The only bill to survive Wyoming’s recently completed special legislative session is now law.
Gov. Mark Gordon on Friday announced that he had signed House Bill 1002, which gives his office $4 million to spend on legal challenges to COVID-19 vaccination mandates passed by the federal government. Beyond that, the bill includes a resolution on Wyoming’s rights in the face of federal vaccine mandates.
The announcement noted that even before the special session, Gordon had committed to challenging the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates in the courts.
“While he appreciates the Legislature’s support for Executive branch efforts previously in progress through this bill, he also expressed concern about the cost to taxpayers of holding the special session,” the announcement said.
Lawmakers convened the special session following President Joe Biden’s executive order mandating that employees of businesses with 100 or more workers get vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing. The order prompted widespread outrage among the Wyoming Republican Party, which pushed for the session before the federal rule-making process on the order was complete.
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That decision made it more difficult for lawmakers to draft legislation opposing the mandate. Ultimately, lawmakers passed only one of the 20 bills that were drafted for the session, which cost roughly $233,000 — or $33,000 per day.
The federal rules were finally released one day after lawmakers went home. And days afterward, a federal judge granted a temporary halt to the mandate as the matter is weighed in the courts.
Lawmakers who opposed the session latched onto the costs as a reason not to gather until the Wyoming Legislature’s normal budget session in February. Other complained that it didn’t make sense to gather before the rule-making process was done.
But backers of the session said the matter was too important to put off. Wyoming remains the nation’s most vaccine-hesitant state, with many residents here deeply skeptical of mandates.
The state is now part of three suits to challenge the federal vaccine mandates, which include a large-company mandate and ones pertaining to health care workers and federal contractors.
Before the special session was called by legislators, there were rumblings that Gordon would call them into session to fight the mandate. That never materialized, and the lawmakers voted to gather in Cheyenne.
“This bill confirms the Legislature’s support for the Executive branch’s previously-expressed determination to fight federal overreach in the courts,” Gordon said in the announcement. “I thank the Legislature for recognizing their distinct constitutional responsibility as appropriators in forwarding resources to support this endeavor.”
