House Bill 0237 doesn’t seem to be in the best interest of Wyomingites

Whooee. Some of the bills coming out of the 2025 Wyoming Legislation are puzzling and possibly not in our best interest.  Case in point: House Bill 0237. It proposed that license plates be issued by the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT). Licenses are currently issued at the county treasurer’s office. 

The bill states that the license fees may still be paid at the treasurer’s office. However, your license plate/sticker will be mailed no later than 30 days after the fees have been paid. While waiting for these items, you will be issued a physical or electronic copy of the certificate of registration. 

Red thought flags pop up immediately in my simple mind. In fairness I have not   talked to any of the sponsors of this bill yet. I have only read the bill and read the concerns of the county treasurer. Here are some of those thoughts: 

1. The cost of mailing. That is going to cost the state.  Is this cost going to be added to the fees? Why would the state want to take that on especially when many of the legislators campaigned on cutting government spending?

2. Will WYDOT have to hire people to administer the bill? What is that going to cost us? Will there be an additional admin fee? Didn’t many legislators’ campaigns talk about the need to not grow the government?

3. Will there be layoffs at the county because of the change? Possibly. We need to keep good jobs here in our county. 

4. Customer service will certainly go down. Our residents know the people in the office. Those staffers know the residents. They are willing to go the extra mile, including helping customers put on the plates, stickers, answering questions, assisting with forms, etc.

Please consider reviewing the bill yourself. Then contacting legislators with your opinion. It is important to let the legislators of your district know your thoughts. It is also important to reach out to all the legislators as they vote on the bill, too. The website is https://www.wyoleg.gov/Legislation/2025. You may use the search feature to find the bill and to find contact information for both the house and the senate. 

Keep in mind that professional, non-combative conversations are best. As our grandmas said, you attract more flies with honey than vinegar. (Not that our legislators are flies.)