Fremont County residents are asking questions about the local impact of a new law the Wyoming Legislature passed this month “authorizing the governor to accept retrocession over military reservations and lands” in the state.
Senate File 15 – now Senate Enrolled Act 2 – says the governor may accept “full or partial retrocession of jurisdiction … over any military reservations and lands previously ceded to the United States.”
The language was inserted into Wyoming Statute 19-7-301, which cedes jurisdiction to the United States over all territory owned by the United States within the limits of United States military reservations, including Fort Washakie.
But local lawmakers said SF 15 will not have any implications for the former military installation at Fort Washakie.
“The bill only deals with active military installations,” Wyoming Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, said in an email to County 10.
In fact, he added, the “old statutory reference to Fort Washakie from the time it was an active military installation” was deleted this year in Senate File 83 – now Senate Enrolled Act 63 – along with references to “Camp Sheridan, Camp Pilot Butte, and the United States powder depot at Cheyenne,” meaning SF 15 will only apply to F.E. Warren Air Force Base.
“The bill has no effect on Fremont County,” Case said.
Wyoming Rep. Sarah Penn, R-Lander, agreed with Case’s characterization of SF 15, explaining that the bill was created to address a “loophole” at F.E. Warren AFB, where “there have been situations arise which would normally require prosecution by a county attorney, but because the infraction occurred on federal land, they don’t have jurisdiction.”