Sen. Tom James

Maddy summaryWyoming's SF 111 authorizes community colleges to offer applied bachelor's degree programs (called "baccalaureate of applied science" degrees) for the first time. It requires the Community College Commission to approve all new such programs before they can receive state funding. The bill also updates the Hathaway scholarship program to cover these new degrees, allowing students to use scholarships for up to eight semesters to complete them while maintaining a 2.25 GPA. This directly affects community college students pursuing applied bachelor's degrees and the colleges offering them.

Maddy summaryWyoming's HB 103 requires physicians performing abortions to submit detailed, non-identifying reports to the state health office within 20 days. The reports must include the patient's age, race, procedure type, and gestational age (but not names or addresses), with late submissions incurring $1,000 fees per 30-day period. Failure to report or submit complete forms may lead to disciplinary action by the medical board or misdemeanor penalties for intentional falsification. The state must publish annual anonymized abortion statistics by June 30 each year, ensuring no data could identify individual patients, and these reports are shared with national health authorities. The law took effect July 1, 2019.

Maddy summarySF 161 amends Wyoming's legislative management council membership rules. It specifies that two senators and two representatives are selected at large by each chamber's party caucuses, with strict limits on party representation (no more than one from the same party as the chamber's presiding officer). The bill also establishes a two-year rotation of the council chairmanship between the House and Senate and clarifies that the council directs the legislature's day-to-day operations. This procedural bill affects only the internal organization of the Wyoming Legislature, not public policy.

Maddy summaryHB 183 repeals restrictions that previously banned concealed weapons in certain public spaces, allowing permit holders to carry concealed firearms in government meetings, the legislature, and most public schools (with exceptions for specific school district policies under existing law). It establishes that only the Wyoming state legislature can regulate firearms, weapons, and ammunition, preempting local governments from creating their own firearm restrictions. The bill explicitly preserves private property owners' rights to ban firearms on their land and maintains existing prohibitions in courtrooms. This directly affects concealed carry permit holders, local governments seeking to regulate firearms, and school districts managing firearm policies on school property.

Maddy summaryWyoming's HB 214 reduces the required record retention period for licensed real estate brokers from seven years to two years. The bill directly affects all licensed real estate brokers in Wyoming who must maintain full records of every transaction they participate in. It amends Wyoming Statute 33-28-123 to require brokers to keep these records for a minimum of two years after the transaction's latest date. The law took effect on July 1, 2019.

Maddy summaryThis bill amends Wyoming election code to clarify procedures for voters changing political party affiliation. It allows voters to change their party affiliation at the polls on election day (for general elections) or when requesting an absentee ballot, in addition to the existing 14-day advance filing requirement before primaries. The change must be noted on the poll list by election judges, but voters cannot switch parties between two weeks before absentee voting begins and primary election day. It directly affects Wyoming voters seeking to alter their party affiliation before casting a ballot. The bill took effect July 1, 2019.

Maddy summaryHB 217, the Wyoming Camping Act, removes an existing ban on overnight camping on state lands. It repeals Section 36-2-107(b)(v) of Wyoming law, which previously prohibited such camping. The change allows campers to stay overnight on state lands without restriction, effective July 1, 2019. This directly affects outdoor recreation users accessing Wyoming's state-managed lands.

Maddy summarySF 119 requires the Wyoming state auditor to publicly post detailed vendor payment information on two websites: the state auditor's official site and the Wyoming public finance website. The bill mandates that all payments made to vendors for goods or services - showing the date, vendor name, amount, and description - must be posted within 30 days of payment, covering the current year and the previous five years. This applies to all state agencies and directly affects public access to government spending data. The requirement took effect on July 1, 2019, for all payments made after that date.

Maddy summaryHB 157 allows biological grandparents who have acted as parents (in loco parentis) to petition a court for termination of a child's parents' rights. To qualify, grandparents must have lived with the child without parents for at least one year, assumed full parental responsibilities (including financial support and care), and demonstrated that parents failed to contribute financially or maintain contact for a year. The court must find parents unfit based on specific criteria, such as continuous failure to support the child or engage in parental duties, and must determine termination is in the child's best interests. This bill modifies Wyoming's termination process to explicitly grant standing to qualifying grandparents, requiring them to state their intent to adopt in the petition.

Maddy summaryThis non-binding resolution expresses Wyoming's support for private companies developing coal-to-carbon products, such as graphene, construction materials, and advanced fibers. It encourages continued investment in this industry to create manufacturing and research jobs across various skill levels. The resolution directs the Secretary of State to share it with federal officials and local governments but does not create new laws or funding. It formally recognizes private sector investment in coal-to-carbon R&D as a key economic opportunity for Wyoming.