As the 2019 Wyoming Legislature gets ready to convene a General Session, a total of 161 bills had been filed as of the last morning before lawmakers formally convene. The session is slated to open at noon today (Jan.8).

That total included 95 bills in the Wyoming House, 64 in the Senate and two joint resolutions. Bills that had been filed covered a wide variety of subjects, ranging from a bill that would allow the use of hunting dogs to recover wounded or killed game animals (House Bill 73) to school funding revenue (House Bill 68) to a bill that would designate the National Guard Armory in Cheyenne as a historic museum (House Bill 39).

Other bills would increase the per diem used by lawmakers to meet daily expenses (House Bill 38), deal with teacher accountability (House Bill 22) and designate the blotched tiger salamander as the official state amphibian (Senate File 50). The list of bills to be considered this session is undoubtedly far from complete, however. Senators have until Jan. 24 to file bills for consideration, and house members until Jan. 26.

The 2019 session is a general session, which generally means more and a greater variety of bills will be considered than in the legislative budget sessions. Wyoming legislative budget sessions generally focus on budget issues and are held in even-numbered years. General sessions, as the name implies, can deal with virtually any topic and are scheduled for odd-numbered years.

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