Lawmakers to press for early resolution of property tax reform, gun rights legislation

Still smarting over Gov. Mark Gordon’s use of his veto pen, the most conservative members of the Wyoming Senate intend to press for a quick action on bills relating to property tax reform and gun control in their upcoming legislative session that starts Tuesday, Jan. 14.

“Very early on, possibly within the first week or two, I think we will have a tax bill through both houses — maybe even the gun bill that he vetoed,” said Dan Laursen, a Republican from Powell who aligns with the Freedom Caucus. “We are not happy that he vetoed those bills, and then the group didn’t want to go back (for a special session), which didn’t make a lot of us happy, either.

“We are going to get those bills on his desk right away, so he doesn’t have time to wait, veto them and have us not be around again.”

The two bills that Laursen is referencing are Senate File 54 - Homeowner tax exemption, which would have applied a 25% exemption to the first $2 million of a home’s fair market value, and House Bill 125 - Repeal gun free zones and preemptive amendments, which would have done away with most gun-free zones in Wyoming and allowed people with concealed-carry permits to bring firearms into most public spaces overseen by the state.

Laursen said legislators are determined to pass real property tax relief for state residents, calling it one of their top priorities. Lawmakers don’t intend to submit SF 54 in the same form they left it last spring. “There will be some tweaks,” he said, adding, “The revenue committee has something coming forward.”

Gun-free zones are another target.

“We’re going to attack that,” he said. “If you have a concealed-carry permit, you should be able to carry in schools (and government buildings) without needing additional training. That’s what I’d like to see, anyway.”

In addition to property tax relief and the protection of Second Amendment rights, Laursen said he and other members of his chamber’s conservative wing plan to address the “rights of the unborn” and “federal overreach” early in the session, which is scheduled to last 37 days, into the first week of March.

Laursen is halfway through his first four-year term in the Senate. Prior to that, he spent eight in the House. For 2025, he has been tapped to serve on one of the Senate’s most powerful committees, Appropriations. 

“I am excited to have a significant voice in how the people’s money is spent by the state,” he said of his new assignment.

The last two years, he served on Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources.

Laursen said he won’t know his select committee assignments until after the session begins. In his first two years in the Senate, he served on the Select Water Committee and the Select Committee on Legislative Facilities, Technology and Process.

Bills

Going into the session, Laursen is sponsoring three bills of his own.

Senate File 45: Wyoming state guard-amendments is a bill that would allow the governor to organize and maintain a state guard and oversee it without federal involvement.

“The whole idea there is, if the National Guard gets pulled out of state, we’d really have no defense, and I think we need one,” said Laursen. “Not only that, but for emergencies, too.

“Hopefully they would be more volunteer in preparation. I wouldn’t expect (the state) to have to provide a lot of money for it.”

Another Laursen bill, Senate File 86: Alternative teaching certificate, would modify the duties of the professional teaching standards board, create an alternative teacher certificate for K-12 teachers and establish requirements for an alternative certification.

Saying it would be a way to address the teacher shortage in rural areas, Laursen said the bill would make it easier for people with degrees to become teachers.

“Say you have an accountant; he’s getting old and doesn’t want to do accounting anymore, but he has a degree. (With this bill) he could go and take a course online for six months, pay $1,900 or something like that and learn how to teach. Not necessarily a subject, but he would have to pass an exam showing he could teach.  It’s just an easier way to get teachers certified.”

Laursen said he brought a version of this bill two years ago, but it died in the House.

“The director of the teachers’ certification board said he was going to get the board to do it through rules, but the board has not done that. So I talked to him and I said, ‘Either you do it or I’m going to force you to do it.’ So now we’re in the force-you mode because they wouldn’t do their job.

“A person shouldn’t have to go to UW and take four years of college just to get an education degree.”

Laursen is also sponsoring Senate File 62: Restrooms in publicly funded schools, which would require public school children to use restrooms that align with their sex at birth and threaten school districts with the loss of their accreditation if they fail to ensure their restrooms are designated for the exclusive use of males or females.

Laursen is listed as a co-sponsor on a half dozen other bills, including HB 102: Attorney general-elected; HB 116: Driver’s licenses-unauthorized alien restrictions; SF 5: School district vehicles-flashing lights authorized; SF 24-Special license plates for multipurpose vehicles; SF 60-Sales tax distribution rates; and SF 85: Constitutional enforcement of localities.

For more information about these bills and to track legislation through the process, visit wyoleg.gov.

Laursen said the best way to reach him during the session is by email at Dan.Laursen@wyoleg.gov.

By phone, he can be reached at 307-271-0241 or 307-754-9805.