On Wednesday, the Wyoming Senate voted down one bill that the House passed last week and approved the other following several amendments that were put forth by the Appropriations Committee.

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In the discussions surrounding House Bill 1001, which prevented businesses from implementing COVID-19 vaccine requirements, the Senate adopted four different amendments on a third reading to the bill, two of which would have allowed parents to opt their kids out of COVID-19 vaccines and mask mandates in schools.

For the other two amendments, one got rid of a previous amendment to make way for the following amendment which defined an employer in the bill as either a business with 100 or more employees, or a business that gets money from Medicaid or Medicare or has a federal contract.

The vote on House Bill 1001 failed 15-13, was reconsidered on a vote of 15-13, before being voted down again 14-13.

The bill needed a majority of Senators, 16, in order to pass, but only a majority of those present in order to be reconsidered.

On the first vote, Senators Stephan Pappas and Charles Scott were excused, and on the second vote Senator Brian Boner was also excused.

The other bill the Senate considered, House Bill 1002, prevents employers from instituting COVID-19 vaccine requirements from the federal government and allows the Wyoming attorney general to sue the federal government to prevent that policy from being implemented.

There was no debate or amendments on 1002 and it passed 20-6 right after the Senate returned from a break.

The House then got together to discuss House Bill 1002 and, after several members rose to speak against passage, voted 11-47 against concurring with the Senate.

The two bodies will now need to get together for a conference committee to iron out the disagreements between the House and Senate on the bill before it can go back for a vote in the House.

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