Text of WY HB 135 (2017)

2017 STATE OF WYOMING 17LSO-0393 1 HB0135 HOUSE BILL NO. HB0135 Government Nondiscrimination Act. Sponsored by: Representative(s) Steinmetz, Wilson and Winters and Senator(s) Barnard and Meier A BILL for AN ACT relating to the administration of government; 1 establishing the Government Nondiscrimination Act; 2 providing for the protection of the free exercise of 3 religious beliefs and moral convictions; providing for 4 judicial relief; amending the Wyoming Governmental Claims 5 Act; and providing for an effective date. 6 7 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming: 8 9 Section 1. W.S. 9-22-101 through 9-22-105 are created 10 to read: 11 12 CHAPTER 22 13 GOVERNMENT NONDISCRIMINATION ACT 14 15 2017 STATE OF WYOMING 17LSO-0393 2 HB0135 9-22-101. Short title. 1 2 This act may be cited as the "Government Nondiscrimination 3 Act." 4 5 9-22-102. Definitions. 6 7 (a) As used in this act: 8 9 (i) "Benefit program" means any program 10 administered or funded by the state of Wyoming, or by any 11 person on behalf of the government of this state, that 12 provides cash, payments, grants, contracts, loans or 13 in-kind assistance; 14 15 (ii) "Government of this state" means the state 16 of Wyoming or any of its branches, agencies, boards, 17 commissions, departments, instrumentalities, institutions 18 or political subdivisions and includes any person acting 19 under color of state law; 20 21 (iii) "Person" includes an individual, 22 partnership, corporation, joint stock company or any other 23 2017 STATE OF WYOMING 17LSO-0393 3 HB0135 association or entity, public or private. "Person" does not 1 include a hospital, clinic, hospice, nursing home or other 2 medical or residential custodial facility with respect to 3 visitation, recognition of a designated representative for 4 health care decision making or the provision of emergency 5 medical treatment necessary for treatment of an illness or 6 injury. 7 8 9-22-103. Protection of the free exercise of 9 religious beliefs and moral convictions. 10 11 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 12 government of this state shall not take any discriminatory 13 action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis 14 that the person believes or acts in accordance with a 15 religious belief or moral conviction that: 16 17 (i) Marriage is or should be recognized as the 18 union of one (1) man and one (1) woman; or 19 20 (ii) That "man" and "woman" mean an individual's 21 biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and 22 genetics at the time of birth. 23 2017 STATE OF WYOMING 17LSO-0393 4 HB0135 1 (b) As used in this section "discriminatory action" 2 means any action taken by the state to: 3 4 (i) Alter in any way the tax treatment of, or 5 cause any tax, penalty or payment to be assessed against, 6 or deny, delay or revoke an exemption from taxation of, any 7 person referred to in subsection (a) of this section; 8 9 (ii) Withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate or 10 otherwise deny any state grant, contract, subcontract, 11 cooperative agreement, loan, license, certification, 12 accreditation, employment or other similar position or 13 status from or to any person referred to in subsection (a) 14 of this section; 15 16 (iii) Withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate or 17 otherwise deny any benefit under a benefit program from or 18 to any person referred to in subsection (a) of this 19 section; 20 21 (iv) Disallow, deny or otherwise make 22 unavailable any deduction for state tax purposes any 23 2017 STATE OF WYOMING 17LSO-0393 5 HB0135 charitable contribution made by or to a person referred to 1 in subsection (a) of this section; 2 3 (v) Withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate or 4 otherwise deny access or an entitlement of a person 5 referred to in subsection (a) of this section to any state 6 property, facility, educational institution, charitable 7 fundraising campaign or speech forum, including 8 traditional, limited and nonpublic forums; or 9 10 (vi) Otherwise discriminate against any person 11 referred to in subsection (a) of this section. 12 13 (c) The government of this state shall consider 14 accredited, licensed or certified for purposes of state law 15 any person who would be accredited, licensed or certified, 16 respectively, but for a determination against the person 17 wholly or partially on the basis that the person believes 18 or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral 19 conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the 20 union of one (1) man and one (1) woman. 21 22 9-22-104. Judicial relief. 23 2017 STATE OF WYOMING 17LSO-0393 6 HB0135 1 (a) A person may assert a violation or attempted 2 violation of this act as a claim or defense in a judicial 3 or administrative proceeding and if successful may obtain 4 compensatory damages, injunctive relief, declaratory relief 5 or any other appropriate relief, together with costs and 6 attorney's fees against the state. Any payment under this 7 section shall not exceed the limits provided by W.S. 8 1-39-118. 9 10 (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an 11 action under this section may be commenced, and relief may 12 be granted, without regard to whether the person commencing 13 the action has sought or exhausted available administrative 14 remedies. 15 16 (c) The attorney general may bring an action for 17 injunctive or declaratory relief against any agency, 18 instrumentality or political subdivision of this state to 19 enforce compliance with this act. Nothing in this 20 subsection shall be construed to deny, impair or otherwise 21 affect any right or authority of the attorney general, the 22 state, or any agency, officer or employee of this state, 23 2017 STATE OF WYOMING 17LSO-0393 7 HB0135 acting under any law other than this subsection, to 1 institute or intervene in any proceeding. 2 3 9-22-105. Rules of construction. 4 5 (a) This act shall be construed in favor of a broad 6 protection of free exercise of religious beliefs and moral 7 convictions, to the maximum extent permitted by the terms 8 of this act and the constitutions of this state and the 9 United States. 10 11 (b) The protection of free exercise of religious 12 beliefs and moral convictions afforded by this act are in 13 addition to the protections provided under federal law, 14 state law and the state and federal constitutions. Nothing 15 in this act shall be construed to preempt or repeal state 16 law that is equally or more protective of free exercise of 17 religious beliefs and moral convictions. Nothing in this 18 act shall be construed to narrow the meaning or application 19 of any state or federal law protecting free exercise of 20 religious beliefs and moral convictions. Nothing in this 21 act shall be construed to prevent the state or federal 22 government from providing, either directly or through a 23 2017 STATE OF WYOMING 17LSO-0393 8 HB0135 person not seeking protection under this act, any benefit 1 or service authorized under law. 2 3 Section 2. W.S. 1-39-104(a) and 1-39-116(a) are 4 amended to read: 5 6 1-39-104. Granting immunity from tort liability; 7 liability on contracts; exceptions. 8 9 (a) A governmental entity and its public employees 10 while acting within the scope of duties are granted 11 immunity from liability for any tort except as provided by 12 W.S. 1-39-105 through 1-39-112 and limited by W.S. 13 1-39-121. Any immunity in actions based on a contract 14 entered into by a governmental entity is waived except to 15 the extent provided by the contract if the contract was 16 within the powers granted to the entity and was properly 17 executed and except as provided in W.S. 1-39-120(b) and 18 1-39-121. The claims procedures of W.S. 1-39-113 apply to 19 contractual claims against governmental entities. Nothing 20 in this section shall be deemed to provide immunity from 21 liability for a violation of the Government 22 Nondiscrimination Act, W.S. 9-22-101 through 9-22-105, and 23 2017 STATE OF WYOMING 17LSO-0393 9 HB0135 the claims procedures of W.S. 1-39-113 shall not apply to 1 any claim for judicial relief under W.S. 9-22-104(a) or 2 (b). 3 4 1-39-116. Exclusiveness of remedy. 5 6 (a) Except as otherwise provided in W.S. 9-22-104(a) 7 and (b), the remedy against a governmental entity as 8 provided by this act is exclusive, and no other claim, 9 civil action or proceeding for damages, by reason of the 10 same transaction or occurrence which was the subject matter 11 of the original claim, civil action or proceeding may be 12 brought against the governmental entity. No rights of a 13 governmental entity to contribution, indemnity or 14 subrogation shall be impaired by this section. Nothing in 15 this section prohibits any proceedings for mandamus, 16 prohibition, habeas corpus, injunction or quo warranto. 17 18 Section 3. This act is effective July 1, 2017. 19 20 (END) 21