“Wyoming Promise” Bill Dies in Committee

A bill that would have called for a convention of states to amend the Constitution and overturn the controversial Citizens United ruling was killed in committee Wednesday by a narrow 3-2 vote.

The Casper Star Tribune reports that the bill, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Wasserburger of Gillette, would have added Wyoming to the list of five states that have called for a convention of the states to overturn Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, a landmark Supreme Court decision that led to an unprecedented amount of corporate spending influencing federal elections.

The impetus for the bill began with a petition drive from a group called Wyoming Promise, which in late 2018 attempted — and failed, despite gathering more than 26,000 signatures from across the state — to get a question calling for a convention of states passed as a ballot initiative.

Some members of the committee, who expressed an interest in solving the problem, were reluctant to agree that a convention of states was the best solution.