We'll be hearing House Bill 162 (the Medicaid expansion bill) in the Senate Labor and Health Committee this morning. (After an abortion bill is finished being heard, of course.)
It's been a wild trip to get here. Two different bills, lots of drama. A quick thread...
It's been a wild trip to get here. Two different bills, lots of drama. A quick thread...
The Senate Labor Health Committee (the first one we covered) got this bill first. Surprisingly, it passed by a 3-2 vote to get to the floor.
Why is that surprising? Sen. Troy McKeown -- the swing vote -- had spent the entire meeting railing against "socialist healthcare."
Why is that surprising? Sen. Troy McKeown -- the swing vote -- had spent the entire meeting railing against "socialist healthcare."
The House sent their version of the bill to the House Revenue Committee, which advanced it 5-3-1.
The bill then went to the floor, where it survived a late maneuver by opponents to keep it from being heard before a key procedural deadline. That effort failed.
The bill then went to the floor, where it survived a late maneuver by opponents to keep it from being heard before a key procedural deadline. That effort failed.
The Senate -- particularly, Sen. Ogden Driskill -- refused to hear their bill under lots of pressure. It died before the deadline.
Driskill later committed to give it a fair hearing if it passed out of committee. So they sent it to... Labor/Health, who many believe will kill it.
Driskill later committed to give it a fair hearing if it passed out of committee. So they sent it to... Labor/Health, who many believe will kill it.
Yesterday, Sen. Cale Case threw something of a "Hail Mary" to give it a better chance of getting it to the floor... he attempted to overrule leadership's decision and recall the bill from Labor Committee and assign it to his friendlier Revenue Committee.
That failed 8-22.
That failed 8-22.
Now we're here in a committee room, with a couple dozen people here to observe and testify.
You can watch here. After the abortion bill is finished.
You can watch here. After the abortion bill is finished.
On this, Sen. McKeown argued that Roe v. Wade is just a legal opinion -- not the same as the Constitution -- and that he could argue abortion is unconstitutional because it violates "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Pretty sure that's the Declaration of Independence.
Pretty sure that's the Declaration of Independence.
(Sorry, I did not plan to tweet on this abortion bill.)
Earlier, he got in a back and forth with a doctor about whether lawmakers with no medical background should be setting policy for physicians against the protests of said physicians.
Earlier, he got in a back and forth with a doctor about whether lawmakers with no medical background should be setting policy for physicians against the protests of said physicians.
After being told by a lawyer that the bill they are considering is unconstitutional, Sen. Hutchings also cites "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" as the motivation to advance the bill and appears to argue that the Wyoming Constitution supersedes Supreme Court decisions.
Abortion bill passes unanimously. Starting a new thread for the Medicaid debate.
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