CHEYENNE – A bill that would have repealed legal provisions authorizing minors to consent to tobacco cessation treatment, as well as a provision authorizing vaccination or medical treatment of a minor child without parental consent, failed in committee Monday morning.
In a 5-4 vote, the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee voted down House Bill 44, “Parental rights in minor child’s health care."
“Parenting is never easy. Parents need to spend more time with their kids,” Rep. Kevin O’Hearn, R-Casper, said just before voting against the legislation. That said, some parents are not as involved as they should be, and in those cases, O’Hearn said he supports existing state law.
The bill was brought forth during the interim session by Rep. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper, but was ultimately sponsored by the Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee.
After HB 44 failed Monday in committee, Ward brought a motion to the House floor, asking that it be reconsidered by the House Judiciary Committee. The motion to reconsider a failed bill needs five seconds, which Ward received. Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, amended the motion to say that if HB 44 was to be heard in committee again, it should go to the Rules and Procedure Committee.
“This has nothing to do with the substance of the bill,” Zwonitzer, who chairs the Labor Committee and did not vote for HB 44 Monday morning, said on the House floor. “My amendment is primarily to – if it is that good of a bill, let’s send it to a second committee for a review, but I want to set the precedent that it should go to Rules and Procedure.”
That, Zwonitzer said, would prevent what he called “committee shopping (for a committee) that may, or may not, have a stronger likelihood of passing the bill.”
Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, pointed out that the committee Ward chose to reconsider the bill, House Judiciary, had “more bills to consider than any other committee.” Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, said that he could not recall a time in the decade he’s served in the House that lawmakers put a defeated bill into another committee for reconsideration.
“I realize the rules allow that, but the first day, look at all the committee bills that were worked over the interim,” Larsen said. “They don’t have a second turn to go back to committee.”
However, Rep. Pepper Ottman, R-Riverton, said that the ability to put a bill back into consideration is an important part of the legislative process. Zwonitzer’s amended motion to move the bill to the Rules and Procedure Committee passed, but ultimately Ward’s motion to reconsider the bill in any committee died by a 31-30 vote.
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Carrie Haderlie is a freelance journalist who covers southeast Wyoming from her home near Saratoga. She has written for the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Laramie Boomerang, Wyoming Business Report and several other publications for many years, including covering the Wyoming Legislature.
