So Wyoming, that great bastion of civil liberties, recently passed a new piece of legislation that appears to prevent anyone from documenting "resource" data from public lands that are being leased for grazing, etc... that are outside of city or incorporated boundaries.
The Wyoming chapter of the Sierra Club told Think Progress that the obtuse language of the law impedes citizen science throughout the state:
“We are deeply concerned that this poorly written and overly vague bill will prevent concerned citizens and students from undertaking valuable research projects on public lands, out of fear of accidentally running afoul of the new law (the scope of which no one clearly understands) and being criminally and civilly prosecuted. There is no need for this new bill, and we can only conclude that it is an attempt by private landowners to scare people away from valid research efforts on public land.”
What is your take?
The bill is below:
Bill Title: Trespassing to collect data.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (? 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2015-03-10 - Chapter No. 146 Session Laws of Wyoming 2015 [SF0012 Detail]
Download: Wyoming-2015-SF0012-Enrolled.pdf
ORIGINAL SENATE ENGROSSED FILE NO. SF0012
ENROLLED ACT NO. 61, SENATE
SIXTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2015 GENERAL SESSION
AN ACT relating to crimes and offenses; creating the crimes of trespassing to unlawfully collect resource data and unlawful collection of resource data; limiting use of unlawfully collected data; providing for expungement; providing definitions; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 6-3-414 is created to read:
6-3-414. Trespassing to unlawfully collect resource
data; unlawful collection of resource data.
(a) A person is guilty of trespassing to unlawfully collect resource data if he:
(i) Enters onto open land for the purpose of collecting resource data; and
(ii) Does not have:
(A) An ownership interest in the real property or, statutory, contractual or other legal authorization to enter or access the land to collect resource data; or
(B) Written or verbal permission of the owner, lessee or agent of the owner to enter or access the land to collect the specified resource data.
(b) A person is guilty of unlawfully collecting resource data if he enters onto private open land and collects resource data without:
1
ORIGINAL SENATE
FILE NO. SF0012
ENROLLED ACT NO. 61, SENATE
SIXTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2015 GENERAL SESSION
(i) An ownership interest in the real property or, statutory, contractual or other legal authorization to enter the private land to collect the specified resource data; or
(ii) Written or verbal permission of the owner, lessee or agent of the owner to enter the land to collect the specified resource data.
(c) Trespassing to unlawfully collect resource data and unlawfully collecting resource data are punishable as follows:
(i) By imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or both;
(ii) By imprisonment for not less than ten (10) days nor more than one (1) year, a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or both, if the person has previously been convicted of trespassing to unlawfully collect resource data or unlawfully collecting resource data.
(d) As used in this section:
(i) "Collect" means to take a sample of material, acquire, gather, photograph or otherwise preserve information in any form from open land which is submitted or intended to be submitted to any agency of the state or federal government;
(ii) "Open land" means land outside the exterior boundaries of any incorporated city, town, subdivision
2
ORIGINAL SENATE
FILE NO. SF0012
ENROLLED ACT NO. 61, SENATE
SIXTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2015 GENERAL SESSION
approved pursuant to W.S. 18-5-308 or development approved pursuant to W.S. 18-5-403;
(iii) "Peace officer" means as defined by W.S.
7-2-101;
(iv) "Resource data" means data relating to land or land use, including but not limited to data regarding agriculture, minerals, geology, history, cultural artifacts, archeology, air, water, soil, conservation, habitat, vegetation or animal species. "Resource data" does not include data:
(A) For surveying to determine property boundaries or the location of survey monuments;
(B) Used by a state or local governmental entity to assess property values;
(C) Collected or intended to be collected by a peace officer while engaged in the lawful performance of his official duties.
(e) No resource data collected in violation of this section is admissible in evidence in any civil, criminal or administrative proceeding, other than a prosecution for violation of this section or a civil action against the violator.
(f) Resource data collected in violation of this section in the possession of any governmental entity as defined by W.S. 1-39-103(a)(i) shall be expunged by the entity from all files and data bases, and it shall not be considered in determining any agency action.
3
ORIGINAL SENATE
FILE NO. SF0012
ENROLLED ACT NO. 61, SENATE
SIXTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2015 GENERAL SESSION
Section 2. This act is effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution.
Speaker of the House
President of the Senate
(END)
Governor
TIME APPROVED: _________
DATE APPROVED: _________
I hereby certify that this act originated in the Senate.
Chief Clerk
4
