Some lawmakers are in workers’ corner
LAURIE GOODMAN – Perspective | Posted: Sunday, November 29, 2009 12:00 am
Legislators who sit on the Joint Judiciary Committee recently spoke their truth, and while dismaying, it may have created an opportunity to confront that truth and attempt to do something meaningful to improve the rights and lives of the workers and their families who call Wyoming “home.”
Since statehood, our legislators have struggled with their relationship with our blue-collar workers. Dependent on the money generated from the extraction and sale of our …

The Joint Judiciary Committee has been in Laramie for the past few days meeting on a myriad of issues.  Today we spent most of the day working on the carbon sequestration financial assurance bill.  One of the presenters giving testimony was State Representative Tom Lubnau from Gillette, who has been the primary mover and shaker in Wyoming that has been moving carbon sequestration forward.  Rep. Lubnau gave a very interesting power point presentation.  Here are some of the statistics that he provided:
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Wyoming provides 10% of the energy needs of the …

Some passages that I found interesting in Sarah Palin’s new book “Going Rogue”.   Some are just trivial that just caught my attention.
 

Sarah Palin is supposed to give her first State of the State address as Governor.  It is supposed to occur on January 15 and then she is flying to Georgia to be with her son graduating from boot camp.  The Senate President doesn’t like her, so the Senate President moves the time of the State of the State address so she won’t be able to make it to …

Below you will find an article from the Billings Gazette on the Duty of Care bill.  Same article was in the Casper Star Tribune
Workplace liability re-examined
By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Casper Star-Tribune | Posted: Sunday, November 15, 2009 12:00 am
CASPER — Leroy Fried was killed, crushed by a beam while he and his crew were setting up a drilling rig, Aug. 2, 2004.
“He was a dad. He was a grandpa. He was a husband. I have grandbabies who will never know their grandpa Leroy,” said his widow, Cheryl Fried.
Fried plans …

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Dustin Bleizeffer, the energy reporter for the Casper Star Tribune posted this blog earlier this week about my frustrations with some comments made by the Petroleum Association of Wyoming (PAW).
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http://tribtown.trib.com/post/DustinBleizeffer/blog/war_of_words.html
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War of words
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Posted by: Dustin Bleizeffer on November 11, 2009 at 3:03PM EST
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A recent resolution by the Teton County Commission supporting more disclosure of hydraulic fracturing fluids was met with some harsh words from the Petroleum Association of Wyoming last week.
In a Star-Tribune article, PAW president Bruce Hinchey said the effort is “coming from a bunch of environmental wackos …”
State Rep. …

The Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Appropriation Committee recommended this past week that there be no External Cost Adjustment to education funding.   It is only a recommendation, but their recommendation usually holds.
The External Cost Adjustment is sort of a fancy way of saying cost of living adjustment adjustment.  The external cost adjustment attempts to maintain the dollar value over time beyond the base funding year, school year 2006-2007.  Last year the external cost adjustment that was approved for 2009-2010 was 3.7%.  This adjustment generated about $30.8 million.  The year before (2008-2009) the …

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The term “Duty of Care” is stated repeatedly in the halls of the Wyoming State Capitol and there are lobbyists working full time on this subject matter.  And if you ask certain legislators their opinion on “duty of care”, you get strong opinions on both sides of the issue.  There have been numerous articles in the local state papers and even in national papers like the Los Angeles Times on the issue of duty of care in Wyoming.  But it is not always understood by everyone, since it is somewhat …

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Senator Mike Massie of Albany County has been crusading for years on the subject matter of social/emotional development of Birth through 5 year olds (B-5).  Senator Massie gave a presentation a few weeks ago reporting on the wonderful results of a program that the Legislature started a few years ago.  The Legislature funded (and continues to fund every year) $700,000 to mental health centers around the state to help pay the salaries of 10 mental health professionals that are working throughout their respective communities on social/emotional development of Birth through …

As co-chairman of the Select Committee of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, I have tried to get the committee to all 5 of the Wyoming State Facilities.  We have met every year for the past 5 years at the Wyoming State Hospital and taken numerous tours and inspections of that facility.  One major change we were able to implement was putting in a new HVAC system in the Karn Building.  We toured it 2 years ago in July and the heat was unbearable.  They had no air conditioning.  The new …

As the co-chair of the Select Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse, I invited the Brain Injury Association of Wyoming to present to the Select Committee last Friday in Thermopolis.  They presented the idea of charging a surcharge to certain crimes such as DUI, Domestic Violence, etc that would be placed in a fund to help those with brain injuries in Wyoming.
Wyoming has a Medicaid Waiver program for Acquired Brain Injury that is well funded and highly effective.  The problem is that it is primarily designed for adults.  Children …