On the road again: Greear heads back to the State House

WORLAND – Representative Mike Greear (R-Worland) of house District 27 will be headed back to the state capitol this weekend, to prepare for the 2019 legislative session and continue his role as chairman of the Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee.

Part of this session’s training, which starts Monday after a Republican caucus on Sunday, will include new chairman training, to teach how to handle conflict within the legislative body.

“The first year as a chair sitting in committees, it was harder than I had thought,” said Greear. “We run through a lot of issues, and people sometimes get out of control, due to the high emotions. We really needed some training to get through those situations.”

New and returning legislators will go through mandatory ethics training on Monday as well, followed by swearing-in and convening speeches on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, committee meetings will begin, followed by the State-of-the-State address by newly-elected Governor Matt Gordon at 10 a.m.

A lawyer, Greear plans to primarily introduce a handful of bills relating to regulating estate planning, but has reserved some time to introduce legislation with more of a Wyoming flavor.

“A constituent mentioned to me how devastating a bear attack can be on a person and their family, so I’ll be introducing bill to fund the victims of bear attacks in the state through a donation that can be taken when you purchase a hunting license,” said Greear. “It should be a fun piece of legislation to see go through the process.”

Pondering what will be his ninth year serving House District 27, Greear noted that “We fix a lot of stuff, but I don’t’ think I’ve ever brought forth a bill that wasn’t boring everyone. I’m just going down with the same attitude: to keep the budget balanced and work to kill unneeded legislation.”