It’s obvious that the far-right Freedom Caucus, basking in the glow of taking over the House for the first time, was anxious to shatter the status quo.
Opinion
But how would that play out? All eyes were on new House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, to see how the caucus would exercise its power.
Predictably, Neiman appointed Freedom Caucus members to chair many of the House standing committees. Each chair can kill a bill by not letting members consider a measure, so it dies. That’s a lot of power.
The majority floor leader has even more power as the person who prioritizes which bills passed by committees go to the floor to be considered by the entire chamber. The leader also decides when to halt the process on the final day for bills to be heard by the full House. All remaining bills on the list die automatically.
But Neiman has by far the most power in the chamber. The speaker can kill any bill he chooses whether it’s sponsored by committees or individual legislators by tossing it in his drawer.
That’s parlance to describe the speaker’s ability to hold back bills from introduction. Before the session began, Neiman was asked at an AARP webinar how he would use “the famous drawer.”
It was an excellent question. Neiman said he would prefer to let every bill go to committee and “see what comes of it. Let it have sunlight.”
Maybe that’s what Neiman planned, but the opposite happened. The speaker filled the drawer with 95 bills, considerably more than either of his two predecessors. The slaughter included 14 bills sponsored by committees, which used to be the easiest to get to the finish line. That’s because lawmakers spend months fine-tuning to get bills ready for “prime time.”
Neiman killed about 27% of the House’s workload. His predecessor, Rep. Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, only sent about 8% of House bills under his watch to an early grave.
Neiman’s actions are in sharp contrast to how Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, runs his chamber. Biteman allowed all 197 Senate files and 11 joint resolutions to be introduced and referred to committees.
Even though it wasn’t in charge last year, the Freedom Caucus shocked the state when it blocked 13 committee bills on the budget session’s first day. The Wyoming Caucus’ “traditional” conservatives couldn’t muster the two-thirds vote needed for bills to be introduced.
Neiman made no apologies for holding back any of the 95 bills. He told WyoFile last week the House leadership should be judged “by the content of what we got through.”
OK, let’s do that, and also examine what bills were never given a chance for “sunlight.”
The Freedom Caucus planned to flex its muscles by passing a “Five and Dime Plan” — its five top bills in the first 10 days.
It met that goal, but it wasn’t the great accomplishment the caucus claimed. House Bill 80, “Stop ESG–State funds fiduciary duty act,” was a big arrow in its quiver, but its win should come with an asterisk.
Hammered by opponents for potentially costing Wyoming up to $5 billion by banning investments in companies that say they base their decisions on environmental, social and governance impacts, the bill was amended to just codify the State Treasurer’s Office’s existing policies. Instead of dropping a misguided ban on certain investments, HB 80 was — fortunately for Wyoming state government — rendered meaningless.
Another caucus priority would expand the state’s school voucher program, making “Freedom Scholarships” available to families no matter how wealthy they are.
This “universal school choice” bill is clearly unconstitutional because it violates prohibitions on spending public funds on private education, without even limiting it to low-income families to try to sneak it through the courts under the guise of an anti-poverty measure. If it makes it to Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk he may well veto it; if not, it will rack up expensive legal bills when it’s challenged.
The Freedom Caucus also had the House spend time on hot-button issues like abortion and restricting LGBTQ rights.
House Bill 42, “Regulation of surgical abortions” and HB 64, “Chemical abortions-ultrasound requirements” both try to effectively ban or restrict women’s access to reproductive health care despite a state district court’s ruling that two abortion bans passed in 2023 are unconstitutional.
The group also took aim at transgender individuals. House Bill 32, the “What is a Woman Act,” and HB 72, “Protecting women’s privacy in public places,” restrict access to public facilities to a person’s designated sex at birth. Why is the Freedom Caucus so obsessed with treating transgender individuals as second-class citizens that it’s a priority every session?
Two years ago the caucus flipped its lid when then-House Speaker Sommers used the speaker’s drawer to kill three hard-line Senate bills it favored.
One banned teaching gender identity and sexual orientation to K-3 students. Another banned doctors from performing surgeries on children that don’t actually occur in Wyoming.
The third was a universal school choice bill to publicly fund private and parochial schools, where trans issues are presumably not part of the curriculum.
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, entered the fray long-distance to blast Sommers. “These are the issues protecting our children,” Hageman wrote. “In Congress, I’m fighting for these very issues. I hope the Wyoming Legislature will do the same.”
Where’s the furor over two bills Neiman squashed that would have protected children?
House Bill 26, “Highway safety-child restraints,” sponsored by the Transportation Committee, would have improved child safety seat requirements to save lives and prevent injuries.
House Bill 47, “Expulsion for possession of a deadly weapon” was sponsored by Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper. The bill would allow school districts to expel a gun-toting student for more than one year, the current limit, by finding alternative educational settings.
These bills are more important safety measures than policing bathrooms.
Freedom Caucus members often describe bills they sponsor as vital because they were sparked by talks with voters they met while campaigning.
But the caucus ignores bills that address two issues on the minds of Republicans, Democrats and independents in Wyoming: the lack of both affordable health care and housing.
House Bill 272, “Investment in Wyoming housing,” sponsored by Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, would establish a $10 million housing investment account from the Legislature’s “rainy day fund.” Neiman deep-sixed the idea, along with two Corporations Committee housing bills and a Joint Appropriations Committee measure to increase multi-family apartments.
The speaker also axed an Appropriations Committee package of four bills to improve the safety, transparency and fairness of Wyoming’s gaming industry.
This trend to kill committee bills is particularly disturbing. Is it the beginning of a Freedom Caucus attempt to eliminate the interim, where bills that need additional work are sent? These bills receive a wide range of public input at meetings across the state that’s important for legislators to hear. It’s a much better way to assess public interest than relying on a few people they meet while knocking on doors.
But the Freedom Caucus may decide next year that it actually does value the work that’s done during the interim. The committee bills the caucus and Neiman buried the past two years were crafted by panels chaired by Wyoming Caucus members.
The legislative off season headed into the 2026 budget session will be the first time Freedom Caucus chairs guide much of the committee-bill drafting process. Neiman won’t put their handiwork in his drawer.
But Neiman has a huge challenge at next year’s budget session that will test his mettle: What will he do if the minority Wyoming Caucus and six Democrats join forces to block a new “Five and Dime Plan” from getting the required two-thirds vote to be introduced? Will the Freedom Caucus even offer such a plan, or adopt a new strategy to stave off an embarrassing defeat?
Many questions remain as voters decide whether they want to keep the Freedom Caucus in power. I hope they regret the experiment.
The post Wyoming’s House speaker pledged transparency and then killed 95 bills in the dark appeared first on WyoFile .