Monday was the day of the dead for bills – a bill has to pass its “first reading” in either the House or Senate at that mid-point in the session, or it’s finished. (A bill must then survive two more votes before it gets out of either the House or Senate – then it goes over to the other side and runs the same gauntlet – three votes – again.)

So, what died on Monday? Well, lots of things, particularly in the House. A few big ones never got to Monday – restrictions on outdoor lighting and the Defense of Marriage bills perished in dramatic floor votes Friday, and committees snuffed various wolf management bills, a ban on cell phone use while driving, and others. But dozens of bills hovered on the brink of extinction as the deadline neared, with solons working until after 8 p.m. but couldn’t get all the way down the long list.

Here are a few obituaries for curious bills you’ve probably never heard of:

  • The so-called “lottery for education” bill (HB 170) was voted down by the full House, 35-25

  • yet another failed attempt to introduce commercial gaming to the state outside the Wind River Indian Reservation. This time revenue would have gone toward Hathaway education scholarships; and there would have been video gaming machines at the Wyoming Downs racetrack in Evanston, which Rep. Michael Madden (R-Buffalo) likened to “the heroin of gambling machines.”

  • Junkyard dealers avoided the heavy hand of regulation when a bill to regulate scrap metal sales (SF 128) died. The bill would have required detailed records of metal and rubber goods sold or bought, no cash sales over $250, and the dealer keeping a copy of the seller’s photo i.d. Sen. Curt Meier (R-LaGrange) said it was prompted by thefts in the telecommunications industry.

  • A bill died that would have made it a crime for criminal street gangs (five or more persons with a common name or symbol engaging in crime) to intimidate or do graffiti (HB 159), which had some legislators fearing for their own artistic kids with spray cans, failed to garner a gang of votes.

  • A bill that would have required doctors to show women requesting an abortion an ultrasound image of the fetus (HB 151) was defeated in House after an emotional debate in which one opposed and angry legislator mentioned that she had had an abortion, while calling the bill “an insult.”

  • New and renovated government facilities, schools and community colleges (the University of Wyoming was exempted) would have been required to include art in their construction budgets under a Senate bill (SF 20), which went nowhere.