Wyoming
With final bills signed and vetoed, the Legislature switches focus to the ‘off season’
One of the final bills signed by Gov. Mark Gordon following the end of the 68th Wyoming Legislature’s general session voids all future non-compete agreements in the state. SF 107’s passage marks the beginning of the legislative off-season known as the interim.
Non-compete agreements prohibited
Non-compete clauses prevent employees from working for their employer’s competitors or from starting a competing business within a certain amount of time after leaving. They can include geographic stipulations as well, barring employees from working for a competitor if that business is located within a certain number of miles from their previous job.
Wyoming’s new law will make those kinds of clauses null and void, joining states like California, Minnesota and North Dakota.
The bill’s sponsor, Majority Floor Leader Sen. Tara Nethercott (R-Cheyenne), said she believes the elimination of non-competes will benefit free market growth in Wyoming, especially for those in the state’s healthcare industry.
“What we’ve seen in Wyoming is an increasing trend of employers to use non-competes in all forms of businesses and affecting all types of employees,” said Nethercott. “So there’s been increasing litigation making its way to the Wyoming Supreme Court in recent years at unprecedented levels.”
For healthcare workers, Nethercott says non-competes were stifling the development of an industry that’s desperately needed in the state. In particular, Wyoming suffers from a shortage of OB-GYNs and maternal health providers.
“I think it encourages physicians to stay in the communities of their choice,” Nethercott said in an interview. “What these non-competes do is oftentimes force physicians out. As it relates to physicians, it has a huge impact. So physicians are unable to continue to practice within their own communities, really impacting continuity of care for patients.”
The law goes into effect on July 1 and only voids non-compete clauses made after that date. It does not void clauses made before July 1.
Enter the interim
In between legislative sessions, Wyoming’s citizen Legislature disperses across the state to their home communities, rendering the Capitol building’s House and Senate chambers quiet once again.
In her own downtime, Nethercott works as an attorney specializing in employment law at the Cheyenne law firm Crowley Fleck.
During the interim, lawmakers like her are assigned to joint committees that study topics, hear constituent feedback across the state and sometimes come up with draft legislation.
Those kinds of bills are generally expected to do better than measures sponsored by individuals, because they’re more thoroughly vetted and have used taxpayer funding in the research process. But that wasn’t the case this year.
After the general session ended, the Legislative Service Office (LSO) reported that only 47% of all bills sponsored by interim committees passed both chambers. That’s compared to 61% in the last general session in 2023.
“Do the committee assignments in the interim need to be re-evaluated? I think that’s true,” said Nethercott.
Some lawmakers expressed dismay at the number of committee bills that died in the session and wondered about the point of the interim going forward.
Nethercott said she believes that while interim committee work shouldn’t stop, more education on the process is needed for rookie lawmakers, including the 23 representatives who were brand new to the House this year.
“There’s just a lack of knowledge about how the Legislature functions, or how committees function,” she said. “Some of that naivety, I think, has resulted in the committee bills failing.”
Committee chairs need to be the ones to educate their respective bodies on procedure, according to Nethercott.
But Wyoming Freedom Caucus member Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette) says he’s looking at the interim season much differently. Bear chairs the House Appropriations Committee and was present during numerous House leadership press conferences held in the speaker’s office during the session.
“I think you’ll see a different type of interim process,” said Bear in an interview with Wyoming Public Radio. “You’ll see bills that are being studied and subjects that are being studied that are near and dear to the hearts of the people of Wyoming. They’re not just things that basically the bureaucracy has asked for.”
He drew a comparison to the 67th Wyoming Legislature, which did not feature a Freedom Caucus majority.
“The 67th and prior, and probably for decades prior, there was much more focus on supporting the government,” Bear said. “Whereas this Legislature, it’s much more about supporting the people that have sent us to the Legislature to represent them.”
Beyond the caucus’ majority in the House, Bear said he believes the Senate “isn’t nearly as conservative as the House.” He penned an op-ed during the session that accused his fellow legislators of being lobbyists.
WPR asked Nethercott about Bear’s comments on the interim.
“It would be really refreshing if the media could stop going to him for every quote on every topic, where he criticizes everything,” she said. “The perpetual criticism by some members of the Legislature concerning previous and current legislators … is unproductive. I think when we really step back and look, good work is being accomplished and will continue to be accomplished, and the Senate will make sure that that occurs. That work will continue, regardless of some of the commentary that is constantly provided by those that always give a quote.”
Interim committee topics will be formalized and released on April 8.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
Related
Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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