Three bills from Sheridan County legislators become law - The Sheridan Press
CHEYENNE — It’s tough to be a bill in the Wyoming Legislature.
By the start of the legislature’s budget session on Feb. 14, a total of 279 bills were introduced. Within the first week, over a third of those — or a total of 99 bills — had failed introduction, were withdrawn from consideration or simply not considered.
Bills continued to drop off through the remaining three weeks of the session. By the morning of the final day of the session on March 11, only 113 bills — or 41% of the total bills — had received approval from both the Senate and the House and were on their way to becoming state law.
Sheridan County legislators had a similar rate of success, with only three of nine bill drafts going the distance through both chambers.
Rep. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, successfully passed House Bill 71, a bill clarifying and cleaning up the state’s driving with a suspended license statute.
This bill ensures drivers from other states are subject to the same enhanced penalty for driving with a suspended or canceled license as drivers from Wyoming, Crago said. The law had some ambiguity and was being administered differently by judges around the state.
“In other words, a person can (currently) have multiple convictions from another state… drive into Wyoming with the suspended license and not be subject to the enhancement despite the convictions,” Crago said during introduction of the bill in the House. “So if you have two convictions in Wyoming… that qualifies you for the enhancement, but 10 from one state and one from Wyoming would not.”
The enhancement provision is applicable when caught driving while a suspension is already in place, Crago said. Those who do so are guilty of a misdemeanor and face imprisonment of up to six months and fines of as much as $750.
Crago said his bill does not change any current penalties or make driving with a suspended license a felony. Rather, it clarifies that drivers from out of state are subject to the same penalties in-state residents face.
“It simply allows our county attorneys to properly deal with the folks that continue to drive without a valid license, regardless of where their convictions happen,” Crago said.
The bill was passed without any amendments from either the Senate or the House.
Rep. Mark Kinner, R-Sheridan, successfully passed House Bill 117 instituting an occupational therapy licensure compact. The compact allows licensed occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants from other states to exercise those licenses in Wyoming.
“The problem I’m trying to solve is I got a call from a constituent who was trying to hire an occupational therapist… and she had a very good candidate from Colorado who could have come up had we had a compact in place,” Kinner said on introduction of the bill in the House. “…What I’m trying to do is improve access to occupational therapy services and increase market opportunities for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants.”
The compact is similar to existing licensure compacts for professionals like physical therapists and nurses, Kinner said. For example, the existing nurses compact is what allows traveling nurses to work in the state without getting a Wyoming-specific license.
The bill received three minor amendments before being approved by both bodies. These amendments removed confusing language and required those applying for compact privileges to be subject to criminal history background checks, among other things, Kinner said.
The bill was signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon on Friday afternoon.
source: https://www.thesheridanpress.com/news/local/three-bills-from-sheridan-county-legislators-become-law/article_472fadd6-a16b-11ec-ad97-ff69cff014ef.html
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