Governor Gordon calls for Special Session of Wyoming Legislature May 15th
To help respond to COVID-19 pandemic
May 8, 2020
On Thursday, May 7th, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed a proclamation calling to convene a special session of the Wyoming Legislature to help respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"In these unprecedented times, the legislative and executive branches must work together to best protect lives and livelihoods," Governor Gordon said. "For this session, I have asked for our Legislature’s assistance in determining how best we can use these federal dollars to meet the challenges our state is facing in both the short and long term."
The Governor and Legislature have worked on a small number of bills that amend and create programs for the purpose of helping businesses and residents impacted by the COVID-19 emergency. The discussions will focus on ways to best spend the nearly $1.25 billion the state received from the federal government as part of the CARES Act. The money must be spent on COVID-19 related response relief.
The special session will begin May 15 and will be conducted electronically, with the anchor location at the Wyoming State Capitol. An audio and video livestream of the House, Senate, and any potential joint conference committees will be available on the Legislature’s website at: www.wyoleg.gov. Due to social distancing guidelines, and for the safety of the public and legislators, the Capitol Complex will not be open to the public during the special session.
The focus of the special session will be on creating programs to help businesses and individuals impacted by COVID-19. The State is working on a slow and cautious start to reopening the state, starting soon with special consideration for restaurants and churches. Those places will need to include requirements of staff wearing face coverings, increased spacing between seating for attendees, frequent cleaning, and daily screenings of the health of the employees and staff.
Health officials are carefully looking ahead to the upcoming tourism season and the impact to local communities. They are consulting with neighboring states and the gateway communities on how best and when to reopen Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. They hope to have those open before Memorial Day. What they don’t want to happen is have a resurgence of COVID-19 cases with the loosening of the public health restrictions.
A copy of the bills that will be considered during the special session will be posted on the Wyoming Legislature’s website https://wyoleg.gov/ before the session gets underway.
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