Wyoming 2017 Legislative Deadlines Approaching

As the 2017 session of the Wyoming Legislature enters the home stretch, several important deadlines for this session are looming.

For example, Feb. 24 is the last day for a bill to be reported put of committee in whichever house has not already approved them. Feb. 27 is the last day for bills to be heard by the Committee of the Whole (first reading) in their second house.

The next day, Feb. 28, is the deadline for second reading in the second house. March 1 is the final day for the third reading in the second house.

Any bills that do not meet any of the deadlines are dead for this session. The 2017 session is slated to wrap up by March 3.

Even though the session is winding down, perhaps the dominant issue before lawmakers, school funding adjustments for the biennium,  has yet to be resolved as of Thursday morning.

A pair of controversial bills that would allow the concealed carrying of firearms onto college campuses and into governmental meetings are still awaiting first reading in the Senate after having passed the House. Similar bills have repeatedly passed the House over the past seven years, but so far none has won Senate approval.

A resolution calling for a constitutional convention to propose a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. constitution has passed the state House, but still faces two more readings in the Wyoming Senate.

If approved, Wyoming would become the 29th state to call for such an amendment to be drafted.