Text of WY HB 98 (2016)

2016 STATE OF WYOMING 16LSO-0151 1 HB0098 HOUSE BILL NO. HB0098 Government Nondiscrimination Act. Sponsored by: Representative(s) Winters and Steinmetz and Senator(s) Barnard and Hicks A BILL for AN ACT relating to administration of government; 1 establishing the Government Nondiscrimination Act as 2 specified; providing for the protection of the free 3 exercise of religious beliefs and moral convictions; 4 providing for judicial relief; amending the Wyoming 5 Governmental Claims Act; providing definitions; and 6 providing for an effective date. 7 8 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming: 9 10 Section 1. W.S. 9-21-101 through 9-21-105 are created 11 to read: 12 13 CHAPTER 21 14 GOVERNMENT NONDISCRIMINATION ACT 15 2016 STATE OF WYOMING 16LSO-0151 2 HB0098 1 9-21-101. Short title. 2 3 This act may be cited as the "Government Nondiscrimination 4 Act." 5 6 9-21-102. Definitions. 7 8 (a) As used in this act: 9 10 (i) "Benefit program" means any program 11 administered or funded by the state of Wyoming, or by any 12 person on behalf of the government of this state, that 13 provides cash, payments, grants, contracts, loans or 14 in-kind assistance; 15 16 (ii) "Government of this state" means the state 17 of Wyoming or any of its branches, agencies, departments, 18 boards, instrumentalities, institutions or political 19 subdivisions and includes any person acting under color of 20 state law; 21 22 2016 STATE OF WYOMING 16LSO-0151 3 HB0098 (iii) "Person" includes an individual, 1 partnership, corporation, joint stock company or any other 2 association or entity, public or private, provided that 3 "person" does not include: 4 5 (A) A state employee acting within the 6 scope of employment; 7 8 (B) A hospital, clinic, hospice, nursing 9 home or other medical or residential custodial facility 10 with respect to visitation, recognition of a designated 11 representative for health care decision making or the 12 provision of emergency medical treatment necessary for 13 treatment of an illness or injury. 14 15 9-21-103. Protection of the free exercise of 16 religious beliefs and moral convictions. 17 18 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 19 government of this state shall not take any discriminatory 20 action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis 21 that the person believes or acts in accordance with a 22 religious belief or moral conviction that: 23 2016 STATE OF WYOMING 16LSO-0151 4 HB0098 1 (i) Marriage is or should be recognized as the 2 union of one (1) man and one (1) woman; or 3 4 (ii) That "man" and "woman" mean an individual's 5 biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and 6 genetics at the time of birth. 7 8 (b) As used in this section "discriminatory action" 9 means any action taken by the state to: 10 11 (i) Alter in any way the tax treatment of, or 12 cause any tax, penalty or payment to be assessed against, 13 or deny, delay or revoke an exemption from taxation of, any 14 person referred to in subsection (a) of this section; 15 16 (ii) Withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate or 17 otherwise deny any state grant, contract, subcontract, 18 cooperative agreement, loan, license, certification, 19 accreditation, employment or other similar position or 20 status from or to any person referred to in subsection (a) 21 of this section; 22 23 2016 STATE OF WYOMING 16LSO-0151 5 HB0098 (iii) Withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate or 1 otherwise deny any benefit under a benefit program from or 2 to any person referred to in subsection (a) of this 3 section; 4 5 (iv) Disallow, deny or otherwise make 6 unavailable any deduction for state tax purposes any 7 charitable contribution made by or to a person referred to 8 in subsection (a) of this section; 9 10 (v) Withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate or 11 otherwise deny access or an entitlement of a person 12 referred to in subsection (a) of this section to any state 13 property, facility, educational institution, charitable 14 fundraising campaign or speech forum, including 15 traditional, limited and nonpublic forums; or 16 17 (vi) Otherwise discriminate against any person 18 referred to in subsection (a) of this section. 19 20 (c) The government of this state shall consider 21 accredited, licensed or certified for purposes of state law 22 any person who would be accredited, licensed or certified, 23 2016 STATE OF WYOMING 16LSO-0151 6 HB0098 respectively, but for a determination against the person 1 wholly or partially on the basis that the person believes 2 or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral 3 conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the 4 union of one (1) man and one (1) woman. 5 6 9-21-104. Judicial relief. 7 8 (a) A person may assert a violation or attempted 9 violation of this act as a claim or defense in a judicial 10 or administrative proceeding and if successful may obtain 11 compensatory damages, injunctive relief, declaratory relief 12 or any other appropriate relief, together with costs and 13 attorney's fees against the state. Any payment under this 14 section shall not exceed the limits provided by W.S. 15 1-39-118. 16 17 (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an 18 action under this section may be commenced, and relief may 19 be granted, without regard to whether the person commencing 20 the action has sought or exhausted available administrative 21 remedies. 22 23 2016 STATE OF WYOMING 16LSO-0151 7 HB0098 (c) The attorney general may bring an action for 1 injunctive or declaratory relief against any agency, 2 instrumentality or political subdivision of this state to 3 enforce compliance with this act. Nothing in this 4 subsection shall be construed to deny, impair or otherwise 5 affect any right or authority of the attorney general, the 6 state, or any agency, officer or employee of this state, 7 acting under any law other than this subsection, to 8 institute or intervene in any proceeding. 9 10 9-21-105. Rules of construction. 11 12 (a) This act shall be construed in favor of a broad 13 protection of free exercise of religious beliefs and moral 14 convictions, to the maximum extent permitted by the terms 15 of this act and the constitutions of this state and the 16 United States. 17 18 (b) The protection of free exercise of religious 19 beliefs and moral convictions afforded by this act are in 20 addition to the protections provided under federal law, 21 state law and the state and federal constitutions. Nothing 22 in this act shall be construed to preempt or repeal state 23 2016 STATE OF WYOMING 16LSO-0151 8 HB0098 law that is equally or more protective of free exercise of 1 religious beliefs and moral convictions. Nothing in this 2 act shall be construed to narrow the meaning or application 3 of any state or federal law protecting free exercise of 4 religious beliefs and moral convictions. Nothing in this 5 act shall be construed to prevent the state or federal 6 government from providing, either directly or through a 7 person not seeking protection under this act, any benefit 8 or service authorized under law. 9 10 Section 2. W.S. 1-39-104(a) and 1-39-116(a) are 11 amended to read: 12 13 1-39-104. Granting immunity from tort liability; 14 liability on contracts; exceptions. 15 16 (a) A governmental entity and its public employees 17 while acting within the scope of duties are granted 18 immunity from liability for any tort except as provided by 19 W.S. 1-39-105 through 1-39-112 and limited by W.S. 20 1-39-121. Any immunity in actions based on a contract 21 entered into by a governmental entity is waived except to 22 the extent provided by the contract if the contract was 23 2016 STATE OF WYOMING 16LSO-0151 9 HB0098 within the powers granted to the entity and was properly 1 executed and except as provided in W.S. 1-39-121. The 2 claims procedures of W.S. 1-39-113 apply to contractual 3 claims against governmental entities. Nothing in this 4 section shall be deemed to provide immunity from liability 5 for a violation of the Government Nondiscrimination Act, 6 W.S. 9-21-101 through 9-21-105, and the claims procedures 7 of W.S. 1-39-113 shall not apply to any claim for judicial 8 relief under W.S. 9-21-104(a) or (b). 9 10 1-39-116. Exclusiveness of remedy. 11 12 (a) Except as otherwise provided in W.S. 9-21-104(a) 13 and (b), the remedy against a governmental entity as 14 provided by this act is exclusive, and no other claim, 15 civil action or proceeding for damages, by reason of the 16 same transaction or occurrence which was the subject matter 17 of the original claim, civil action or proceeding may be 18 brought against the governmental entity. No rights of a 19 governmental entity to contribution, indemnity or 20 subrogation shall be impaired by this section. Nothing in 21 this section prohibits any proceedings for mandamus, 22 prohibition, habeas corpus, injunction or quo warranto. 23 2016 STATE OF WYOMING 16LSO-0151 10 HB0098 1 Section 3. This act is effective July 1, 2016. 2 3 (END) 4