Thermopolis hosts Judiciary Committee meeting meeting

A meeting of the Wyoming Joint Judiciary Committee will be held April 20 and 21 at the Days Inn. Following the formal presentations each day, there will be time for public comment, and the committee will break each day for lunch from 12-1:30 p.m.

The joint committee will meet three or four times during the interim, which is from now until November, at different locations around the state.

House District 28 Representative Nathan Winters said last year the interim committee worked very hard on criminal justice reform, which was “a large topic with many moving parts.” This past year as they presented a good, but complicated piece of legislation, he said, and there were a number of issues brought back up.

“We’re going to be coming back,” Winters said, “during this interim. We’ve taken elements to work on, ones that we believe we can get a consensus as to how to move forward.”

This first meeting, Winters further noted, is where they will receive information from the agencies and parties involved.

The meeting begins at 8:15 a.m. Thursday, April 20, with discussion regarding stalking penalties, domestic violence, sexual assaults, restraining orders and family violence. Among the speakers will be Brett Johnson with the Natrona County District Attorney’s Office and Tara Muir with the Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.

Winters explained a bill was brought this year regarding matters such as restraining orders, domestic violence and sexual assaults, but the bill did not contemplate certain situations, so it was decided to address them in the interim.

At 9:30 a.m., discussion will switch to review of probation and parole effectiveness, with presentations from Michael Blonigen of the Natrona County District Attorney’s Office and Wyoming Department of Corrections Director Bob Lampert and Deputy Director Steve Lindly.

At 10:45 a.m. there will be reports from the Department of Corrections, from Lampert and Lindly.

Winters said he is very interested in the probation and parole elements, and ensuring the laws and statutes are working effectively.

In the afternoon, focus will be on a streamlined bail and forfeiture schedule presented by Lt. Col. Shannon Ratliff of the Wyoming Highway Patrol, beginning at 1:30 p.m., followed at 2:45 p.m. by evidence based pre-trial release polices presented by Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice E. James Burke and Wyoming Clerk of Court Patricia Bennett. The day’s formal events will end with a committee discussion on edible marijuana issues, beginning at 4 p.m.

“Last year,” Winters said, “we worked extensively on the edible marijuana issue. This year, we’ll be briefly looking into that in a more limited scope. Edible marijuana is orders of magnitude more powerful than the plant form marijuana, and can now be cold-pressed out of a marijuana leaf. It is basically raw THC.” He noted testimony has been received stating, at one point, there were edible gummies this size of a person’s fingertip that could have 30 adult doses of THC.

“It is very different from how most people think of marijuana,” Winters said. “It’s become industrialized and weaponized in some ways.”

On Friday, April 21, the meeting will again begin at 8:15 a.m., with discussion on judicial updates relating to courtroom technology and operations. Presenters will be Fifth Judicial District Judge Robert E. Skar, Ninth Judicial District Judge Marvin L. Tyler and Wyoming Court Administrator Lily Sharpe.

Winters pointed out Judge Skar has been a very thoughtful and effective voice in how we interact with courtrooms and courts.

At 9:30 a.m. the topic will be post-conviction relief, presented by John Knepper of the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office. At 10:45, there will be committee discussion regarding child custody.

The afternoon topics will be child support/pari-mutuel intercept, presented by Kristie Arneson of the Department of Family Services and Wyoming Pari-Mutuel Commission Executive Director Charles Moore beginning at 1:30 p.m., followed at 2:45 p.m. with public comment on volunteer health care, prior to the general public comment period.

“We received a bill during this last session,” Winters said, “that had great elements, but a lot of things that needed deep discussion and opportunity for all the various parties to discuss it. We laid that bill back, but decided to bring it as an interim topic because there were excellent points brought up. We’ll be working with DFS but also the foster care system.”

The commission’s next meeting is tentatively scheduled for June, though no location has been set.

Also during the interim, Winters has been appointed to the Management Audit Committee, which takes an intense look at programs within state agencies to see if they’re functioning at peak efficiency and whether they might be optimized. The committee will be laying out its agenda this next week, for its first meeting.

Along with serving on the two committees, and being appointed the chair of the House Republican caucus, Winters said he appreciates the opportunity to serve in a greater role, though he noted the people of this district will always come first.