Avery Kerman
akerman@uwyo.edu
Last year the UW board of trustees was forced to reorganize in order to meet equal party affiliation requirements; however, a new bill would allow for the majority of a board to be one party affiliation.
Senate File 37, will allow the governor the ability to appoint more members affiliated with one party on boards and commissions. The bill passed in the Senate on Feb. 16 and the House on Feb. 29 and is now making its way into law.
Under current Wyoming law, the governor is responsible for appointing members to boards and commissions. The boards and commissions are split almost equally based on party affiliation.
Wyoming is known as a heavily Republican state. It is also known to have a population that is geographically scattered, Gov. Matt Mead said in a statement.
The idea behind the bill is that some of the boards and commissions cannot find Democrats to fill positions, especially when they have requirements like the UW board of trustees, who must have members from different regions of the state.
Mead made a statement addressing this issue.
“Statutory requirements for boards and commissions are sometimes constructed in ways that make vacancies hard to fill,” he said. “When we look at balancing political parties, subject matter expertise, and geographical distribution, it can be difficult to fill these very important jobs.
With Mead being a Republican, there are concerns that his appointments will create too large of a conservative influence on the boards and commissions.
There are 25 boards and commissions that will be affected by this bill, including the board of education and the UW board of trustees.
Rep. Charles Pelkey, D-Laramie, proposed an amendment to SF37 that would exclude the UW trustees, but it was shut down.
“When it comes to education in general, it is helpful to have a balance. It isn’t healthy to tip one way or the other,” Pelkey said.
SF37 probably derived from the events in 2014 when the UW board of trustees was found with nine Republican members rather than the allotted seven. Gov. Mead remedied the situation by finding new members.
Despite being defeated, Pelkey said the governor made an obvious effort to appoint capable trustees to the board.
Skeptics are especially concerned with the potential conservative influence on education.
UW spokesman Chad Baldwin said at the current time “the university has not taken a position on the bill.”
Although a number of the boards have difficulty finding Democratic representation, some of the boards including the council for women’s issues, said they have never had trouble locating Democrats for their 13 member council.
The Senate made a slight change to the bill during the third reading, and it will be signed into law soon.
