Protestors say Wyoming’s COVID-19 restrictions are illegal. Sorry, the state Constitution says otherwise

BY RICHARD JOHNSON

         As I sit here in my mask, cleaning doorknobs, locked into my subconscious sheep mentality, I scour my newsfeed on the constitutionality of pandemic shutdowns. Are they wrong? Are they right? Why the need for a firearm?
         In my typical troll /keyboard warrior fashion, I copy from trusted Wikipedia sources to get my point across.
         “The pen is mightier than the sword" is a metonymic adage, penned by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, indicating that communication, or in some interpretations, administrative power or advocacy of an independent press, is a more effective tool than direct violence.
         So I’ve been

Casper residents protest the governor’s COVID-19 orders

thinking about all these protests against the governor’s orders. Do arguments made by the protestors about their “rights” and that the governor’s orders are “illegal” make sense?
         Let’s dive into the bowels of Wyoming law to see what lies beneath the surface. Maybe I’ll find that magic mushroom in Mario Brothers to quench my inner nerdness of the rules that guide us.
         Let’s start with the governor:

         Article 4 of the Wyoming Constitution
         Section 4:
         Powers and Duties of Governor Generally
The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the military forces of the state, except when they are called into the service of the United States, and may call out the same to execute the laws, suppress insurrection and repel invasion. He shall have power to convene the legislature on extraordinary occasions. He shall at the commencement of each session communicate to the legislature by message, information of the condition of the state, and recommend such measures as he shall deem expedient. He shall transact all necessary business with the officers of the government, civil and military. He shall expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the legislature and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed

         Now let’s look at the Legislature

         Article 3
         Section 20:
         Laws to Be Passed by Bill; Alteration or Amendment of Bills
No law shall be passed except by bill, and no bill shall be so altered or amended on its passage through either house as to change its original purpose.
         In Wyoming, passing a law requires the House, the Senate and the governor to work through a series of steps. Creation: An interim committee or individual legislator drafts a bill. Filing: The bill is filed in either the House or the Senate and assigned a number. ... The committee may also propose amendments.

         Everyone following along so far? I know some of you may be singing along to “School House Rock” by now. That leads me to Wyoming State Statute Title 35 Health and Public Safety:

         35-1-103. Neglect or failure of officials to perform duty.
Any member of the department of health, any county health officer, or any officer, superintendent, or principal of any city, town, county or institution named in this act, who shall fail or neglect to perform any of the duties herein required of them, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in the sum of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or shall be confined in the county jail for a period of not less than six (6) months, nor more than a year, or both.

         35-1-223. Cooperation to prevent spread of contagious diseases; report of epidemics or diseases required from local health officials.
         The department of health shall give all information that may be reasonably requested concerning any threatened danger to the public health, and the local health officers and all the state, county, city and town officers in the state shall give the like information to the state health officer, and the department and said state, county, city and town officers, insofar as legal and practicable, shall cooperate to prevent the spread of diseases, and for the protection of life and the promotion of health within the sphere of their respective duties.
         When in any county, an epidemic or contagious or infectious disease including venereal diseases, is known to exist, it shall be the duty of the county health officer of such county to immediately notify the state health officer of the existence of the same, with such facts as to its cause and continuance as may then be known.

         35-4-101. Department of health to prescribe rules and regulations; penalty for violation; resisting or interfering with enforcement.
         The state department of health shall have the power to prescribe rules and regulations for the management and control of communicable diseases. Any persons violating or refusing to obey such rules and regulations or resisting or interfering with any officer or agent of the state department of health while in the performance of his duties shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by the imposition of such penalty as may be provided by law. Or in the discretion of the court said person may be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00) or imprisonment not exceeding thirty (30) days, or both such fine and imprisonment.

        35-4-103. Investigation of diseases; quarantine; regulation of travel; employment of police officers to enforce quarantine; report of county health officer; supplies and expenses.
        The department of health shall, immediately after the receipt of information that there is any smallpox, cholera, scarlet fever, diphtheria or other infectious or contagious disease, which is a menace to the public health, in any portion of this state, order the county health officer to immediately investigate the case and report to the state health officer the results of the investigation.        The state health officer shall, subject to W.S. 35-4-112 and if in his judgment the occasion requires, direct the county health officer to declare the infected place to be in quarantine.
         The county health officer shall place any restrictions upon ingress and egress at this location as in his judgment or in the judgment of the state health officer are necessary to prevent the spread of the disease from the infected locality. The county health officer shall upon declaring any city, town or other place to be in quarantine, control the population of the city, town or other place as in his judgment best protects the people and at the same time prevents the spread of the disease.
         If necessary for the protection of the public health and subject to W.S. 35-4-112, the state health officer shall establish and maintain a state quarantine and shall enforce practical regulations regarding railroads or other lines of travel into and out of the state of Wyoming as necessary for the protection of the public health.
         The expenses incurred in maintaining the state quarantine shall be paid out of the funds of the state treasury appropriated for this purpose and in the manner in which other expenses of the department are audited and paid. The county health officer or the department may employ a sufficient number of police officers who shall be under the control of the county health officer, to enforce and carry out any quarantine regulations the department may prescribe. The regulations shall be made public in the most practicable manner in the several counties, cities, towns or other places where the quarantine is established.
         If the quarantine is established by the county health officer, he shall immediately report his actions to the state health officer. The county health officer shall furnish all supplies and other resources necessary for maintaining the quarantine. Upon certificate of the county health officer approved by the director of the state department of health, the county commissioners of any county where a quarantine has been established shall issue warrants to the proper parties for the payment of all expenses, together with the expense of employing sufficient police force, to maintain and enforce the quarantine. For purposes of this act, "state health officer" means as defined in W.S. 9-2-103(e).

         35-4-104. Quarantine regulations generally; modification or abrogation.
         In case of the existence of smallpox, cholera, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria, or any infectious or contagious disease, including venereal diseases, that is a menace to public health, or of any epidemic of any such disease, the state health officer may, if he deems proper, proceed to the locality where such disease exists, and make such investigation as is necessary to ascertain the cause therefor, and in case of quarantine established by the county health officer, the state health officer shall have power after close personal inspection, to modify or abrogate any or all quarantine regulations after the same have been established.

         35-4-109. Spreading contagious disease; prohibited.
         Any person who shall knowingly have or use about his premises, or who shall convey or cause to be conveyed into any neighborhood, any clothing, bedding or other substance used by, or in taking care of, any person afflicted with the smallpox or other infectious or contagious disease, or infected thereby, or shall do any other act with intent to, or necessarily tending to the spread of such disease, into any neighborhood or locality, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof before any court of competent jurisdiction shall be fined in any sum not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), or imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding six (6) months, or by both fine and imprisonment; and the court trying any such offender may also include in any judgment rendered, an order to the effect that the clothing or other property infected be burned or otherwise destroyed, and shall have power to carry such order into effect.

         So even though all of this may not be in the “Wyoming Constitution,” the recent state statutes governing the outbreak of COVID-19 followed the guidelines laid out under the separation  of powers and the proper channel on how this became law.
         So what does all this mumbo jumbo legal jibberish mean?
         It means go home, snowflake. Put on your mask, and keep being a sheep. Men are talking.

  Richard Johnson is a former City Council member from Cheyenne’s east side.