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2005 Session

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Wyoming Constitution: Article 1, Section 3....Since equality in the enjoyment of natural and civil rights is only made sure through political equality, the laws of this state affecting the political rights and privileges of its citizens shall be without distinction of race, color, sex or any circumstance or condition whatsoever other than individual incompetency, or unworthiness duly ascertained by a court of competent jurisdiction.
 
 
 
 
 
Good Evening,
 
    The Legislative train picked up a bit of steam today, each chamber had their first floor discussion on a limited number of bills that had made their way thorough one of the standing committees.
 
    The list of bills that have been passed out by a committee is called the 'general file', and as the Session proceeds that list will become longer and longer. But right now due to the newness of the session there are not many bills on the general file, so there is a limited work load for the Senate and the House.
 
    The bill of the day is House Bill 003, Coroner Cases. This is an important bill so we will be following it as it works its way through the legislative session.
 
    As you may have read a few months back, various coroners around the state have taken it upon themselves to seize body fluids from deceased people not within their statutory prevue, and search those fluids for a variety of drugs. In addition to the drug tests, the deceased citizens have been photographed both with and without clothes, all of their prescription drugs seized from their homes, and even their drivers license taken into custody.
 
    This did not sit well with Representative Ann Robinson from Casper, since one of her family members was subject to that questionable treatment upon passing away recently, so she convinced the Corporations Committee to sponsor a bill with the intention of clearly limiting the power of the coroners to intrude on the privacy of the people.
 
    That bill was heard today in the House Judiciary Committee, and passed out of the committee, and is on the way to a floor debate. The tricky part is whether or not the proposed changes to the law will achieve the desired result, we will look at that question more closely in the near future. There was some citizen testimony in the committee that the bill was not going to do what the proponents want.
 
    OK then! That is enough for now, it's almost time to go crash a legislative party. I stopped by the Petroleum Association of Wyoming reception last night since they were one of the special interest groups that assisted my opponent in ousting me from the Senate.
 
    Well hey! I have to show them that it will take more than de-electing me to make me go away....right??
 
Keith 
 
   

                               

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