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Wyoming Senate File 49 (2015)
| Senate File 49 | |
 | |
| Text: | SF 49 |
| Sponsor(s): | House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee |
| Legislative history | |
| Introduced: | January 15, 2015 |
| State house: | February 12, 2015 |
| State senate: | January 19, 2015 |
| Governor: | Matt Mead (R) |
| Signed: | February 25, 2015 |
| Legal environment | |
| State law: | Initiative and Referendum laws |
| Code: | Elections code |
| Section: | Title 22, Chapter 24 |
| Impact on initiative rights | |
 | Unavailable |
Wyoming Senate File 49 was sponsored by the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee, introduced on January 15, 2015. The bill was approved unanimously in the Senate and by a vote of 41 to 17, with two non-votes, in the House. Gov. Matt Mead (R) signed it into law on February 25, 2015.
This bill repealed the state's previous laws governing the initiative and referendum process and replaced them with revised provisions that separated the section on initiative powers and the section on referendum powers, where they were previously combined. Notably, the bill removed state residency requirements and a prohibition against paying initiative signature gatherers based on the number of signatures collected. The prohibition against pay-per-signature circulators remained for referendum petitions.[1]
Provisions
This bill repealed Title 22, Chapter 24, Sections 101-125 of the Wyoming Statutes. These sections governed the process for initiatives and referendums. To replace these sections, SF 49 created Title 22, Chapter 24, Sections 301-323 and Sections 401-420. The bill separated the sections covering initiatives from the sections covering referendums, slightly different laws for each of the direct democracy powers. Overall, the bill left many of the state's provisions governing initiatives and referendums the same, with the following notable exceptions:[1]
- The bill removed state residency requirements, leaving a requirement that circulators be at least 18 years old, citizens of the U.S. and vouched for by one of the original 100 sponsors of any proposal.
- The bill removed a prohibition against paying initiative signature gatherers based on the number of signatures collected. The prohibition, however, against pay-per-signature circulators remained for referendum petitions.
Legislative summary
The following summary of Senate File 49 was provided by the Wyoming Legislature:
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| —Wyoming Legislature[3] | ||
Background
Before 2015, circulators needed to be residents of Wyoming. However, the December 2008 decision of the Tenth Circuit in the case of Yes on Term Limits v. Savage cast Wyoming's residency law into doubt with regard to its constitutionality.
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 LegiScan, "Wyoming Senate File 49," accessed April 7, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Wyoming State Legislature website, "Summary & Major Elements of Senate File 49 (2015)," accessed April 8, 2015
