has in the past, Wyoming still detains more youth than any other state in the nation but South Dakota. While the rest of the nation has seen a steep decline in the rate of juvenile detention Wyoming has a youth detainment rate nearly twice the national average.Not only is Colorado’s youth detention rate down; their juvenile justice system numbers are down in other areas:• 28% decline in juvenile arrests• 1,160 fewer juvenile court cases in the past year• 13% decline in youth recidivism rates in 2012Colorado’s elected officials made a unified and concentrated effort towards reforming their juvenile justice system and worked to bring Colorado to the forefront of the nationwide movement to provide youth with a system that is effective in guiding children to successful and productive lives.The Colorado system uses a number of best practices techniques including:• early intervention• mentors • mental health and substance abuse rehabilitation• individual treatment plans for each juvenileYouth corrections savings can now be moved into child welfare programs in order to provide services for at risk children as young as 5.In order to achieve what Colorado and other states are accomplishing, a state must have not only a unified juvenile justice system, but elected officials that are engaged and knowledgeable about reform. Wyoming has neither.

Ballot initiative victories in Colorado and Washington have brought a new political significance to the national conversation about marijuana policy. A screening of the documentary film Code of the West will be hosted by the ACLU of Wyoming on Tuesday, March 26th at 6:30 pm in the Willow Room at the Laramie County Library in Cheyenne, followed by a community discussion led by Leonard Frieling. The screening is part of a national film tour. Code of the West documents the Montana Legislature’s debate of marijuana regulation and follows the political process of marijuana policy reform – and the recent federal crackdown on medical marijuana growers across the country. The film tracks key figures on each side of the debate. Leonard Frieling is a member of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). He is a former Municipal Court judge for the City of Lafayette, Colorado, and was instrumental in the efforts surrounding Amendment 64. Mr. Frieling currently practices criminal defense law in Boulder, Colorado.Today, medical marijuana is at a serious crossroads. The ACLU of Wyoming is hosting this film as part of its mission to bring attention to the harms resulting from our current drug policies. With neighboring states like Montana and Colorado enacting sensible drug law reforms, this subject is more relevant than ever to Wyoming. Please join us at our screening of Code of the West and learn more about the issue. This event is free and open to the public.Tuesday, March 26th at 6:30 pmLaramie County Library – Willow Room2200 Pioneer AvenueCheyenne, WY 82001Click here for more information

The 62nd Wyoming legislature convened on January 8th for the 2013 general session and adjourned this week leaving extra days available for next year’s budget session. Tuesday night our staff celebrated at the Capitol Club's annual taco party where legislators and lobbyists have some good food and fun after all their long days.There were the inevitable disappointments this year:HB168, Representative Connolly’s domestic partnership bill, and HB169 which would have changed the definition of marriage to a contract between two natural persons, both failed. The marriage equality bill failed in committee and the domestic partnership bill failed on the House floor. It was, however, great to see all the support for the domestic partnership bill and the fact that it got to the floor was a considerable step forward. Senator Rothfuss’ discrimination bill, another pro-LGBT measure which would’ve added sexual orientation and gender identity to our discrimination law, was also defeated. It is past time that Wyoming should add this protection to its statutes, and the failure to do so was extremely troubling. Our office regularly receives complaints from LGBT employees regarding employment discrimination, and we are unable to assist them as our law provides no protections for these individuals.Another disappointment was the voting rights bill, HB129 that Rep. Dan Zwonitzer has worked so hard on – this bill died Monday on third reading in the Senate by one vote. The bill streamlined the process for non-violent felons to reclaim their right to vote. These individuals have completed their sentences and paid their debt to society, and it is a way to bring offenders back into the community as participants and should be strongly supported. These laws that disenfranchise felons came about after the civil war, part of a series of state bills, including literacy tests and poll taxes to disenfranchise newly freed slaves. It is really frustrating to see legislators continue to vote no on a bill simply because they believe that citizens that have made a mistake must be punished endlessly. Once again, our work with Sharon Breitweiser of NARAL Pro-Choice Wyoming, and Planned Parenthood, defeated two really bad anti-choice bills. Representative Kroeker sponsored HB97, which would’ve outlawed abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. This bill was, of course, unconstitutional under the current case law, and after much testimony, did not come out of committee. Senator Nutting and several other legislators sponsored another bill, SF88, Woman’s right to reproductive safety and information, which Senator Nutting proclaimed was not pro or anti-abortion, but was simply a bill to provide women with necessary medical information. The bill erected as many barriers to abortion as possible, giving the usual false information about breast cancer, depression, suicide and abortion and forcing ultrasounds, listening to heartbeat, waiting period, etc. SF88 also died in committee after much testimony. This same type of legislation is brought every session with hours and hours of legislative time spent on bills that are often unconstitutional and always an absolute interference with women’s right to medical privacy and reproductive freedom. Women in Wyoming have almost no access to abortion, and many women must go out of state to receive medical care. It is estimated that there were only 5 abortions performed in Wyoming last year.Wyoming is one of the first states to pass a Juvenile Life Without Parole law; HB23 deals with the U.S Supreme Court case Miller v. Alabama. This recently decided case stated that juveniles should not be sentenced under mandatory life without parole statutes. Courts must take into consideration all of the circumstances of the crime and the individual juvenile when making sentencing decisions. This bill came out of the joint judiciary committee and was supported by both the attorney general’s and public defender’s office. It allows for the possibility of parole after 25 years. We strongly support this bill and we’re happy to see it pass. A bill that showed up again this year in the House was HB74 - Sex offenders - residence near child care facilities. This bill would have prohibited individuals on the sex offender registry from living near child care facilities. GPS maps presented to the committee showed that in many communities here in Wyoming these laws are making it impossible for offenders to live anywhere. This affects their ability to rehabilitate within the community and also has extremely negative effects on offenders’ families. The original intent of the sex offender registry was to register repeat violent offenders, but the current registry is so broad that it includes everyone convicted of any crime that is even loosely considered a sex crime. Crimes such as urinating in public or Romeo and Juliet cases can land you on the sex offender registry. The majority of calls our office has received regarding the registry are these cases where an individual was convicted of this type of Romeo and Juliet crime and is now married to the named victim, has been for a number of years, has no other convictions and still must register on the offender registry. The location of child care centers is almost impossible to keep up with as the facilities change on a monthly basis and the Department of Family Services registers only those centers that are licensed facilities. The original rationale for the prohibition of offenders living near schools was that children walked to and from school, but this is not always true of children that go to day care centers. We opposed this bill and were glad to see it voted down in committee.HB204, Katie’s Law sponsored by Representative Esquibel stated that DNA samples would be taken from every individual arrested, collected by the state and run through national data bases. This bill turns the idea that you are innocent until proven guilty on its head – if the arrestee was not convicted or charges were dropped, the arrestee would have the responsibility of getting the records and DNA destroyed at the state level, and there was no assurance that the info would be taken out of national data bases. The constitutionality of these laws is currently under review by the US Supreme Court and we should have an opinion in the spring. We testified against this bill and it died in committee.Both the Wiretap authorization bill, SF67 and HB76 the Investigative Subpoena bill broadened law enforcements ability to violate individuals’ privacy. Wiretap authorization would have allowed wiretaps on a new array of crimes outside of drug crimes, and HB76 provided for subpoenas in internet fraud cases and internet fraud was defined very broadly. Neither of these bills made it into law but we expect to see a continued effort by law enforcement and the attorney general’s office to broaden their authority to peer into individuals’ private lives.Despite 50 years of pleas for change, the legislature and the Governor continue to ignore the need to reform our juvenile justice system. Two small bills for juveniles passed this year: SF17 - Community juvenile services that would allow the county commission to apply for funds reserved for community service board grants, and another, HB175, that asks law enforcement to contact a parent or guardian when a child is issued a citation. Law enforcement was very resistant to this bill and implied in testimony that it was too much to require and they did not have the time to notify parents. Neither the school system or law enforcement must notify parents when a child is being questioned in the school, and our office gets many complaints about this. Most of our children go through adult courts which are also not compelled to notify parents that their children are in court so it seems a small effort to ask that police officer notify parents if a child is in trouble. These are the only two bills that came out of legislature this session for juvenile justice and nether one of them addresses the systemic problems that continue to plague the state. During the interim, the Joint Judiciary Committee is hoping to receive information from the Governor’s newly appointed task force on juvenile justice. At this time it is not clear what the task forces’ appointed task is.Learn more about the interim topics to be considered by the Wyoming Legislature.Wyoming was the last state in the nation without a law that addressed human trafficking, and we’re happy to see Representative Connolly’s HB133 - Human trafficking passed this session. Hopefully, this will result in more protection for the victims of these types of crimes. The rationale for the bill was that while there are federal laws against trafficking, some of the smaller cases fall through the cracks, and all states need laws in order to prosecute these cases.These are just a few of the highlights of the session and we will be releasing a complete look at our work in our legislative report that will be posted to our website in the next few weeks. It was a very successful session for us, and while I am happy for a little rest now that it’s over, it is always a pleasure to work with our Wyoming Legislature.

America is one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world. Our freedom to believe (or not believe) is protected by the Constitution. One of the ways we guard religious freedom is by making sure that public schools – which are part of and representatives of our government – neither advance or inhibit religion.House Bill 130 – Education-elective academic Bible study is a bill that states that a Wyoming school district may offer an elective course on the Old Testament and the New Testament for students in 9th grade or above. This course would be an academic course that is supposed to teach knowledge of the Bible.We believe that this bill is another example of the Wyoming legislators pushing for legislation that is a solution looking for a problem. HB130 is completely unnecessary, and is potentially unconstitutional under the Wyoming Constitution. We believe that religious education is best left to parents and their children, not public school officials.HB130 brings up a whole host of questions and concerns, such as:• Which translation of the Bible will be used?• What academic qualifications must teachers obtain before they can become “accredited” instructors of the Bible under this proposal?• How will school districts ensure teachers’ objectivity and unbiased instruction of the Bible? • Will it open school districts up for lawsuits?Unfortunately, HB130 passed out of the Senate Education Committee this morning and will go to the entire Wyoming Senate for debate. If you believe that religious education is best left to parents and houses of worship, not public schools, WE NEED YOUR HELP TO DEFEAT HB130!Please contact your Senator to let them know you oppose HB130. You may also vocalize your opposition to HB130 at the online voter hotline or by calling the telephone hotline -- 1-866-996-8683 (or 307-777-8683 for local callers within the Cheyenne area). The telephone hotline is staffed only when the Legislature is in session, approximately 8:00-5:00 Monday-Friday.Remember, individuals have the right to express religious beliefs; public schools do not. 

The ACLU of Wyoming keeps you updated on bills that impact civil liberties in Wyoming during the 2013 legislative session. The session is moving fast! We're halfway through the session, and Monday was the last day for bills in the Committee of the Whole in the house of origin. Yesterday the last day for second reading in the house of origin, and today is the last day for third reading in the house of origin.While we have enjoyed legislative victories already this year – defeating two anti-choice bills and gaining traction on a bill to extend voting rights to non-violent felons – we had two very disappointing loses last week on bills which would have gone a long way in granting equal rights to Wyoming’s LGBT community. SF131 Discrimination proposed to make discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity illegal, and was defeated in the Senate 13 – 17. HB168 Domestic Partnerships failed to pass the House by a vote of 25 – 34. HB168 sought to extend legal rights and responsibilities to domestic partnerships. Despite these losses, these bills had considerable support in each chamber and went further in the legislative process than in years past. We’re encouraged by this trend and will continue to support pro-LGBT proposals in the future. We love hearing from our supporters, so please share any information or comments you might have about these bills so we can keep our information up-to-date. Learn more about how to participate in the legislative process. If we have missed any bills you think we should be following, please send us an email.

Forty years ago today, the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that recognized that a pregnant woman has a right to make her own decision about whether to have a child or have an abortion. Since then, some politicians have been trying to take that decision out of a woman’s hands. Over the past two years, these efforts have reached record levels. In those two short years, our elected representatives found the time to pass almost 140 provisions designed to interfere with a woman and her family’s private decisions about whether or not to have children. Of course, we don’t all feel the same way about abortion. But we should be able to agree that important decisions like these are better made by a woman, her family, and her doctor than by politicians.Indeed, the American people have shown they don't want politicians to interfere in personal, private decision-making. This year, across the country, people came together to speak out against reproductive restrictions and those who pushed them. In states like Virginia, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Idaho, women and men took time out of their busy lives to go to their state capitols and tell their representatives to leave these decisions where they belong: with a woman, her family, and her doctor. And these folks aren’t just talking, they are voting. Recently, voters in states as diverse as Mississippi and Colorado, Florida, and North Dakota all rejected ballot measures that would have interfered with a woman’s ability to make her own decisions about pregnancy. Politicians with extreme views on the right to choose whether to have an abortion lost at the polls. In fact, Americans are so fed up with politicians trying to interfere with a woman’s private health care decision, that a Gallup poll found that 39 percent of women in 12 battleground states said abortion was the most important issue for women in the election. Incredibly, however, some politicians still haven’t gotten the message. For example, over the last two years, some politicians in the U.S. House of Representatives tried to change the definition of rape; several states passed laws mandating that a woman undergo an ultrasound and be forced to see an image before she can have an abortion; and politicians tried to give employers the right to deny a woman insurance coverage for birth control. Even some Wyoming legislators are still determined to take away a woman’s ability to make her own decisions about birth control, pregnancy, and abortion. Two legislative measures being debated in the Wyoming legislature would effectively ban almost all abortion services in Wyoming. Both HB97 and SF88 violate provisions upheld in Roe v. Wade, and amount to nothing more than governmental interference into private medical decisions of Wyoming women and their families.  These attacks at the state and federal level notwithstanding, we must keep in mind two important lessons that we learned this year. First, however each of us personally feels about abortion, Americans have had enough of politicians trying to take that decision away from women and their families. Second, if we continue to speak out, we can stem this tide. We can stop politicians from interfering in a woman’s private health care decisions. So this year, when legislators in Cheyenne try to push restrictions on reproductive health care for Wyoming women, we must stand together and them realize just how out-of-touch and out-of-date they are.