Wyoming 2026 Legislative Priorities

Wyoming’s 2026 budget session is just around the corner!

What does the state’s budget have to do with heart health? The American Heart Association is dedicated to building a state where we can all live longer and healthier lives. How we choose to invest our state resources can make a significant difference. This year, we will need your voice more than ever.

Here’s what we are keeping an eye on this session:

1. Preparing schools for cardiac emergencies:

Cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death for student athletes, but state law does not require schools to have AEDs. We want to make sure all Wyoming schools and athletic programs are prepared in a cardiac emergency. Schools also don’t receive funding from the state for AEDs, so in addition to requiring schools to have AEDs and cardiac emergency response plans, we want them to have the funding to do so.

How you can help: If you are parent, an administrator, a teacher, a student, a coach, a heart disease survivor – please reach out to Grassroots Manager Chris Turner at [email protected]. We can help you get in touch with your legislators, so you can share why emergency preparedness is critical for Wyoming schools. Our goal is to call 10 legislators in critical districts in the next two months. We will be sending out more alerts and information in coming months.

2. Access to Healthy Food: 

Gov. Mark Gordon’s proposed budget includes many opportunities to improve nutrition for Wyomingites, including:

• keeping the state enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• funding for SNAP education, which helps educate low-income Wyomingites on how to make affordable and healthy choices
• Summer-EBT, a program also called Sun Bucks, which helps low-income families pay for groceries over the summer months.

How you can help: If you are a parent, student, teacher, administrator – we would love to have your voices! We know food security affects everyone, so if you are a farmer, a rancher, a small business owner, a faith leader, or if you just care a lot – please reach out to us and we can help share your story. Ways to help include submitting a letter to the editor of your local newspaper or reaching out to legislators.

3. Department of Health Budget:

We are keeping a close eye on the legislature’s decisions around the department of health budget, particularly around cardiovascular health and tobacco use prevention. The Association believes these are critical programs to invest in to protect the future health of Wyoming’s residents.

How you can help: Keep an eye on your inbox for updates. We aren’t sure what is going  to happen, but we will need to be ready to voice our support for critical health programs.

Let us know which of these issues is most important to you! Vote here, and let us know any other thoughts you have.