FIRST DAY
GENERAL SESSION OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-THIRD STATE LEGISLATURE
JANUARY 13, 2015
House Chamber
At 12:00 p.m., the House Sergeant-at-Arms introduced the following honored guests and their escorts.
The Honorable Pat Arp, Deputy Secretary of State, escorted by Representatives Jaggi and Kirkbride.
The Honorable Ed Murray, Secretary of State escorted by Representatives Miller and Throne.
Secretary of State, Ed Murray called the house to order and the Sergeant-of-Arms announced the Honorable Michael Golden, Retired Wyoming Supreme Court Justice, escorted by Representatives Stubson and Lockhart.
The Central High School ROTC posted the colors, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by the body.
The prayer was given by Reverend Jason Harshberger, United Presbyterian Church, Laramie Wyoming.
OPENING ADDRESS BY SECRETARY OF STATE
EDWARD F. MURRAY, III
Esteemed Members of the House of Representatives of the 63rd Legislature; Spouses; family and friends of said representatives; Justice Golden; Distinguished Guests and citizens of Wyoming present in these Chambers and watching or listening all across the State of Wyoming.
Today is a great day in the history of Wyoming. January 13, 2015 marks the beginning of this, the 63rdLegislative session.
You, the members of the House of Representatives, are about to be sworn in, and become a part of a great continuity – hand to hand - generation to generation dating back 125 years; and you hold in your palms a magnificent legacy and the responsibility of the highest order – representing the people of Wyoming.
I am honored to succeed Secretary Maxfield as the Secretary of State and humbled to deliver the opening address. As inspiration for my thoughts for you today, I’ve turned to the three people that have had the most profound impact on my life, and are indeed why I stand here today.
The first is my late father, Ned Murray, who, when I was a boy, encouraged me to go "Into the Arena". This was not the arena outside by the barn; it was "The Arena" in the context of the famous speech "Citizenship In A Republic" delivered By President Theodore Roosevelt 1910. The excerpt from that speech given to me by my father reads as follows:
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
You my friends are "In the Arena", and I congratulate you for your courage and sacrifice. Do, spend yourselves completely in this worthy cause representing valiantlythe people of Wyoming.
As a side note:
When I told Deputy Pat Arp I was going to recite this excerpt, in her wisdom she suggested that I memorialized it for each of you to take with you along the way. And so we have 60 of these (personalized copies of the quote) prepared for you – and when you have a moment, please come by my office, get your copy of this, say hello and meet our friendly staff.
The second piece of advice that has profoundly shaped me and guided me has come from my dear mother, Barbara, affectionately known as "Baba". Beginning when I was a boy and continuing throughout my life; really as recently as last week before my inauguration, my mother has looked me in the eye and said, "BE YOU - it is what you are called to do." So today I would offer that each of you - Be You.
Being you is also what each of you is called to do. Together you are a body, but, just like the physical body, there are different parts. You may be the eye, you may be the hands, the ear, in Mr. Speaker Brown’s case the mouth. BE WHO YOU ARE. You encompass all walks of life: some in Ag, in Business, Education or Law. Dig deep, be introspective, what are the talents and gifts with which you have been blessed. Knowledge, wisdom, understanding, humor, kindness, compassion, civility intellect --- each of you bring your own God given talents and gifts to this body. Use them, and this body will function, with God’s grace.
Finally, the third; and in my case perhaps the most important piece of advice in my formation, comes from my wife of 28 years, Caren Murray. Caren is with us today in the gallery and I’d like to welcome her at this time.
Caren and I are the parents of 4 wonderful daughters who are watching elsewhere through the marvels of modern technology. I’ve saved these three words of advice from my wife to conclude this address, because, in my mind they are the most fitting way for me to end and you to begin your work. The three words I’m speaking of have been lovingly whispered in my ear to wake me up nearly every morning for the past 28 years by the woman I love and who loves me. And these three words are:
GET TO WORK. So let it be with us
May God Bless this 63rd House of Representatives and May God Bless this Great State of Wyoming.
ELECTION OF TEMPORARY SPEAKER
Representative Harshman nominated Representative Glen Moniz for Temporary Speaker. The motion carried on a voice vote. Representatives Harvey and Patton escorted Temporary Speaker Moniz to the chair.
ELECTION OF TEMPORARY CHIEF CLERK
Representative Hunt moved that Patricia Benskin be Temporary Chief Clerk. The motion carried on a voice vote.
CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE APPOINTMENT
Representative Moniz appointed Representative Kasperik to serve as chairman of a credentials committee consisting of Representatives Walters, Wilson, Lindholm and Allen. The committee will convene in the office of the Majority Floor Leader. This committee shall report its finding as to the credentials of the membership of the House pursuant to Article 3, Section 10, of the Wyoming Constitution.
CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE REPORT
Representative Kasperik reported that the credentials committee has received from the Secretary of State a certified list of the members elected to the House of Representatives of the Sixty-third Legislature of the State of Wyoming, according to the Certificates of the State Canvassing Board as filed in the office of the Secretary of State. We have reviewed that list and find it to be accurate. I move the adoption of this report.
Justice Golden was asked to come to the rostrum to administer the oaths of office to House members.
STATE OF WYOMING
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE
I Max Maxfield, Secretary of State of the State of Wyoming, do hereby certify that the attached is a full, true and correct list of the members of the Sixty-third Legislature of the State of Wyoming duly elected at the General Election held on the fourth day of November 2014 according to the Certificates of the State Canvassing Board, as filed in this office.
Max Maxfield
Secretary of State
By:Peggy Nighswonger
Chief Election Officer
STATE REPRESENTATIVES
District NumberName
District 1Tyler Lindholm
District 2Hans Hunt
District 3Eric Barlow
District 4Dan R. Kirkbride
District 5Cheri Steinmetz
District 6Richard L Cannady
District 7Sue Wilson
District 8Bob Nicholas
District 9David Zwonitzer
District 10John Eklund
District 11Mary A. Throne
District 12Harlan Edmonds
District 13Cathy Connolly
District 14Kermit C. Brown
District 15 Donald Burkhart
District 16Ruth Ann Petroff
District 17JoAnn Dayton
District 18Fred A. Baldwin
District 19Allen Jaggi
District 20Albert Sommers
District 21Robert McKim
District 22Marti Halverson
District 23Andy Schwartz
District 24Sam Krone
District 25Dan Laursen
District 26Elaine D. Harvey
District 27Mike Greear
District 28Nathan Winters
District 29John W. Patton
District 30Mark Jennings
District 31Scott Clem
District 32Norine A. Kasperik
District 33Jim Allen
District 34Rita Campbell
District 35Kendell Kroeker
District 36Gerald Gay
District 37Steve Harshman
District 38Tom Walters
District 39Stan Blake
District 40Mike Madden
District 41Ken A. Esquibel
District 42Theodore (Jim) Blackburn
District 43Dan Zwonitzer
District 44James W. Byrd
District 45Charles F. Pelkey
District 46Glenn Moniz
District 47Jerry Paxton
District 48Mark Baker
District 49Garry C. Piiparinen
District 50David Northrup
District 51Rosie Berger
District 52William Pownall
District 53Roy Edwards
District 54Lloyd C. Larsen
District 55David R. Miller
District 56Tim Stubson
District 57Thomas A. Lockhart
District 58Tom Reeder
District 59Bunky Loucks
District 60John L. Freeman
ELECTION OF SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
Representative Burkhart nominated Representative Kermit Brown as Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 63rd Wyoming Legislature. Representative Paxton seconded the nomination of Representative Brown and moved that his election be made unanimous dispensing with the roll call.
The motion carried. Representative Brown was escorted to the rostrum by Representatives Petroff and Lloyd Larsen. Justice Golden administered the oath of office to Representative Brown.
ADDRESS BY SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
KERMIT BROWN
Madame Majority Floor Leader, Mr. Speaker Pro Tem, Mr. Majority Floor Leader, Mr. Minority Whip, fellow legislators of the 63rd Wyoming Legislature, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
It is with humility and pride that I stand before you as your Speaker. I could never have done this without your support and your encouragement and I thank you one and all for everything you have done for me. Many who have helped me through the years are no longer here yet they are not forgotten. Representative Kurt Bucholz used to sit right over there where Representative Hung is sitting. Representative Bucholz was a dear friend and a very gifted legislator. More than once I imagined that someday he might be our Governor and I might be his Attorney General. Unfortunately, he was prematurely taken form us by cancer. I wanted to mention him specially, because I miss him and because we – all of us, should never forget that our time here is precious and fragile.
I have a few more people I wish to specially mention.
Reverend Harshberger, thank you for being here today and delivering the invocation.
Justice Golden, thank you for being here today. Justice Golden is a boyhood friend and former law partner. He actually made the motion to have me admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. Many of you think the phrase "Be like Mike" came from Michael Jordan but such is not the case. When we were kids, it was my mother saying "Why can't you be like Mike?"
With all the slippery slopes around here, I brought my ski instructor, he has some other talents as well. Please help me welcome the newly-elected mayor of the City of Laramie, Mr. David Paulekis.
My law partner, Bill Heiser and his wife Tracy, are also present. Bill and I have practiced law together since 1988 and I can honestly say, we have never had a cross word. Bill, your patience and indulgence in my political escapades is unequaled, and for that I thank your profusely. I know that our law practice is in the best hands during my absence.
Thank you to all our friend and family here today: Margaret's sisters Joan, Judy and Susan, my brother Doug, my other law partner Kelly Hick and the rest of our law office Alan, Kristi and Julie. A couple of my cowboying friends came in from the Red Dessert – Don and Colleen Stratton and Niels and Barbara Hansen.
One time the Stock Growers newsletter had an article about the 100,000 mile club in Nevada – made up of people who document they had ridden 100,000 miles horseback in their life. There were, as I recall 37 of them. Twelve were in the picture and 3 of them were women. I think all four of Don, Colleen, Niels and Barb would qualify for membership in that club. I remember one incredibly cold December day trailing cattle from Twin Groves to Saratoga with Don when it felt like we rode a 1000 miles in one day. My friend and business partner Gary Crum is here – along with another partner, we created the Wyoming State Bank out of pure thin air and today employ about 40 people. Thank you all.
Lastly, my wife Margaret. She is my life partner and means more to me than anyone or anything else in this world. We have led an adventuresome life together and she has always supported me. She has saved me from inadvertently annihilating myself on several occasions, she has been the rock of my life and she made this journey to the office of Speaker possible. When I finish this term, she and I between us will have served 16 years in this chamber. Thank you Margaret, for our life together.
We have been a state for only 125 years. We open this legislative session as only the 63rd legislature to sit in this state. We join a select group of something in the order of 1500 people who have held our positions. In these very chambers have labored many of the giants in Wyoming history – Warren, Carey, Kendrick, Simpson, Hickey and Hansen just to name a few. Our predecessors had no easier time of it that we will. They got mad and most got over it, they got frustrated and found a way through, they spent sleepless nights when there was no money and collectively, they left us the state we have today. Now we pick up the baton to continue their work for a brief period of service, mindful that we are not perfect and mindful that no one of us is as wise as all of us. The work product that we produce in this session will belong to none of us. It will belong to all of us. Our differences are what tend to be emphasized, but in fact, it is the understandings we have in common that move our state forward. We would do well to reflect on the common vision that gave us the state we inherit today, and hope that we can constructively contribute to the state we will leave to the next generation of legislators. This is the people's house and our collective wisdom is the heart and soul of Wyoming. It is incumbent on us to act in a way that makes the people of the State of Wyoming proud. We do so by observing the decorum, protocol and process produced by 125 years of experience. Robust debate is allowed here. We find ways to disagree without being disagreeable. We do not call each other names and we accord every member an equal opportunity to be heard. The good ideas bubble to the top and the rest are respectfully discarded – oddly enough, sometimes to surface and prevail another day.
Once more last week, we see in the press that our state has one of the most unpredictable sources of revenue in the nation – perhaps exceeded only by the state of Alaska. The Senate President and I, along with others, will sponsor a bill creating the Vision 2020 comprehensive expenditure and revenue review. The purpose of this bill will be to assess, through committees and task forces, all of our sources of revenue and expenditures and to assess the risk and volatility associated with each. We will look at all sources of revenue, tax exemptions and expenditures. We will engage economists and statisticians with the hope of constructing an econometric model incorporating sophisticated statistical tools like multi-variant regression, to quantify the overall levels of risk we potentially face, identify recommended levels of permanent and non-permanent savings, funding sources for those savings and policy criteria to guide the withdrawal of non-permanent funds. Too much of the discussion in this area is the product of anecdotes and opinions and too little is the product of hard data that can be enhanced with economic and statistical methods of evaluation available at our own university. Our hope will be that Vision 2020 will give us all some comfort that the saving and spending decisions we make are well grounded in fact and logic.
In the last session of the legislature, Next Generation Science Standards were taken off the table – to the extent according to some, that it is forbidden to even discuss any aspect of the standards during a state-funded meeting. This is fundamentally wrong. Politicians do not tell academics and educators what they can think about. We have not burned books in this county for a long time – and for good reason. Education trumps ignorance. We do not need to prohibit the discussion and consideration of something for fear that our ignorance will deceive us. Our students are perfectly capable of seeing ideas for what they are worth and accepting or rejecting them in a fully informed manner. Our students need to know and understand concepts that are basically disagreeable to us. They need to know and understand both sides of the arguments – indeed, to be proficient in their field, they should be able to make the argument on either side of any given issue. We do not protect them by giving them the education and ability to evaluate them and adopt or reject them as the case may be. I will be supportive of an effort to repeal the budget footnote pertaining to Next Generation Science Standards adopted last year, freeing up our State Board of Education to give them whatever consideration they deserve.