Wyoming Constitutional Amendment A, Municipal Debt for Sewage Systems Measure (2020)

Wyoming Constitutional Amendment A
Election date November 3, 2020
Topic Public works
Status d Defeated
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Wyoming Constitutional Amendment A, the Municipal Debt for Sewage Systems Measure, was on the ballot in Wyoming as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020. It was defeated.

A "yes" vote supported the measure to remove the constitutional limit on debt that a municipality may incur for municipal sewer projects and to allow the legislature to establish rules in statute for additional debt for municipal sewage projects.

A "no" vote opposed this measure to remove the constitutional limit on debt that a municipality may incur for municipal sewer projects, thereby leaving in place the existing limit on debt for sewage projects of 4 percent of the assessed value of the taxable property within the municipality.

Supermajority requirement: A majority of all ballots cast at the election was required for the approval of Amendment A.

Election results

This measure failed since it required approval from a majority of voters casting a ballot at the election, which means leaving Amendment A blank was the equivalent of voting against it. Of the total ballots cast, 11.17% of voters either left Amendment A blank or filled in both "for" and "against."

• Total ballots cast at the election - 278,503 (100%)
• Total votes for Amendment A - 126,589 (45.45%)
• Total votes against Amendment A - 120,808 (43.38%)
• Undervotes and overvotes on Amendment A - 31,106 (11.17%)

Wyoming Amendment A
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		126,589	51.17%
No		120,808	48.83%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

What would Constitutional Amendment A have done?

See also: Constitutional changes

The measure was designed to remove the constitutional limit on debt a municipality could incur for municipal sewer projects. Going into the election, the limit on total debt for municipal projects was 4% of the assessed value of the taxable property within the municipality. The constitution allows for an additional 4% for municipal sewer projects. This measure was designed to remove the additional limit of 4% for sewer projects and instead allow the legislature to provide for additional indebtedness.

How did this measure get on the ballot?

See also: Path to the ballot

Amendment A was introduced as House Joint Resolution 2 by Republican Rep. Lloyd Charles Larsen on January 7, 2019. It was approved in the House on January 24, 2019, and in the Senate on February 21, 2019. To see a breakdown of vote totals by party, click here.

Text of measure

Official ballot language

The official ballot language for Constitutional Amendment A was as follows:

“

This amendment will remove the constitutionally specified limit on the amount of debt a municipality can create for sewer projects and would allow the legislature to prescribe by law the debt limit for municipal sewer projects.

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article 16, Wyoming Constitution

The measure would have amended section 5 of Article 16 of the state constitution. The following underlined text would have been added, and struck-through text would have been deleted:

Article 16, Section 5. Limitation on municipal, county or school district debt.

No city or town shall in any manner create any indebtedness exceeding four per cent (4%) of the assessed value of the taxable property therein, except that an additional indebtedness of four per cent (4%) of the assessed value of the taxable property therein may be created for sewage disposal systems as the legislature may by law prescribe. Indebtedness created for supplying water to cities or towns is excepted from the limitation herein.

No county shall in any manner create any indebtedness exceeding two per cent (2%) of the taxable property therein.

No school district shall in any manner create any indebtedness exceeding ten per cent (10%) on the assessed value of the taxable property therein for the purpose of acquiring land, erection, enlarging and equipping of school buildings.

All limitations herein shall refer to the last preceding general assessment.

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2020

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure. The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 9.6, and the FRE is 42.6. The word count for the ballot title is 36, and the estimated reading time is 9 seconds.

Support

Officials

• Wyoming State Representative Lloyd Charles Larsen (R)
• Wyoming State Representative Tyler Lindholm (R)

Arguments

• Wyoming State Representative Lloyd Charles Larsen (R): Rep. Lloyd Charles Larsen said that "being able to incur more debt and carry that debt a little longer while they repay the debt is also a benefit back to the cities." Larsen said this bill aims to remove the 4 percent cap on indebtedness for municipal sewer projects because municipalities need the ability to have more money to complete sewer projects. Larsen also said, "We need to resist the temptation to remove the cap altogether. We want to take [the cap] out of the constitution and give the legislature authority [to set caps] statutorily. That gives us much more flexibility in the future if we need to adjust that cap up or down."

Opposition

This measure received 12 no votes from House Republicans and three no votes from Senate Republicans. No Democrats voted against the measure. To see vote totals by party, click here.

If you are aware of any opponents or opposing arguments that should be included here, please send an email with a link to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Wyoming ballot measures

Total campaign contributions:
Support:	$0.00
Opposition:	$0.00

If you are aware of a committee registered to support or oppose this measure, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.

Background

Other amendments to Section 5 of Article 16

This section of the constitution has been amended three times in the past, by the following bills:

• Senate Joint Resolution 4 in 1919;
• House Joint Resolution 1 in 1953 (increased debt limit of school districts); and
• Senate Joint Resolution 5 in 1961 (clarified constitutional language separating cities and towns from counties and school districts).

The 1961 amendment was ratified by a vote of the people at the general election held on November 6, 1962.

Referred amendments on the ballot

From 1996 through 2018, the state legislature referred 26 constitutional amendments to the ballot. Voters approved 18 and rejected eight of the referred amendments. All of the amendments were referred to the ballot for general elections during even-numbered election years. The average number of amendments appearing on the general election ballot was two. The approval rate at the ballot box was 69.23 percent during the 22-year period from 1996 through 2018. The rejection rate was 30.77 percent.

Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments, 1996-2018
Total number	Approved	Percent approved	Defeated	Percent defeated	Annual average	Annual median	Annual minimum	Annual maximum
26	18	69.23%	8	30.779%	2.17	2.50	0	4

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Wyoming Constitution

To put a legislatively referred constitutional amendment before voters, a two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required in both the Wyoming State Senate and the Wyoming House of Representatives.

Constitutional Amendment A was introduced as House Joint Resolution 2 by Republican Rep. Lloyd Charles Larsen on January 7, 2019. It was approved in the House on January 24, 2019, by a vote of 45-12 with three Republican representatives not voting. HJR 2 passed in the Senate on February 21, 2019, by a vote of 27-3.

Vote in the Wyoming House of Representatives January 24, 2019
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 40  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	45	12	3
Total percent	75%	20%	5%
Democrat	9	0	0
Republican	35	12	3
Independent	1	0	0

Vote in the Wyoming State Senate February 21, 2019
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 20  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	27	3	0
Total percent	90.0%	10.0%	0%
Democrat	3	0	0
Republican	24	3	0

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Wyoming

Click "Show" to learn more about voter registration, identification requirements, and poll times in Wyoming.

How to cast a vote in Wyoming

The information below covers regular voting policies in the state. Information may have not applied to the election on November 3, 2020, because of temporary changes in response to coronavirus. Click here to read about changes made for the 2020 elections. Poll times In Wyoming, all polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mountain Time. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote. Registration requirements Check your voter information here. To vote in Wyoming, one must be a United States citizen, a resident of Wyoming, at least 18 years of age, not have been declared mentally incompetent by a court, and not convicted of a felony unless pardoned or otherwise had their rights restored. The registration deadline is 14 days before the election, but voters may also register and vote on the same day during the absentee voting period or on election day. There are three ways to register to vote in Wyoming: in person at the office of the county or town clerk, by mail the by submitting a completed application form to the county clerk, or at the polls on Election Day. A voter must provide documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. Automatic registration Wyoming does not practice automatic voter registration. Online registration See also: Online voter registration Wyoming does not permit online voter registration. Same-day registration Wyoming allows same-day voter registration. Residency requirements To register to vote in Wyoming, a voter must be a resident of a precinct in the state for not less than 30 days before the election. Verification of citizenship See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States Wyoming requires voters to provide proof of citizenship. Eligible documents are state and tribal IDs that do not indicate the individual is not a U.S. citizen, passports, certificates of citizenship or naturalization, a selective service registration acknowledgement card, documentation of a birth abroad issued by the State Department, or an original or certified copy of a birth certificate. Voter ID requirements Wyoming requires voters to present identification when voting. Generally, voters are required to present a photo ID, but there are two exceptions to that requirement that expire in 2029. The following list of accepted ID was current as of June 2025. Click here for the Wyoming Secretary of State's page on accepted ID to ensure you have the most current information. “ WY Driver's License or ID Card Tribal ID Card US Passport US Military Card DL or ID Card from Another State University of Wyoming Student ID Wyoming Community College Student ID Wyoming Public School Student ID Valid Medicare Insurance Card* Valid Medicaid Insurance Card* Valid Wyoming Concealed Firearm Permit *Medicare and Medicaid insurance cards will no longer be an acceptable form of identification for voting purposes after December 31st, 2029. ”

See also

2020 measures

• 2020 ballot measures
• Public works on the ballot
• State and local government budgets, spending and finance on the ballot

Wyoming

• Wyoming ballot measures
• Wyoming ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• HJ 002 full text and bill information
• Wyoming 2020 Voter Guide