March 8, 2022 |
The Wyoming House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Monday not to concur with the sweeping changes the Senate made to the statewide redistricting bill. The vote to reject the Senate version of House Bill 100 triggered the naming of a conference committee to try to work out the differences. The vote was 46 “aye,” 11 “no,” and three excused.
The differences between the House and Senate versions may be impossible to negotiate away. The House version called for expanding the legislature by three seats, two in the House and one in the Senate. The upper chamber wanted no part of expansion. Members tested the waters in first reading with an amendment that was withdrawn. Supporters of a 60/30 plan came back on second reading and scuttled the House plan with a series of amendments.
Representative Dan Zwonitzer yesterday asked the House to vote “no” on the Senate plan. The Cheyenne Republican chairs the Corporations Committee that originally devised the 62/31 plan less than a week before the budget session started. Zwonitzer said HB 100 traveled a “tortured trajectory” after leaving the House.
The committee chairman said the Senate plan has issues, especially for Laramie County. Zwonitzer lives in Cheyenne. The Senate plan apparently is not fine-tuned at the precinct level in every county. The Wyoming County Clerks Association sent a letter to House members indicating where lines on the Senate map would need to be redrawn. Zwonitzer indicated that was enough for House members to reject it.
The question of whether to concur went straight to a vote without discussion. The 46 “ayes” not to concur were eight fewer than the 54 House members who voted for the original HB 100, indicating some softening of support. Still the vote was overwhelmingly against the Senate version. Speaker Eric Barlow then announced the House members who will be part of the conference committee.
The Senate now will pick three of its members to sit on the conference committee to try to reach a compromise agreement. If the deadlock persists through two rounds of negotiations, each with its own rules, a special legislative session may have to be called.
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