Cooper announces he will seek reelection

Wyoming Senator Ed Cooper has announced he is running for reelection for his Senate District 20 seat. He has already served one term. Cooper has sponsored close to 10 personal bills, all but one of them has passed. In the last session, Cooper worked on two bills. One was brought to him by the Hot Springs County Commissioners about resolving an issue of the dissolution of the special districts in the county, particularly the fire district who was slow in turning in their paperwork. The bill would allow the commissioner’s discretion to see when a special district would come back in compliance. The bill passed and affects special districts throughout the state.

The second bill Cooper brought forward dealt with veterans’ exemptions in property taxes and brought the exemption amount to $6,000 of assessed value. Prior to this, the amount was $3,000.

Cooper said that “property taxes will continue to be an issue.” He is encouraging people to consider voting for the Wyoming constitutional amendment to separate residential property as a fourth class of personal property. Cooper said, “That’ll allow us to make some permanent long-term fixes to property tax to really reform it.”

Cooper wants to bring back some bills. One refers to Senate Bill #45, which deals with property taxes and the other bill is about gun free zones. This bill is controversial in particular to school districts.

Cooper has lived in Wyoming his entire life and been a lifelong Republican. He voted in his first election in 1972 and consistently voted on the Republican ticket.

Editors note: The IR will run one initial candidacy announcement for each candidate. Contact our office to have yours included.