Wyoming Legislative Report - January 22 - KGWN –Cheyenne, WY– Scottsbluff, NE News,Weather, Sports

Wyoming Legislative Report - January 22

Legislative action in the  House Appropriations Committee is being taken on a highly controversial bill.  A rally for  Medicaid expansion and more measures continue their move through the Legislature Tuesday.

Senate File 104, on a fast track, probably the fastest moving bill of this magnitude in recent memory.

It removes the state schools superintendent as Head of the Education Department and replaces the position with an appointed director.

You remember 2010 write-in candidate for Governor Taylor Haynes.

He says this latest beef between the Legislature and the Superintendent of Education started with personality conflicts and different philosophies on how to run education and now it's evolved into what Haynes calls a fast track, illegal bill.

But House Education Chairman Matt Teeters disagrees and says education is unique because of the court mandate the Legislature operates under.

A Senate Bill raising the speed limit to 70 on most paved roadways passes on a final vote. Senate File 57 heads to the House.

Another Senate Bill requiring four years of math to graduate high school fails on a final vote. Two dozen organizations rallied this afternoon in support of the optional expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare. It's Senate File 122.

Supporters say opting in to Medicaid expansion would provide healthcare to low income adults without children.

They say it would be a plus for the state because it would do away with a lot of unpaid emergency room care, the only option for the uninsured and the feds would pick up most of the costs for years to come, which many in this building don't believe.

The groups supporting the bill are urging the Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee to move it out to the full Senate floor for debate.