2025 25LSO-0061
STATE OF WYOMING Working Draft
0.3
DRAFT ONLY
NOT APPROVED FOR
INTRODUCTION
HOUSE BILL NO.
State park peace officers-definition and scope of
authority.
Sponsored by: Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Interim Committee
A BILL
for
1 AN ACT relating to criminal procedure; amending the
2 definition of peace officer to clarify and expand the scope
3 of authority for park rangers, superintendents and
4 assistant superintendents; making conforming amendments;
5 and providing for an effective date.
6
7 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
8
9 Section 1. W.S. 6-1-104(a)(vi)(P), 7-2-101(a)(iv)(G),
10 7-2-106(e)(ii), and 35-7-1002 (a)(xxiv) are amended to
11 read:
12
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1 6-1-104. Definitions.
2
3 (a) As used in this act, unless otherwise defined:
4
5 (vi) "Peace officer" includes the following
6 officers assigned to duty in the state of Wyoming:
7
8 (P) Any superintendent, assistant
9 superintendent, district manager, or full-time park ranger
10 or reserve park ranger of any state park, state recreation
11 area, state archeological site or state historic site who
12 has qualified pursuant to W.S. 9-1-701 through 9-1-707;,
13 when acting within the boundaries of the state park, state
14 recreation area, state archeological site or state historic
15 site or when responding to a request to assist other peace
16 officers acting within the scope of their official duties
17 in their own jurisdiction;
18
19 ***********************************************************
20 *******************
21 STAFF COMMENT
22 The terms "district manager" and "reserve park ranger" were
23 added at the request of the Chief Park Ranger and are not
24 defined in statute.
25
26 According to the State Parks website, reserve park rangers
27 are volunteers who perform park law enforcement and other
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1 duties in parks, historic sites, and trails. Before hiring,
2 they must have completed a basic law enforcement academy
3 and pass background checks. They must also maintain the
4 same training requirements as regular park rangers.
5 Depending on their assignment, reserve park rangers may be
6 fully authorized to perform the duties of a regular park
7 ranger.
8
9 According to a previous job listing for the position,
10 district managers oversee all state parks and historic site
11 operations, maintenance, and budget within state parks in a
12 particular district.
13 ***********************************************************
14 *******************
15
16 7-2-101. Definitions.
17
18 (a) As used in W.S. 7-2-101 through 7-2-107:
19
20 (iv) "Peace officer" means:
21
22 (G) Any superintendent, assistant
23 superintendent, district manager, or full-time park ranger
24 or reserve park ranger of any state park, state recreation
25 area, state archeological site or state historic site who
26 has qualified pursuant to W.S. 9-1-701 through 9-1-707;,
27 when acting within the boundaries of the state park, state
28 recreation area, state archeological site or state historic
29 site, or when responding to a request to assist other peace
30 officers performing their official duties;
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1
2 7-2-106. Extraterritorial authority of peace
3 officers; requests for assignment of peace officers;
4 liability; compensation.
5
6 (e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to
7 authorize a peace officer:
8
9 (ii) As defined in W.S. 7-2-101(a)(iv)(E) or (G)
10 to act pursuant to paragraph (a)(ii) or (iii) or subsection
11 (b) of this section; or
12
13 ***********************************************************
14 *******************
15 STAFF COMMENT
16 The following section was not included in 2024 House Bill
17 179 but is amended in this version to conform with the
18 previous amendments.
19
20 ***********************************************************
21 *******************
22
23 35-7-1002. Definitions.
24
25 (a) As used in this act:
26
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1 (xxiv) "Law enforcement officer" means any
2 sheriff, undersheriff or sheriff's deputy of any county of
3 this state, any duly authorized municipal policeman of any
4 city or town of this state, any member of the Wyoming
5 highway patrol, any police officer of the University of
6 Wyoming or any Wyoming community college who is a peace
7 officer, any superintendent, assistant superintendent,
8 district manager, or full-time park ranger or reserve park
9 ranger of a state park, state recreation area, state
10 archeological site or state historic site who has qualified
11 pursuant to W.S. 9-1-701 through 9-1-707, when acting
12 within the boundaries of the state park, state recreation
13 area, state archeological site or state historic site or
14 when responding to a request to assist other law
15 enforcement officers acting within the scope of their
16 official duties in their own jurisdiction, or any special
17 agent employed by the commissioner under this act;
18
19 ***********************************************************
20 *******************
21 STAFF COMMENT
22 Part of the Committee's request for this bill draft was to
23 change all instances of "law enforcement officer" to "peace
24 officer" when referenced to rangers. However, because the
25 definition differs from the definition of "peace officer"
26 in W.S. 7-2-101, the Committee may wish to consider whether
27 to leave the usage of "law enforcement" as-is. The other
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1 instance in which "law enforcement officer" is used and
2 referenced with rangers is in the Wyoming Retirement Act in
3 reference to law enforcement officer benefits.
4
5 ***********************************************************
6 *******************
7
8 Section 2. This act is effective July 1, 2024.
9
10 (END)
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Statutes affected:
25LSO-0061 v0.3: 6-1-104, 7-2-101, 7-2-106, 35-7-1002