House moves air ambulance, birth certificate bills forward

CHEYENNE - Six bills sponsored or co-sponsored by Rep. Mike Greear (R-Worland) are moving through the State Legislature but his one constituent bill is receiving lots of debate.

Greear said House Bill 73 regarding birth certificates-gestational agreements has "sparked a tremendous amount of debate."

The main goal of the bill is to provide an avenue to get the biological mother of a baby delivered through a gestational carrier on a birth certificate without a lot of legal work.

The bill requires a gestational agreement between the parents and the gestational carrier and states that the "upon the birth of a child under a gestational agreement, the intended parents of the child born under the gestational agreement shall be deemed to be the mother and father of the child, including for purposes of birth registration and the birth certificate."

After debate in committee and on first reading last week, Greear said in his weekly interview Friday that he planned to bring an amendment Monday to address one of the concerns. He said some legislators were concerned that people would flock to Wyoming for gestational carrier births due to the law.

The amendment that was approved Monday prior to the bill being approved on reading would require the parents to be residents of Wyoming for at least one year immediately preceding the date of the gestational agreement.

Another concern, Greear said, was that some people do not believe in surrogacy. "I don't expect anyone to vote against their beliefs but this is a practice and it is nothing new. The bill makes it a more sensible practice and cost less in attorney fees.

"I was just trying to help a Washakie County couple," Greear said.

Third reading was on Tuesday. and the bill advanced to the Senate on a 43-17 vote. Greear said he knows he has good support for the bill in the Senate with Sen. Ed Cooper (R-Ten Sleep) and Sen. Tara Nethercott (R-Cheyenne) co-sponsors of the bill.

Greear said most of the bills are "boring but important." Three bills have already passed the House and been received for introduction in the Senate – House Bill 64- Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act – extinguishing claims; HB68 Wyoming Statutory Foundation Act – amendments; HB 69 – Division of Banking Fees.

A worker's compensation bill on student learner agreements is in committee.

AIR AMBULANCE

A bill sponsored by the Minerals Committee, for which Greear chairs, is House Bill 7 on Air Ambulance Membership Organizations.

Greear said the bill would restore the ability for membership organizations to exist in Wyoming subject to reasonable consumer protection including disclosing information that the elderly on Medicaid may not need a membership; that a membership does not guarantee that the member air ambulance might not be the one to pick you up.

"It got out of the House in good shape. It's a bill that is near and dear to Washakie County and has a good chance to pass. It would keep that service in Washakie County going forward," Greear said.

The service provided by Guardian Flight is currently paid for by Washakie County and has "been a huge benefit" for the residents.

The current membership agreement is for another two years but without this legislation the agreement cannot be renewed.

House Bill 95 – Game Road Kill would authorize rules to provide for the collection of road killed animals. Greear, Rep. John Winter (R-Thermopolis) and Rep. Jamie Flitner (R-Greybull) all voted against the bill that passed out of the House on third reading 35-24-1 on Friday.

"This is the sixth time that bill has come up in my 10 years and it finally passed the House," he said.

The bill states that the Game and Fish Commission "shall, in consultation with the state transportation commission, adopt rules to establish a program whereby any person desiring to possess wildlife killed as a result of unintentional motor vehicle collisions on any public road or highway in the state of Wyoming is permitted to do so, provided that he collects the entire road killed animal, both edible and inedible portions and possesses" a certificate of prior authorization from the department (cost is $40), a valid scientific or educational collecting license; a donation certificate or Wyoming interstate game tag."

The bill does not apply to bighorn sheep, gray wolves, grizzly bears, mountain goats, and wildlife covered under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

House Bill 75 – Voter ID passed the House on a strictly party vote with Republicans in favor of the bill that would require a form of identification when registering to vote and when voting.

Several bills have failed in the early session. A bill that would have kept Wyoming in standard time year round failed on the Committee of the Whole.

Both wind generation bills failed in revenue committee and Greear expressed frustration that the full House won't get to debate the bill on taxing wind generation." I think we need to debate it," he said.

He said there are four bills on electrical reliability that will come before the minerals committee and as chairman he will work to bring one good bill out. The bills are intended to address Rocky Mountain Power's plan to shut down the coal-fired generator plant over the next 15 years.

"The Labor and Health and Human Services chairman will be working on four abortion bills in committee to try and bring one strong bill forward," Greear said.

The House Corporations Committee will also use similar strategy on the number of health order restriction bills that have been filed.

Greear said the in-person session that started March 1 has gone quite well and has provided for more quality debate than the eight-day virtual session did last month.