2024 24LSO-0095
STATE OF WYOMING Working Draft
0.4
DRAFT ONLY
NOT APPROVED FOR
INTRODUCTION
HOUSE BILL NO.
General regulatory sandbox program.
Sponsored by: Joint Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Interim Committee
A BILL
for
1 AN ACT relating to economic development; creating the
2 general regulatory sandbox program; establishing the
3 Wyoming office of regulatory relief; authorizing limited
4 waivers of statutes and rules under specified conditions;
5 establishing standards and procedures for sandbox
6 applications, operations and supervision; specifying
7 standards for the suspension and revocation of sandbox
8 authorization; providing definitions; requiring rulemaking;
9 requiring reporting; and providing for effective dates.
10
11 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
12
1 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1 Section 1. W.S. 9-12-1601 through 9-12-1612 are
2 created to read:
3
4 ARTICLE 16
5 GENERAL REGULATORY SANDBOX PROGRAM
6
7 9-12-1601. Title.
8
9 This article is known and may be cited as the "General
10 Regulatory Sandbox Program."
11
12 9-12-1602. Definitions.
13
14 (a) As used in this article:
15
16 (i) "Applicable agency" means a department or
17 agency of the state that by law regulates a business
18 activity and persons engaged in the business activity,
19 including issuing licenses or other types of authorization,
20 which the office determines has regulatory authority over a
21 sandbox participant;
22
2 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1 (ii) "Applicant" means a person who applies to
2 participate in the general regulatory sandbox program;
3
4 (iii) "Consumer" means a person in this state
5 who purchases or otherwise enters into a transaction or
6 agreement to receive an offering pursuant to a
7 demonstration by a regulatory sandbox participant;
8
9 (iv) "Demonstration" or "demonstrate" means to
10 provide an offering in accordance with this article;
11
12 (v) "Offering" means a product, production
13 method or service;
14
15 (vi) "Office" means the Wyoming office of
16 regulatory relief created by W.S. 9-12-1603(a);
17
18 (vii) "Product" means a commercially distributed
19 good that is:
20
21 (A) Tangible personal property;
22
23 (B) The result of a production process; and
3 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1
2 (C) Passed through a distribution channel
3 before consumption.
4
5 (viii) "Production" means one (1) or more
6 methods of obtaining goods, including growing, raising,
7 mining, fabricating, harvesting, fishing, farming,
8 trapping, hunting, capturing, gathering, collecting,
9 breeding, extracting, manufacturing, processing or
10 assembling a good;
11
12 (ix) "Regulatory sandbox" means the general
13 regulatory sandbox program created by this article, which
14 allows a person to temporarily demonstrate an offering
15 without the enforcement of a law or regulation;
16
17 (x) "Sandbox participant" means a person whose
18 application to participate in the regulatory sandbox is
19 approved in accordance with this article;
20
21 (xi) "Service" means any commercial activity,
22 duty or labor performed for another person.
23
4 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1 9-12-1603. Wyoming office of regulatory relief
2 established, duties.
3
4 (a) The Wyoming office of regulatory relief within
5 the governor's office is created. The governor shall
6 appoint a director of the office. The director may hire
7 additional employees as may be necessary. The director and
8 any additional employees shall be compensated in an amount
9 to be determined and fixed by the Wyoming human resources
10 division, subject to the availability of funding. The
11 director shall serve at the pleasure of the governor and
12 may be removed as provided in W.S. 9-1-202.
13
14 (b) The director may employ technical, clerical,
15 stenographic and other personnel and make such expenditures
16 from amounts appropriated by the legislature or from other
17 funds made available to him as necessary to carry out this
18 article. The office shall be provided with necessary and
19 appropriate office space, furniture, equipment, stationery
20 and printing in the same manner as for personnel of other
21 state agencies.
22
23 (c) The office shall:
5 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1
2 (i) Coordinate office policy and management with
3 state and federal agencies and local government entities;
4
5 (ii) Act as a liaison between private businesses
6 and their applicable state regulatory bodies to identify
7 for temporary suspension laws or regulations that may
8 impair the business' ability to adapt to changing market
9 circumstances or to innovate in ways not contemplated or
10 allowed by law or regulation;
11
12 (iii) Create a framework to analyze the risk
13 level to consumers with respect to a demonstration and the
14 impact of suspending laws or regulations on the health,
15 safety and financial wellbeing of consumers;
16
17 (iv) Formulate a proposal for potential
18 reciprocity agreements between states that have similar
19 regulatory sandbox programs as set forth in this article to
20 be submitted to the governor; and
21
22 (v) Execute and enforce all rules promulgated by
23 the governor and the office to administer this article.
6 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1
2 (b) In administering the regulatory sandbox, the
3 office:
4
5 (i) Shall, subject to the requirements and
6 limitations of this article, establish a program to enable
7 a person to obtain legal protections and limited access to
8 the Wyoming market to demonstrate an offering without
9 obtaining a license or other authorization that would
10 otherwise be required;
11
12 (ii) To the extent not inconsistent with this
13 article, may enter into agreements with or adopt the best
14 practices of corresponding federal regulatory agencies or
15 other states that are administering programs that waive or
16 suspend statutory or regulatory requirements as a means of
17 promoting business development;
18
19 (iii) May consult with Wyoming businesses about
20 existing or potential proposals for the regulatory sandbox;
21
22 (iv) Shall consult with each applicable agency;
23
7 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1 (v) Shall not approve any application that would
2 waive any law or regulation in violation of federal law, or
3 that would jeopardize any national accreditation or other
4 national standard for any state agency or any business
5 practice.
6
7 9-12-1604. Program created; administration;
8 application requirements.
9
10 (a) There is created the general regulatory sandbox
11 program to be administered by the office.
12
13 (b) An applicant for the regulatory sandbox may
14 contact the office for a consultation regarding the
15 regulatory sandbox before submitting an application.
16
17 (c) An applicant for the regulatory sandbox shall
18 provide to the office an application in a form prescribed
19 by the office that:
20
21 (i) Confirms that the applicant is subject to
22 the jurisdiction of the state;
23
8 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1 (ii) Confirms that the applicant has a physical
2 or virtual presence in the state, that the demonstration
3 will be developed and performed in the state and that all
4 required records, documents and data will be available in
5 the state;
6
7 (iii) Contains relevant personal and contact
8 information for the applicant, including legal names,
9 addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, website
10 addresses and other information required by the office;
11
12 (iv) Discloses criminal convictions of the
13 applicant or other participating persons, if any;
14
15 (v) Contains a description of the offering to be
16 demonstrated, including statements regarding:
17
18 (A) How the offering is subject to
19 licensing, legal prohibition, authorization requirements or
20 other requirements;
21
9 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1 (B) Each law or regulation that the
2 applicant seeks to have waived or suspended while
3 participating in the regulatory sandbox;
4
5 (C) How the offering would benefit
6 consumers;
7
8 (D) How the offering is different from
9 other offerings available in the state;
10
11 (E) What risks may exist for consumers who
12 use or purchase the offering as part of a demonstration if
13 the offering is not subject to regulatory and legal
14 requirements;
15
16 (F) How participating in the regulatory
17 sandbox would enable a successful demonstration of the
18 offering;
19
20 (G) A description of the proposed
21 demonstration plan, including estimated time periods for
22 beginning and ending the demonstration;
23
10 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1 (H) Acknowledgement that the applicant will
2 be subject to all laws and regulations pertaining to the
3 applicant's offering after conclusion of the demonstration;
4 and
5
6 (J) How the applicant will end the
7 demonstration and protect consumers' interests or rights if
8 the demonstration fails.
9
10 (vi) Lists each government agency, if any, that
11 regulates the applicant's business; and
12
13 (vii) Provides any other information as required
14 by the office.
15
16 (d) The office shall collect a reasonable application
17 fee from an applicant as set by rule of the office.
18
19 (e) An applicant shall file a separate application
20 for each offering that the applicant seeks to demonstrate.
21
22 (f) After an application is filed, the office may
23 request additional information from the applicant that the
11 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1 office determines is necessary to evaluate the application
2 and for the application to be considered complete.
3
4 (g) No application shall be approved if the
5 applicant, within the past ten (10) years, has been
6 convicted of, entered a plea of nolo contendere for,
7 entered a plea of guilty for or had a nolo contendere held
8 in abeyance, for any crime involving theft, fraud or
9 dishonesty, or for any crime that bears a substantial
10 relationship to the ability to safely and competently
11 participate in the regulatory sandbox.
12
13 9-12-1605. Application reviews and reports;
14 consultation.
15
16 (a) Not later than thirty (30) days after the day on
17 which the office receives a complete application pursuant
18 to W.S. 9-12-1604, the office shall:
19
20 (i) Review the application and refer the
21 application to a relevant applicable agency; and
22
23 (ii) Provide to the applicant:
12 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1
2 (A) An acknowledgment of receipt of the
3 application; and
4
5 (B) The identity and contact information of
6 each applicable agency to which the application has been
7 referred for review.
8
9 (b) Not later than thirty (30) days after the day on
10 which an applicable agency receives a complete application
11 for review, the applicable agency shall deliver a written
12 report to the office of its findings. The report shall:
13
14 (i) Describe any identifiable and likely harm to
15 the health, safety or financial wellbeing of Wyoming
16 consumers that the law or regulation subject to waiver
17 protects against; and
18
19 (ii) Make a recommendation to the office that
20 the applicant either be admitted or denied entrance into
21 the regulatory sandbox.
22
13 [Bill Number]
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0095
Working Draft
0.4
1 (c) The applicable agency may provide notice to the
2 office of an extension of thirty (30) days to deliver the
3 report required by subsection (b) of this section, which
4 shall be automatically granted. A