RIGHT TO LIFE OF WYOMING2023 LEGISLATIVE AWARDSThere were two PRO-LIFE bills in the 2023 legislative session: SF109 – Prohibiting Chemical Abortions – Signed by Governor Gordon Prime Sponsor, Senator Tim Salazar Co-Sponsors: Senator(s), Biteman, Boner, Brennan, Dockstader, French, Furphy, Hutchings, Ide, Kinskey, Kolb, Laursen, D, McKeown, Schuler and Steinmetz, and Representative(s) Allemand, Andrew, Angelos, Banks, Bear, Davis, Haroldson, Hornok, Jennings, Knapp, Locke, Neiman, O'Hearn, Olsen, Ottman, Pendergraft, Penn, Rodriguez-Williams, Singh, Slagle, Smith, Styvar, Trujillo, Ward and Washut HB 152 – Life is a Human Right Act – Became law without Governor Gordon’s signature Prime Sponsor, Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams Co-Sponsors: Representative(s) Rodriguez-Williams, Andrew, Angelos, Banks, Bear, Haroldson, Heiner, Hornok, Jennings, Knapp, Neiman, Niemiec, Olsen, Ottman, Penn, Singh, Slagle, Smith, Styvar, Ward, Washut and Winter, and Senator(s) Biteman, Boner, Bouchard, Brennan, Dockstader, French, Furphy, Hutchings, Ide, Laursen, D, McKeown, Salazar, Schuler and Steinmetz * In scoring the legislators’ votes on these bills, Wyoming Right to Life looked at: Bill Sponsorships. Prime sponsors received 15 points. Co-sponsors received 10 points. * Votes in Committee. If a Representative or a Senator voted NO on a pro-life bill in his or her Committee, one point was deducted. * Votes on Amendments. If an Amendment was opposed by WRTL, one point was deducted for the sponsor(s) and legislators who voted AYE, if there was a roll call vote. If there was no roll call vote, it was the amendment’s sponsor(s) that lost points. If the amendment was supported by WRTL, and there was a roll call vote, those voting NO lost a point. If WRTL was neutral on an amendment, no points were deducted. * Votes on third reading. The third reading vote, which is recorded, supporting our pro-life legislation was given five points. A NO vote earned a zero. * Votes on Concurrence. Both bills underwent amendments in the second chamber. Each bill had to return to its original chamber for a “concurrence” vote. Aye votes earned 5 points, and NO votes earned zero points. * If a member was Excused when a roll call vote was taken, no points were awarded, and no deductions were assessed. As you noticed from the above, this year we have introduced “Deductions.” A recorded vote against life at any step in a bill’s progress through the process was given a deduction. Sponsorship of an amendment meant to weaken or harm a pro-life bill resulted in a deduction. Our experience has been that some legislators fight a pro-life bill every step of the way until the recorded final third reading roll call vote, or the final roll call vote on concurrence. We think the deduction system caught some of those players. We did not include an Honorable Mention category in 2023. The bar is getting higher, ladies and gentlemen, and Wyoming Right to Life is committed to the highest standard in recognizing our Champions for Life – from conception to natural death. Honorable Mention simply doesn’t cut it anymore. Following is the list of Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners. To earn an award, the minimum a legislator had to do was vote AYE on three votes (two 3rd Our two bills Prime Sponsors, Senator Salazar and Representative Rodriguez-Williams were given our highest PLATINUM awards. Prime sponsors work their bills for many, many months – working with the Legislative Service Office on multiple bill drafts, researching facts in support of their bills, developing arguments in support of their bills for debates in committee and on the floor, securing co-sponsors, and shepherding their bills through all of the steps on the way to final passage. Congratulations, and thank you, Tim and Rachel! The numbers: Senate: 1 PLATINUM; 12 GOLD; 2 SILVER; 7 BRONZE = 22 of 31 Senators were recognized – 71% of the Senate. House: 1 PLATINUM; 18 GOLD; 8 SILVER; 3 BRONZE = 30 of 62 Representatives were recognized – 48% of the House. We are fortunate that over half of our legislators, 52 of 93, were recognized for staunchly promoting life in 2023. If your legislator does not appear here, there are two reasons: he or she voted NO (or was Excused) on SF109 and/or HB152, or sponsored/supported an amendment hostile to one of the bills. Regardless of their votes on myriad other issues such as taxes, education, and the like, 56% of our legislators know that PLATINUM REPRESENTATIVE RACHEL RODRIGUEZ-WILLIAMS Prime Sponsor, HB152 – The Life is a Human Right Act SENATOR TIM SALAZAR Prime Sponsor, SF109 – To Prohibit Chemical Abortions in GOLD Sen. Bo Biteman Sen. Lynn Hutchings Sen. Brian Boner Sen. Bob Ide Sen. Evie Brennan Sen. Dan Laursen Sen. Dan Dockstader Sen. Troy McKeown Sen. Tim French Sen. Wendy Schuler Sen. Dan Furphy Sen. Cheri Steinmetz Rep. Ocean Andrew Rep. Abby Angelos Rep. Dalton Banks Rep. John Bear Rep. Jeremy Haroldson Rep. Ben Hornok Rep. Mark Jennings Rep. Christopher Knapp Rep. Chip Neiman Rep. Jared Olsen Rep. Pepper Ottman Rep. Sarah Penn Rep. Daniel Singh Rep. Allen Slagle Rep. Scott Smith Rep. Clarence Styvar Rep. Jeanette Ward Rep. Art Washut SILVER Sen. Anthony Bouchard Sen, John Kolb Rep. Bill Allemand Rep. Bob Davis Rep. Scott Heiner Rep. Tony Locke Rep. Tony Niemiec Rep. Ken Pendergraft Rep. Tamara Trujillo Rep. John Winter BRONZE Sen. Eric Barlow Sen. Ed Cooper Sen. Larry Hicks Sen. Stacy Jones Sen. Sen. Stephan Pappas Sen. Dave Kinskey Rep. Kevin O’Hearn Rep. Tomi Strock These members scored zero or below, indicating their radical anti-life, pro-abortion positions: Sen. Cale Case (R) - Sen. Mike Gierau (D) - Teton Rep. Karlee Provenza (D) - Sen. Bill Landen (R) - Natrona Rep. Trey Sherwood (D) - Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D) - Albany Rep. Liz Storer (D) - Teton Sen. Charlie Scott (R) - Natrona Rep. Mike Yin (D) - Teton Rep. Andrew Byron (R) -Teton |