by Maggie Mullen, WyoFile
The Wyoming Legislature published its committee assignments in a series of flubbed announcements over the weekend, causing initial confusion before finalizing last details ahead of the 2025 general session and highlighting differences between the House and the Senate.
Freedom Caucus members, allies and freshman backed by the group secured more than half of the House’s committee assignments and all but three of its chairmanships, while the Senate largely favored seniority and more traditional Republicans. Democrats, meanwhile, were kept off the education committees in both chambers for the first time since at least the turn of the century, drawing criticism from the minority party.
It’s the duty of the House speaker and the Senate president to assign their respective committees, which play decisive roles in Wyoming’s lawmaking process. For a bill to become law, it must pass through both a House and a Senate committee hearing. Committees have the authority to amend or reject a bill, and it’s the prerogative of the committee’s chair to decide whether legislation will be heard by deadline. In other words, a committee chair can decide whether a bill should live or die.
Altogether, the Legislature has 12 permanent panels — known as standing committees — that split along chamber lines during the session. Subject matter between them varies as does workload and sway. A committee hearing is the one opportunity for public comment during the session.
In the off-season months, also known as the interim, 10 of the Legislature’s 12 standing committees merge House and Senate members to work on topics assigned by Management Council.
For Speaker-Elect Rep. Chip Neiman (R-Hulett), the 2024 primary and general election were front of mind when making his committee choices. The Freedom Caucus — which Neiman belongs to — won control in the House for the first time.
“It’s no secret — conservatives won,” Neiman told WyoFile.
Neiman bestowed two committee assignments to every incoming lawmaker endorsed by the Freedom Caucus, with one exception.
Meanwhile, the most experienced lawmakers in the House — including former Speaker Steve Harshman (R-Casper) and Reps. Lloyd Larsen (R-Lander) and Bob Nicholas (R-Cheyenne) — were kept to single assignments on less-powerful committees. Those three often vote alongside the more moderate wing of the House.
Committee assignments, “that’s all up to the speaker,” Harshman told WyoFile. “And I support that process. When I was speaker, I’m sure not everybody agreed with me. That’s just part of the deal.”
“I’m just happy to be doing the work for my people in Casper and the people in Wyoming,” Harshman said.
Some of the work in the Legislature “will be on your committee,” Harshman added, “but a lot of it’s on your bills and other people’s bills as well. So, I think the process — it’ll all work out.”
Neiman said his intent was “to be respectful and be balanced, but to also recognize that the conservatives took the majority.
“I wanted to try to do the best I possibly could to get those folks as much experience as they could.”
Neiman recognizes there will be a learning curve, but said he’s optimistic.
“I really believe that the sky is the limit, and I believe that we can do some really good things,” Neiman said.
Out of the 62 members in the House, 23 will be freshmen in January. Roughly 41% of the House’s committee assignments were given to freshmen. That’s a concern for Rep. Mike Yin (D-Jackson), who was reelected minority floor leader in his upcoming fourth term.
“I think it will be a harsh learning curve, more so than previous years for every committee across the board, and that’s going to be hard,” Yin said.
There are only three freshmen in the Senate, which partly accounts for more experienced lawmakers heading up the upper chamber’s committees.
President-Elect Sen. Bo Biteman (R-Ranchester) did not return WyoFile’s request for comment.
How we got here
The Legislative Service Office sent two press releases Saturday announcing committee assignments. The second came after the first included an incorrect lineup in the House, but the second also contained mistakes. A third announcement went out Sunday to clear up the confusion.
“My fault entirely,” Neiman told WyoFile, adding that it was a simple miscommunication between him and LSO.
Traditionally, the Legislature announces its committee picks well ahead of the Joint Appropriations Committee’s supplemental budget hearings, which kicked off Monday. That way incoming members can make arrangements to sit in on the week’s worth of presentations and discussions in Cheyenne.
Part of the delay this year, Neiman said, was on account of the House wanting to take the Senate’s picks into account, which largely veered on the moderate end of the upper chamber.
“We did make a couple of adjustments late Friday there, after we learned some of the things were going on,” Neiman said.
Those adjustments involved shuffling Democrats around, which resulted in completely new assignments for Rep. Karlee Provenza (D-Laramie).
The Democrat was removed from the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee — which traditionally handles issues like abortion and government health programs — and added to the House Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water Resources Committee as well as the House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Committee.
“I want to give them some leeway on making errors on sending out the wrong committee assignments, but I think that the real problem is how they seated committees,” Provenza said.
Democrats being shut out of the House and Senate education committees was of particular concern for Provenza. The party will hold eight of 93 seats in the upcoming session.
“Over the last few years, we’ve been watching more and more unconstitutional bills come forward to attack our teachers and our schools that harm students,” Provenza said. “Now they’re removing dissenting opinions that come with just tons of experience in education.”
Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie), a professor at the University of Wyoming, will no longer serve on the committee after doing so since 2011.
“When you look at Sen. Rothfuss not being on Education, I think that’s the greatest disservice to the state of Wyoming,” Provenza said.
In the shufflings and mistaken press releases, it appeared that Rep. Ken Clouston (R-Gillette), who is heading into his second term, had not been given any committee assignments.
Clouston said Neiman quickly clarified that he would remain on the House Labor Committee.
“It wasn’t too big of a deal. He was really good to react to it and let me know,” Clouston said.
Clouston, meanwhile, lost his spot on the Education Committee. Coming into that committee as a freshman two years ago, Clouston said his background in education helped with the learning curve. He was twice elected to his local school board and has served on the Wyoming State Board of Education.
“There’s so much to know in education, as far as how budgeting works, how busing works, how the reimbursements work, standards testing. There’s a lot in education,” Clouston said, adding that first-hand experience in a subject would help freshmen with their committee assignments.
Other details
Democrats gained ground on other committees, including the House Agriculture, House Transportation, Highways & Military Affairs and Senate Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions.
Sen. Mike Gierau (D-Jackson) and Rep. Trey Sherwood (D-Laramie) also kept their seats on the Joint Appropriations Committees — arguably the most powerful panel in the Legislature. In fact, Sherwood will soon be the committee member with the most budget experience on the House side.
Otherwise, Neiman stacked the committee with fellow Freedom Caucus members, including Reps. Bill Allemand (R-Midwest), Abby Angelos (R-Gillette), Jeremy Haroldson (R-Wheatland), Ken Pendergraft (R-Sheridan) and Scott Smith (R-Lingle).
Freedom Caucus Chairman Emeritus Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette) will chair House Appropriations. The incoming Senate chair is Sen. Tim Salazar (R-Riverton), who already sits on the committee.
Most House committees have a Freedom Caucus leaning, particularly the more powerful ones like House Education and House Judiciary. Otherwise, the House’s transportation and travel committees are where Neiman concentrated Democrats and longtime, traditionalist Republicans. The two committees have the only two non-Freedom Caucus chairs: Reps. Landon Brown (R-Cheyenne) and Andrew Byron (R-Jackson), respectively.
Most Senate chairs have greater experience than those in the House, including Sen. Cale Case, who will oversee Senate Corporations. He’s served in the Legislature since 1993.
Case is pleased with the assignments in the Senate, he said, since they’re “a good mix” of the chamber’s political leanings.
Similar to the House, however, some senior members were passed over for chairmanships. That included Sens. Brian Boner (R-Douglas), Larry Hicks (R-Baggs) and Cheri Steinmetz (R-Lingle), who unsuccessfully ran as a slate for Senate leadership. All three were given two assignments, though.
All assignments can be seen on the Wyoming Legislature’s website.
The 2025 general session begins Jan. 14.
This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
