FIELD Notes

Thank you to our many members and friends who contacted legislators last week and for your civic interest in our Legislature’s work! We started the second week of the 2016 Wyoming State Legislature today with a narrowed field of bills we’re tracking.

Read on for a quick look at this week’s action and please be sure to join us for our legislative reception from 6-8 p.m. at Little America on Thursday evening if you’ll be in Cheyenne!

SF 75 – Criminal trespass to collect data and SF 76 – Civil trespass to collect data will to go the Senate floor tomorrow or Wednesday. Improvements have been made to these laws by removing the application to “open land” and tightening other language, but we remain concerned about the constitutionality and implications of suppressing citizen documentation and communication about natural resources. We are monitoring this bill.

SF 75 – Criminal trespass to collect data and SF 76 – Civil trespass to collect data will to go the Senate floor tomorrow or Wednesday. Improvements have been made to these laws by removing the application to “open land” and tightening other language, but we remain concerned about the constitutionality and implications of suppressing citizen documentation and communication about natural resources. We are monitoring this bill.

SF 8 – Bicycle and pedestrian system task force (now nicknamed the “bike and hike” bill) has cleared the Senate after some lively debate and now heads to the House Travel, Recreation, and Wildlife Committee. We appreciate Senators Scott, Case, Cooper, Anderson and Dockstader for keeping this bill on track! We support this bill.

SF 28 – Carbon capture, storage and sequestration permit moves to the House Minerals, Business, and Economic Development Committee now. Our suggested amendment to clarify the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s regulatory authority in evaluating risk to groundwater for these facilities was incorporated, but there may be additional work to ensure an adequate public process. We are monitoring this bill.

SF 88 – State lands within Grand Teton National Park seeks to facilitate the purchase or exchange of state land parcels within the Park to protect those parcels from commercial development and will go next to the Senate Rules Committee. We are monitoring this bill.

You can find a full list of bills we are tracking on our website.

Stay tuned to Facebook, and these blog posts throughout the session to learn about opportunities to participate!