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The Associated Press State & Local Wire
January 29, 2003, Wednesday, BC cycle
3:46 PM Eastern Time
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 618 words
HEADLINE: Bill reinstates felons' right to vote
BYLINE: By SUZANNE BATES, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: CHEYENNE, Wyo.
BODY:
Convicted felons could have their voting rights restored under a bill that was recommended by a committee Wednesday.
Senate File 65 would allow felons convicted of nonviolent offenses to reapply to have their voting rights reinstated five years after completing probation or prison time. The Senate Judiciary committee supported the bill on a 4-1 vote. Sen. Keith Goodenough, D-Casper, said one of the reasons he was sponsoring the bill is because felons, who are able to appeal to the governor to have their rights restored, were unlikely under former Gov. Jim Geringer's administration to succeed in getting the right to vote back.
He said the bill would set up a procedure allowing felons to apply to the parole board to have their voting rights reinstated as long as they had not been convicted of additional felonies.
Tom Throop of the government watchdog group the Equality State Policy Center said Wyoming is currently one of seven states that permanently denies felons the vote. None of the states bordering Wyoming permanently disenfranchise felons. He asked committee members to support the bill.
Goodenough said the bill sends a message to felons that "you've paid your penalties and now you're eligible to participate in government."
John Faunce, with the AFL-CIO, said his group believes re-enfranchising felons would help rehabilitate and reintegrate felons back into society after they have served their sentences.
The measure was also supported by Tim Solon, of the Wyoming Church Coalition, who told committee members laws taking away the right to vote were enacted after the Civil War to prohibit African-Americans from voting.
Also passed by the committee on a 3-2 vote was a bill changing the threshold for felony property offenses from $500 to $1,000.
Goodenough told committee members that a woman who was a victim of domestic violence received a felony conviction for driving her truck into the perpetrator's travel trailer, while he was only convicted of a misdemeanor for giving her two black eyes.
The committee laid a bill back that would establish a mechanism to restore firearm rights to those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence offenses. The committee asked the sponsor, Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, to rework the bill and bring it back to the committee Friday.
Case who is sponsoring the bill, said gun ownership is taken away from those guilty of misdemeanor domestic violence offenses by the Brady Bill, a federal law that toughened gun laws.
"I hope the committee doesn't think this is about excusing domestic violence," Case said. He told committee members that even those convicted of low levels of violence face a lifetime of consequences.
Suzan Pauling, with the Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said she is unsure if her group supports or opposes the bill. She said some judges will not convict offenders, particularly police officers, of domestic violence offenses because they don't want to take the individual's firearms away.
"Maybe if they knew they'd eventually get them back they'd take them away in the first place," she said.
January 29, 2003, Wednesday, BC cycle
3:46 PM Eastern Time
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 618 words
HEADLINE: Bill reinstates felons' right to vote
BYLINE: By SUZANNE BATES, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: CHEYENNE, Wyo.
BODY:
Convicted felons could have their voting rights restored under a bill that was recommended by a committee Wednesday.
Senate File 65 would allow felons convicted of nonviolent offenses to reapply to have their voting rights reinstated five years after completing probation or prison time. The Senate Judiciary committee supported the bill on a 4-1 vote. Sen. Keith Goodenough, D-Casper, said one of the reasons he was sponsoring the bill is because felons, who are able to appeal to the governor to have their rights restored, were unlikely under former Gov. Jim Geringer's administration to succeed in getting the right to vote back.
He said the bill would set up a procedure allowing felons to apply to the parole board to have their voting rights reinstated as long as they had not been convicted of additional felonies.
Tom Throop of the government watchdog group the Equality State Policy Center said Wyoming is currently one of seven states that permanently denies felons the vote. None of the states bordering Wyoming permanently disenfranchise felons. He asked committee members to support the bill.
Goodenough said the bill sends a message to felons that "you've paid your penalties and now you're eligible to participate in government."
John Faunce, with the AFL-CIO, said his group believes re-enfranchising felons would help rehabilitate and reintegrate felons back into society after they have served their sentences.
The measure was also supported by Tim Solon, of the Wyoming Church Coalition, who told committee members laws taking away the right to vote were enacted after the Civil War to prohibit African-Americans from voting.
Also passed by the committee on a 3-2 vote was a bill changing the threshold for felony property offenses from $500 to $1,000.
Goodenough told committee members that a woman who was a victim of domestic violence received a felony conviction for driving her truck into the perpetrator's travel trailer, while he was only convicted of a misdemeanor for giving her two black eyes.
The committee laid a bill back that would establish a mechanism to restore firearm rights to those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence offenses. The committee asked the sponsor, Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, to rework the bill and bring it back to the committee Friday.
Case who is sponsoring the bill, said gun ownership is taken away from those guilty of misdemeanor domestic violence offenses by the Brady Bill, a federal law that toughened gun laws.
"I hope the committee doesn't think this is about excusing domestic violence," Case said. He told committee members that even those convicted of low levels of violence face a lifetime of consequences.
Suzan Pauling, with the Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said she is unsure if her group supports or opposes the bill. She said some judges will not convict offenders, particularly police officers, of domestic violence offenses because they don't want to take the individual's firearms away.
"Maybe if they knew they'd eventually get them back they'd take them away in the first place," she said.
