Johnson County law enforcement officers reflect on legislative session
BUFFALO — Though it was a designated budget session, lawmakers also waded through hundreds of bills not related to the budget during the 2026 legislative session. Among them, a hot button issue that local law enforcement officials say was a misuse of time.
Buffalo Police Chief Sean Bissett and Johnson County Sheriff Rod Odenbach said that there were some good pieces of legislation this session, such as a bill that will make the grooming of minors illegal, which both Bissett and Odenbach supported.
Odenbach expressed reservations about another passed bill, which will reimburse county jails for holding mentally ill detainees awaiting evaluation at the state psychiatric hospital.
However, one bill that failed last year and reappeared this year largely unchanged is a Second Amendment Protection Act Amendments bill, which every sheriff in the state opposed.
Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed the bill, and the Legislature failed to override the veto.
Bissett described the bill as “creating solutions to problems we don’t have.”
“And we’re going to fight the same battle next year,” Bissett said.
The state’s law enforcement officers, including Odenbach, worked hard to lobby against the bill.
“And we shouldn’t have to do that. That takes away from this,” he said, gesturing to a hefty stack of freshly printed case file papers on his desk.
Stalking, grooming bills
Two bills that Bissett and Odenbach were glad to see passed were House Bill 9 - Grooming of children-offenses and amendments and House Bill 8 - Stalking of minors.
Gordon signed both bills into law.
The stalking bill classifies anyone over 18 convicted of stalking a minor as a felony, with a penalty of up to 10 years’ imprisonment. The grooming bill turns grooming a minor into a felony offense, punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. The bill defines grooming as “behavior, including sending an electronic communication, that seeks to prepare, induce or persuade a minor to engage in sexual conduct or exploitation, even if no meeting or sexual conduct is completed.”
Odenbach said this new law allows law enforcement to intervene and people to face legal consequences sooner.
“If you can make that stop before you have a victim, that’s amazing,” he said.
Contracts for holding the mentally ill
One piece of legislation that Odenbach has reservations about was Senate File 10 - Contracts for holding and treating mentally ill detainees. The bill, which Gordon signed into law, will authorize the Department of Health to contract with counties to reimburse county jails for holding and treating an accused person while the person waits for evaluation at the sole state-run psychiatric hospital in Evanston.
The bill is meant to help county-run jails that have taken on more responsibilities for caring for mentally ill detainees, as those detainees await an evaluation and care at the Wyoming State Hospital. The hospital has been faced with capacity challenges.
Odenbach said that while the intent of the bill is good, he worries it isn’t addressing the real issue of having a place where mentally ill detainees can receive adequate care. Odenbach said that the Johnson County Detention Center rarely has this type of detainees – he can recall maybe two in the last year. Still, if the county does have to house one of these individuals, he likely wouldn’t take advantage of the reimbursement.
“I wouldn’t partake in it because we’d become a dumping ground,” he said.
It also may not be enough money to compensate the county and the county may not have the means to accommodate mentally ill individuals, he said. While the county contracts with a mental health company to provide on-call counseling for inmates and officers receive extensive and ongoing training in suicide prevention and mental health, the jail is not be the best place for individuals who need a high-level of mental health care.
“That’s making our detention officers doctors, and we’re not doctors,” he said.
Bissett said that the state has come a ways in terms of mental health help after creating the 988 suicide lifeline, but there’s still more work to be done, and that includes caring for mentally ill detainees.
Gun legislation
Law enforcement leaders locally and statewide were most concerned about the potential impacts of Senate File 101 – Second Amendment Protection Act Amendments, a bill that failed.
The bill would have made it possible for Wyoming law enforcement agencies to face a civil penalty of up to $50,000 for enforcing federal gun control measures and allow any “interested party” to bring a civil action to enforce the new section’s provisions.
A near identical version of the bill was brought during the 2025 legislative session and failed passage.
In his 2026 veto message, Gordon wrote that he was disappointed the bill was reintroduced largely unchanged and ignored concerns brought up by law enforcement officers in the state.
“Please note that every single one of Wyoming’s twenty-three duly elected sheriffs, numerous community police chiefs, and state law enforcement officials spoke out to list their concerns throughout the legislative session to no avail,” Gordon wrote. “Whether it is willful ignorance of their appeals or blind acceptance of the voices seeking to disparage them, I am sickened to see our local and state law enforcement treated this way in Wyoming.”
The Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police submitted a letter opposing the bill, and both Odenbach and Bissett were among the signers.
One of the issues with the bill is how it could have inhibited the way law enforcement can collaborate with federal partners.
“This bill puts at risk Wyoming’s ability to cooperate with immigration enforcement and drug related crimes,” Gordon wrote. “I believe if this Act were to become law, our legislature would have unwittingly made Wyoming something of a ‘sanctuary’ state impeding the cooperative efforts of federal and local law officers. That would be a tragedy.”
Odenbach and Bissett said that the bill was motivated by fear mongering and isn’t based on reality.
“It’s hard to stomach when our motives are questioned and there’s no evidentiary backing,” he said.
While gun legislation regulating law enforcement keeps appearing, Odenbach and Bissett said that law enforcement officers are passionate about the Second Amendment and there are penalties in place if they violate it.
Despite challenges brought by legislators, Bissett said he feels a lot of support from the community, and that’s who law enforcement answers to.
Odenbach said residents are also fortunate to live in a pretty safe community, with a police department and sheriff’s office that are able to be proactive instead of reactive.
They also said that both Johnson County legislators – Rep. Marilyn Connolly, R-Buffalo, and Sen. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo – listened to what they had to say during the legislative session.
“We’re lucky to have them,” Odenbach said.
This story was published on April 9, 2026.