Tagged: Senate

The Senate Education committee killed a bill that would have allowed those with concealed weapons permits to carry guns in schools and on Wyoming College campuses.  The bill died after nobody made a motion to consider it.  A number of educators at all levels testified that the legislation was a bad idea and that such ideas should be left to local school districts to consider.  University of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan testified that the allowing guns on campus could lead to problems.

The Wyoming Senate defeated a bill dealing with seismic exploration, reconsidered it, and then passed it. 

Supporters say that the goal of the legislation is to set tiered bonding for seismic exploration. 

Wyoming Stockgrowers Association Executive Vice President Jim Magagna says the bonding will be based on the size of the acreage being accessed.   He says that the bill was amended to say that when seismic

The State Senate continues working on a bill that would change the way education is governed in Wyoming. 

The bill would lead to the appointment of a State Education Director, who would oversee such things as education accountability and school funding.

A group of U.S. senators has introduced legislation seeking to restore hundreds of millions of dollars to Wyoming and other states that receive federal payments to restore abandoned mine lands.

The bill would repeal a provision in the recently passed federal transportation funding law that put a cap on how much abandoned mine land payments states can get.

The bill caps Wyoming at $15 million a year, down from about $150 million a year currently. Other states currently receive less than Wyoming, the nation's largest coal-producing state.

A University of Wyoming history professor is dropping his bid to run as an independent for U.S. Senate.

Phil Roberts says there is no room in this year's Senate race for him because in order to be successful he would need support from a number of Republicans. But as his petition drive to gather signatures progressed, it became clear that most of his support was coming from Democrats and independents.

Roberts was a Democratic candidate for governor in 1998 and lost the primary to John Vinich, who then lost the general election.

The State Senate gave final approval to a major Education Accountability measure.  It provides testing and other procedures to keep students, teachers, administrators and parents accountable for a child’s education.  The Senate approved an amendment that would allow school districts to better track how students are doing throughout their entire career. Senator Chris Rothfuss says it’s a different approach. “Tracking a student’s growth year to year -- how good are they one year, the next year, the following year…in K-12.  And that’s what we are trying to track from the growth standpoint,” Ro

After hours of testimony, the Senate Minerals committee killed a bill that would have allowed the City of Laramie to acquire a parcel of land to protect the community’s water supply. The city said it wanted the state to spend 15 million dollars to buy the land, but members of the committee questioned city and county officials over whether they had considered other options.  In the end the bill died when Senator Chris Rothfuss of Laramie offered a due pass motion that failed to get a second. Committee Chairman Eli Bebout told community members he’s sympathetic, but urged them to look into ot