NEWS

Wyoming lawmakers will consider nine working drafts that could reshape the state’s approach to digital assets, personal-data ownership, artificial intelligence, electricity sales, license-plate readers, cryptocurrency kiosks, money transmitters and foreign judgments.

The Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation Technology will meet September 28 and 29 at the University of Wyoming. Proceedings begin at 8:30 a.m. each day in Room 212 of the Wyoming Union and will be livestreamed through the Legislature’s website.

None of the measures has been approved for introduction. Lawmakers may revise, advance, or reject them, but decisions made during the interim process often determine which proposals reach the full Legislature and what form they take.

Updates from the University of Wyoming, the office of U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, and the Wyoming Stable Token Commission will open the meeting before lawmakers turn to the bill drafts.

A New Wyoming Digital Asset Authority

Wyoming’s Stable Token Commission would be replaced by a broader Wyoming Digital Asset Authority under Draft 27LSO-0010. The change would take effect July 1, 2027, transferring the commission’s funding, employees, property, contracts, and responsibilities to the new entity.

The Authority could issue, manage, and hold government-issued digital assets, establish digital-asset accounts, develop payment infrastructure, and coordinate the use of digital identities and identifiers. It could also hire employees, set compensation, enter contracts, purchase technology, and accept gifts, grants, or donations.

Oversight would rest with a seven-member board. Under the current language, the board would select its own members, fill its own vacancies, and remove members by majority vote “for any reason.” Senate confirmation would still be required.

Comments from Legislative Service Office staff raise questions about that structure. One is whether appointment authority should be shared with an elected official or outside entity. Another warns that the authority’s responsibilities could overlap with the powers of the governor, state treasurer, auditor, secretary of state, and attorney general.

Staff also identified a possible conflict if the same authority can issue government digital assets, regulate their management, and potentially benefit financially from them. Those unresolved issues make the measure one of the most consequential on the agenda.

Using FRNT for Government Payments

Wyoming’s Frontier Stable Token, known as FRNT, could be used for transactions with state and local government under Draft 27LSO-0136.

State agencies could accept FRNT as payment and use it to pay vendors or contractors who voluntarily participate. No contractor could be forced to receive the token. Counties, municipalities, school districts, and other political subdivisions would need local approval to participate.

Each token would be recorded at its redemption value when a transaction occurs. The state treasurer, in consultation with the state auditor and Stable Token Commission, would establish rules covering custody, valuation, transaction fees, redemption, and accounting.

Stable Token Commission Executive Director Anthony Apollo is scheduled to brief lawmakers as Wyoming attempts to move FRNT beyond its experimental stage and into ordinary commerce.

Wyoming Personal Data Ownership Act

At 94 pages, the Wyoming Personal Data Ownership Act is among the longest and most complex drafts on the agenda.

Rather than treating privacy only as a consumer-protection issue, the measure would classify personal data as intangible property and create four levels of protection based on the sensitivity of the information.

Genetic and neural data, along with information belonging to children under 13, would receive the highest protection. Other categories would cover health information, political affiliation, religious beliefs, financial accounts, biometric identifiers, and precise location information.

Residents would gain rights to access, correct, and transfer their information, as well as demand its deletion from companies and data brokers. Data brokers would have to register, while the Secretary of State would establish a centralized deletion system. Civil penalties and private lawsuits would provide enforcement.

Legislative staff called the property-rights approach a “significant change” from traditional privacy law. Recognizing personal information as property could affect licensing, transfers, inheritance, damages, and the responsibilities of government agencies and private businesses.

Government Use of Artificial Intelligence

Human review would be required when Wyoming government uses artificial intelligence to make consequential decisions under Draft 27LSO-0034.

State and local agencies could continue using automated systems to support decisions or make recommendations, but final responsibility would have to remain with a person. Agencies would also identify and maintain a record of the individual responsible for each review.

The current language does not require government to notify someone when AI contributes to a decision affecting that person. Staff comments ask lawmakers to consider adding notice, allowing affected people to request an explanation, and requiring agencies to document when and how automated systems were used.

Electricity for Large Industrial Customers

Data centers, cryptocurrency mines, and other large industrial operations could gain new options for obtaining electricity through a measure sponsored by Rothfuss.

Draft 27LSO-0181 would allow certain electricity producers to sell directly to nonresidential customers without being regulated as traditional public utilities.

Customers using at least 10 megawatts would generally qualify. Before entering some private power agreements, they would have to give the existing utility an opportunity to submit a binding offer. The measure is intended to prevent costs related to the private arrangement from being shifted to other utility customers.

The proposed exemptions raise broader questions about Wyoming’s power grid, existing utilities, and future data-center development. Representatives from the Wyoming Public Service Commission, Wyoming Energy Authority, and Wyoming Industrial Energy Consumers are scheduled to address the committee.

License-Plate Readers and Cryptocurrency Kiosks

Rules for automatic license-plate readers would change under Draft 27LSO-0139.

Government agencies, law enforcement, and private businesses use the systems to capture plate numbers and compare them against lists of wanted or suspicious vehicles. The legislation would limit how that information can be collected, stored, shared, and sold.

Plate information that does not produce an authorized match would generally have to be deleted. Law-enforcement agencies would face new requirements for the lists used to identify vehicles, while vendors could not claim ownership of or independently use captured data.

Limited private uses would remain legal, including controlling access to secured property and managing parking. Most privately collected information would have to be deleted within 60 days. Anyone whose plate information was improperly collected, retained, or shared could bring a civil action, and government entities could be held liable.

A separate measure would establish civil penalties for virtual-currency kiosk operators. The banking commissioner would determine the amount based on factors such as the seriousness of the violation, the number of affected customers, and the operator’s history.

No maximum penalty appears in the current draft. Legislative staff suggested setting a limit and clarifying whether penalties would apply per violation, transaction, customer, or day.

Two Additional Measures

Lawmakers will also consider a model law modernizing Wyoming’s regulation of money transmitters. Legislative staff notes that 31 states have adopted the model framework, while only three have adopted its optional provisions treating certain virtual-currency activity as money transmission.

The final proposal is the GRANITE Act, short for Guaranteeing Rights Against Novel International Tyranny and Extortion. It would prevent Wyoming from recognizing or enforcing certain foreign judgments, proceedings, or requests arising from expression protected by the United States or Wyoming constitutions. The draft would also create a cause of action involving improper state cooperation with such judgments. A similar measure was introduced last session but died in the process.

Public-comment periods follow nearly every major subject on the committee’s September 28–29 agenda, which remains subject to revision.

These proposals are not yet law, but this stage is often when their most important provisions are decided. By the time legislation reaches the House or Senate floor, many fundamental choices involving government authority, public oversight, personal privacy, and industrial development may already have been made.