Last week, at the meeting of the Joint Judiciary Committee of the Wyoming Legislature in Newcastle, I testified in favor of two bills that, if passed, will reform the practice of civil forfeiture in Wyoming. Both bills would bolster due process and property rights that are currently at risk under the Wyoming Controlled Substances Act. Wyoming polic...

The issue of legalized marijuana is slowly carving out a spot for itself on the Wyoming political scene. In January the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, seductively abbreviated NORML, submitted a proposal for a 2016 ballot initiative in Wyoming, seeking to: make it legal for anyone 21 or older to use marijuana;allow medical use a...

NEWCASTLE, WY – Wyoming Liberty Group staff attorney Steve Klein testified before the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee of the Wyoming Legislature today regarding two committee bill drafts that would substantially change the practice of civil forfeiture in Wyoming. "The Wyoming Controlled Substances Act currently allows police officers to seize pro...

During a tour of the Laramie County Juvenile Services Center with Tim Thorson and Captain Michael Sorensen I observed some trends that were further supported by data provided by the JSC. Through Mr. Thorson and Captain Sorensen I received a hard copy of the Overview of Laramie County Juvenile Services Center for fiscal year 20131 which provided the...

Sometimes it is difficult to show how the First Amendment and campaign finance reform are relevant to most Americans. But recent statements from a leading advocate of reform illustrate the significance of these issues. In April, the Democracy Alliance gathered in Chicago to discuss how best to shut down conservative policies. At the April meeting, ...

Fed Ed Secretary Arne Duncan announced this week that the U.S. Department of Ed is initiating a multifaceted new strategy to ensure every American public school child will have equal opportunities to learn. This despite the fact that provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) regarding training "highly qualified teachers" and reporting on teacher/st...

Wyoming has more state and local government employees per 1,000 private-sector employees than any other state. Since big government leads to low growth, it is fair to assume that with a smaller government our state GDP would be higher and we would all prosper. We would be able to find better-paying jobs, our state would see more business investment...

Published in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on April 18, 2014 "The politician ... attempts to remedy the evil by increasing and perpetuating the very thing that caused the evil in the first place: legal plunder." - Frederic Bastiat, "The Law," 1850 - Last week, while discussing locally-generated echoes of the national minimum-wage-raise debate, I made t...

Wyoming's wide-open spaces and horizons that appear to stretch to infinity are some of the most remarkable amenities residents can enjoy. For those who are more familiar with life in towns or even small acreages, these magnificent expanses of land without buildings can sometimes seem empty. Agriculturalists, however, can recognize how actively our ...

Education funding is a complicated issue in Wyoming. The state constitution gives education a special status on the list of public policy priorities, and the state's education funding formula has been the subject of much debate. It is therefore impossible to give a full picture of state education funding in a short blog or two. There is, however, o...