CHEYENNE—Rep. Bill Allemand stood silently in the gallery, his gaze transfixed on Wyoming senators a floor down.
The upper chamber’s lawmakers were debating the merits of a proposal of special significance to Allemand. At issue during the deliberations was House Bill 211, “Hunting wildlife from vehicles,” a measure the Natrona County sophomore Republican legislator brought on behalf of a constituent who was fined by a warden for shooting prairie dogs from his truck.
Allemand’s bill was “simple,” he told WyoFile, and would clarify in statute that gunning prairie dogs and some other species from trucks is legal on private land in Wyoming, a state where the grass-eating rodents are classified as “pests” and have been eradicated from most of their native range. On Monday, he left his own chamber and ventured over to the Senate gallery for HB 211’s introductory vote.
“I was not only hoping,” Allemand told WyoFile of the moment. “That morning, I was down lobbying.”
The bill was personally significant to Allemand partly because his first 10 attempts at sponsoring legislation didn’t pan out. Many of those failed efforts, he said, were “tough, controversial bills.” Like many in the statehouse, he knows that it can be a challenge to shepherd an idea through to becoming law.
Bills dying, of course, isn’t unique. Every time the Wyoming Legislature convenes, many more bills get introduced than make it the distance. They die from an assortment of causes: some are exceedingly unpopular and get voted down, others miss deadlines. Sometimes political factions kill bills to show off their might.
But Allemand’s 11th bill, brought during his third session, made the cut. There were some bumps along the way, including a committee discussion initiated by a member of the public over whether recreationally shooting prairie dogs is psychopathic. Nevertheless, HB 211 cleared that committee vote unanimously and then passed its third reading in the Senate on Wednesday.
“I texted the gentleman who asked me to run it and let him know,” Allemand said. “That’s what I like doing. I like helping people much more than I like coming down here and sitting on my butt for 40 days. That’s what makes this thing [the legislature] worth it.”
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