CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Leaders of the first Freedom Caucus majority in a U.S. statehouse took a victory lap in Wyoming on Friday after wrapping up a legislative session in which most of their conservative priorities were passed, including a steep property tax cut and ban on diversity programs in government.
The Republican lawmakers aligned with a growing Freedom Caucus movement nationwide also passed stricter registration and residency requirements for voters. A fourth bill now before the governor would not allow driver’s licenses issued to unauthorized immigrants by other states to be recognized in Wyoming.
The four bills — out of a wish list of five at the outset of Wyoming’s legislative session in January — echo the priorities of President Donald Trump, something Wyoming House Freedom Caucus leaders weren’t shy about pointing out in an end-of-session news conference.
“Just like President Trump is bringing common-sense change to Washington, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus is bringing common-sense change to Cheyenne,” said Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, chairwoman of the caucus that took control of the Wyoming House in the November election.
Compared to Trump’s blunderbuss approach to firing federal workers and doing away with agencies, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus has been doing its work quietly.
Even during negotiations over how much to cut property taxes — 50% or the 25% ultimately negotiated — there was little vitriol even by Wyoming standards.
“Stuff got done,” summed up House Speaker Chip Neiman, a Freedom Caucus member.
Always conservative, Wyoming is almost completely dominated now by Republicans who control the governor’s office, congressional delegation and 91% of the Legislature. One result is that the differences between Freedom Caucus members and traditional Republicans have become more meaningful than those between Republicans and the state’s few Democrats.
The true spirit of the GOP in Wyoming is the Freedom Caucus, Williams said.
“We’re very well connected with the temperature of Wyoming and the culture of Wyoming as a whole,” Williams said. “The Freedom Caucus in Wyoming really is the conscience of the Republican Party.”
Wyoming’s more traditional Republicans include Gov. Mark Gordon, who last year drew Freedom Caucus ire by vetoing property a 25% property tax cut. With his concern about the minerals industry having to make up for the lost revenue addressed this year, Gordon signed off on it this time.
Skeptical that the Freedom Caucus really represents most Wyoming residents, Gordon has pointed out that many got elected last year in a Republican primary with low turnout.
Yet he has so far signed three of the five bills in the Freedom Caucus “five and dime” plan to pass five priorities out of the House in the first 10 days of the legislative session. All five cleared the House on schedule. But the Senate declined to take up a ban on environmental, social and governance, or ESG, investing by the state.
Three of the five bills are now law. A fourth bill that has passed, a stricter identification and residency requirements for voters, still awaits Gordon signature or veto.
Bills vetoed by Gordon, including one to require women to have an ultrasound before a pill abortion and one to lift the state’s cap on its number of charter schools, were overridden with Freedom Caucus help.
Any hard feelings toward Gordon were water under the bridge on Friday, however.
“We have an awesome relationship with our governor. We have the kind of relationship I think we need to have between the executive and the legislative branch,” Neiman said.
Freedom Caucus chapters in other states also have had some success this year.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden signed legislation Thursday barring the taking of private property to build a carbon dioxide pipeline, an issue championed by the state Freedom Caucus.
Missouri’s Freedom Caucus, which clashed with Republican state Senate leaders last year, has worked closely with new GOP leaders this year to advance its priorities, including measures that would permanently ban transgender treatments for minors and transgender athletes in women’s sports.
“I’m excited about the nationwide movement to create Freedom Caucus movements in other states,” Williams said. “What we have proven in the state of Wyoming as a caucus really should be a model for other states, especially in this administration.”
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Associated Press writer David A. Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed to this report.