Wyoming 2025 Regular Session

Wyoming House Bill HB0296 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	2025
2	2	STATE OF WYOMING
3	3	25LSO-07461HB0296
4	4	HOUSE BILL NO. HB0296
5	5	Constitutional apportionment.
6	6	Sponsored by: Representative(s) Neiman, Smith, S, Strock
7	7	and Williams and Senator(s) Driskill, Hicks
8	8	and Steinmetz
9	9	A BILL
10	10	for
11	11	1 AN ACT relating to state legislative districts; providing
12	12	2 legislative findings; requiring management council to
13	13	3 assign legislative apportionment to a committee of the
14	14	4 legislature for study during the 2025 legislative interim
15	15	5 as provided by this act; providing that legislation to
16	16	6 apportion the legislature based on the requirements of this
17	17	7 act may be introduced during the 2026 legislative budget
18	18	8 session; and providing for an effective date.
19	19	9
20	20	10
21	21	11
22	22	12
23	23	13
24	24	14 (a) The Legislature finds that:
25	25	15 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-07462HB02961 (i) The people of Wyoming did "ordain and
26	26	2 establish" the Wyoming Constitution (Wyoming Constitution,
27	27	3 Preamble);
28	28	4
29	29	5 (ii) The Wyoming Legislature derives its powers
30	30	6 from the Wyoming Constitution and its acts must be
31	31	7 conformable to it:
32	32	8
33	33	9 Legislatures…[are] Creatures of the Constitution;
34	34	10 they owe their existence to the Constitution:
35	35	11 they derive their powers from the Constitution:
36	36	12 it is their commission; and, therefore, all their
37	37	13 acts must be conformable to it, or else they will
38	38	14 be void. Moore v. Harper, 600 U.S. 1 (2023)
39	39	15 (internal citations omitted);
40	40	16
41	41	17 (iii) Article 20, Section 1 of the Wyoming
42	42	18 Constitution provides that the Wyoming Constitution may be
43	43	19 amended, and specifies in what manner;
44	44	20
45	45	21 (iv) The apportionment provisions of the Wyoming
46	46	22 Constitution "are quite clear, explicit and mandatory…[and]
47	47	23 leave no room for confusion or doubt as to what the
48	48	24 legislature is to do about reapportionment and when it is
49	49	25 to do it." (State ex rel. Whitehead v. Gage, 377 P.2d 299,
50	50	26 301 (Wyo. 1963)); 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-07463HB0296
51	51	1
52	52	2 (v) Article 3, Section 3 of the Wyoming
53	53	3 Constitution provides in relevant part:
54	54	4
55	55	5 Each county shall constitute a senatorial
56	56	6 and representative district; the senate and house
57	57	7 of representatives shall be composed of members
58	58	8 elected by the legal voters of the counties
59	59	9 respectively, every two (2) years. They shall be
60	60	10 apportioned among the said counties as nearly as
61	61	11 may be according to the number of their
62	62	12 inhabitants. Each county shall have at least one
63	63	13 senator and one representative; but at no time
64	64	14 shall the number of members of the house of
65	65	15 representatives be less than twice nor greater
66	66	16 than three times the number of members of the
67	67	17 senate…. (Wyo. Const. Art. 3 sec. 3)
68	68	18
69	69	19 (vi) Article 3, Section 48 of the Wyoming
70	70	20 Constitution provides:
71	71	21
72	72	22 At the first budget session of the
73	73	23 legislature following the federal census, the
74	74	24 legislature shall reapportion its membership
75	75	25 based upon that census. Notwithstanding any other
76	76	26 provision of this article, any bill to apportion
77	77	27 the legislature may be introduced in a budget
78	78	28 session in the same manner as in a general
79	79	29 session. (Wyo. Const. Art. 3 sec. 48)
80	80	30
81	81	31 (vii) Since 1992 the Wyoming Legislature,
82	82	32 contrary to Wyoming's constitutional apportionment
83	83	33 provisions, has allowed for the creation of legislative 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-07464HB0296
84	84	1 districts that do not follow county lines and legislative
85	85	2 districts that do not have at least one (1) representative
86	86	3 and one (1) senator per county;
87	87	4
88	88	5 (viii) Apportionment for the Wyoming Legislature
89	89	6 must also conform with the Equal Protection Clause of the
90	90	7 14
91	91	th
92	92	Amendment under which the overriding objective is "that
93	93	8 the vote of any citizen is approximately equal in weight to
94	94	9 that of any other citizen in the State." (Reynolds v. Sims,
95	95	10 377 U.S. 533, 579 (1964));
96	96	11
97	97	12 (ix) Conformance to both the federal and state
98	98	13 constitutions may be best achieved with a legislature of
99	99	14 manageable size;
100	100	15
101	101	16 (x) No inconsistency exists between the
102	102	17 requirements of Wyoming Constitution Article 3, Sections 3
103	103	18 and 48 and those of the Equal Protection clause of the 14
104	104	th
105	105
106	106	19 Amendment to the United States constitution and the Wyoming
107	107	20 Legislature must fully comply with both constitutions in
108	108	21 apportioning for legislative elections.
109	109	22
110	110	23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-07465HB02961
111	111	2 (a) The Legislature further finds that:
112	112	3
113	113	4 (i) The Legislature shall make a good faith
114	114	5 effort to apportion itself as required by the 14
115	115	th
116	116	Amendment
117	117	6 in conformance with the principle that the vote of any
118	118	7 citizen is approximately equal in weight to that of any
119	119	8 other citizen in the State; and
120	120	9
121	121	10 (ii) The Legislature shall make a good faith
122	122	11 effort to apportion itself as required by Article 3,
123	123	12 Section 3 and 48 of the Wyoming Constitution by providing
124	124	13 for legislative districts that follow county lines and
125	125	14 legislative districts that have at least one (1)
126	126	15 representative and one (1) senator per county.
127	127	16
128	128	17. The Management Council of the Wyoming
129	129	18 Legislature shall assign a committee of the Legislature to
130	130	19 study apportionment of the Legislature as provided by this
131	131	20 act during the 2025 interim. The assigned committee shall
132	132	21 conduct meetings in communities around Wyoming to take
133	133	22 input on apportionment options from members of the public
134	134	23 and other interested stakeholders. The committee shall 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-07466HB0296
135	135	1 report its findings to the Legislature not later than
136	136	2 December 1, 2025. The committee or Management Council may
137	137	3 introduce legislation to constitutionally apportion the
138	138	4 Legislature for introduction in the 2026 budget session of
139	139	5 the Wyoming Legislature.
140	140	6
141	141	7This act is effective immediately upon
142	142	8 completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law
143	143	9 as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming
144	144	10 Constitution.
145	145	11
146	146	12 (END)