Lisa Kinney

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Category: Policy

  • People Ask and Lisa Answers

    People Ask and Lisa Answers

    Here are some questions that are frequently asked of Lisa when she travels around Wyoming. Hopefully her answers will provide the information voters need when deciding which circle to color in at the voting booth on November 3rd.

    Lisa Kinney was born and raised in Laramie and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wyoming, her master’s degree from the University of Oregon and her law degree from the University of Wyoming. She was elected to the Wyoming State Senate from Laramie and served for ten years from 1985-1995 where she served as minority floor leader from 1993-1994.

    Park County is comprised of more public land than any other county in the state and public lands remain an issue at the forefront of our readers’ minds, although opinions differ on how they should be managed. How would you exercise your position as a federal officeholder to steward Wyoming’s public lands?

    • Public lands are our heritage, our livelihood and our responsibility. This is perhaps the most important issue as many of our current congressional reps are pushing bills to remove or transfer lands. I will engage with local communities to streamline processes to open and protect access to OUR public lands in a process already in place – not by selling or transferring the land. We must work with current landowners reasonably and do everything we can to protect our national forests and parks. We must maintain our right to give input.

    How can Wyoming’s federal officeholders address the cost of living and housing in the state?

    • I feel that removing tariffs and increasing international trade will be the first step to lowering the cost of living for our citizens. Taxing the wealthy is another way to improve services to everyone while lowering taxes for those making less than $100,000. Housing costs are so high and I will work to improve access for first-time home-buyers as well as renters.

    A number of hospitals and care centers in Wyoming face financial stress, tight budget margins, and struggle with insurers. How, if at all, can the federal government support our rural healthcare providers?

    • I want to bring back the ACA subsidies and then work toward Universal Healthcare for All. Every other country in the world provides healthcare for its citizens and it is unbelievable that the US cannot do the same. The health insurance industry is a mess and I will do everything I can to clean it up. The Big Beautiful Bill gave rural areas 5 years of help and then terminated the program. I would continue that very necessary contribution. 

    What is an issue that is unique to Wyoming that you would work to address if elected (e.g. mental health, energy dominance, etc)? Describe how you would work to achieve progress on this topic.

    • Wyoming is in a crucial time with the cost of everything being so high. Healthcare, food and groceries as well as housing are rising every day and people’s wages are not keeping up. I want to make a difference in Washington by working for a better future for our citizens, not just in Wyoming, but across the country. I have written four books about the legal rights of the mentally ill. Money for these programs have been continually cut since 1977. I will work to bring back funding as well as expanding programs for everyone.

    What experiences, traits, or actions distinguish you from your fellow candidates?

    • The Constitution, the rule of law, and due process have been ignored by the current administration, in my opinion. I want to strengthen our rights under the Constitution by reaffirming the Voting Rights Act, putting some teeth in Civil Rights laws, getting rid of all violent ICE activities, honoring equal rights laws and taking other steps to put us on a solid future for our kids and grandkids.

    Thank you for your support!

  • Rural Healthcare is Basic to Wyoming

    Rural Healthcare is Basic to Wyoming

    As a Wyoming State Senator in 1991, Lisa Kinney complained that rural health was ignored by the Senate Education and Health Committee during a meeting in Cheyenne. Senator Kinney called for the committee “to focus on rural community health issues prior to the upcoming budget session” (Laramie Daily Boomerang 10/10/1991). The article continued, stating that “In response to her call, the bipartisan legislative committee voted to ask the Legislative Management Council for two full meeting days for the entire interim committee to meet and hold hearings on rural health care topics.”  Indeed, the Health Committee of both parties worked together to resolve issues facing Wyoming.

    Previously, Senator Kinney sponsored and passed a bill allowing optometrists to prescribe medication. Dr. Sue Lowe, Laramie optometrist, asked her to sponsor this legislation to allow optometrists to provide cost-effective, essential, and accurate treatments for patients. Prior to Senator Kinney’s bill, if a patient saw an optometrist and needed medication, the patient had to get a second appointment with a family doctor for the prescription. “Passing my bill served rural patients because the optometrist could prescribe the medication immediately without the patient seeing a second doctor,” Kinney stated. “I will continue and am determined to help resolve rural health care issues when I am elected to the US House,” Kinney concluded.

  • Election Interference?

    Election Interference?

    Lisa Kinney is Concerned About Recent Election Interference by DOJ

    Lisa Kinney is angry that that the DOJ sent a team of “observers” to Wyoming’s primary elections to analyze our voting procedures by monitoring poll workers in Cheyenne. Wyoming can handle its affairs better than the Feds at every turn. We have faith in the integrity of our hard-working County Clerks, and the excellent work they do. How much of our tax dollars did they waste on this trip? Because Lisa Kinney’s opponent turned over Wyoming’s detailed voter data immediately when asked by the Federal Government, Chuck Gray boasts that Wyoming was the first state to provide this information. Since that time more than 30 other states have sued the government to prevent handing over their own state’s voter information, saying they should not have to relinquish this, and they have prevailed. Even so, the Feds showed up in Cheyenne to question Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee and watch the voting. Governor Gordon called the monitors’ behavior “a bit aggressive” and “irregular.”  Chuck Gray insisted to the Governor that the clerk had been notified, but she said that she only received notice on Election day, which is not sufficient time. This type of behavior indicates it is time to elect someone to the U.S. House of Representatives who is not subservient to federal indiscretion. We need a representative who is serious about doing the job rather than grandstanding for out-of-state, out-of-touch national groups. Lisa Kinney has represented the needs of Wyoming through the Wyoming State Senate, and she will continue to serve Wyoming with integrity and honesty when elected.

  • Geothermal Energy Can Work!

    Geothermal Energy Can Work!

    My immediate goal when I am elected is to introduce funding for geothermal development using oil and gas techniques, infrastructure, and employees. Wyoming should join the four-state group, the Mountain West Geothermal Consortium. This group partnership was formed in May 2026 and includes Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.  They are working to develop “underground clean energy.” Utah has received federal funds to create “Utah Forge,” an underground field laboratory which “has developed and refined enhanced geothermal using oil and gas techniques.”  More information here.  A primary need of geothermal is to find where the hot rocks exist and go below that. Drillers PanTerra Energy in Colorado dug 1,000 feet under the Aspen high school football field in its geothermal project which usually stops around 500 feet. Aspen will “use the new system to bring clean, low-carbon energy to school and administration buildings across its campus”, according to an article in the Colorado Sun.  The funding for this project included federal and state grants and tax credits. Colorado also created an office that retrained coal workers. We must transition fossil fuel equipment, infrastructure and employees over time to geothermal for our great-grandchildren by creating and continuing congressional funding in these areas, which is what I will do.

  • Data Center Concerns

    Data Center Concerns

    I have developed a five-point legislative bill to address new Data Centers being considered throughout Wyoming. I hear or read about city councils and county commissioners making plans to possibly annex data centers into their areas. The Cheyenne City Council on August 10th approved the annexation of a 34-acre property for a data center development staging area according to Cap City News. The Laramie City Council and Albany County Commissioners met August 11th to look at options in both places, and while there is nothing large enough in Laramie’s city limits, there is in the county. Wyoming is cool, dry, and empty. Our kids need jobs. However, we do not have enough scientific information to fully analyze what these centers mean to our well-being. They should be required to go through the Industrial Siting Act, which they can now avoid by being annexed into an industrial park, or claiming the project is worth less than $250 million. An adept State Senator or Representative can fix this by adding the words “data center” into the required list. But as a member of Congress, I plan to introduce a bill that:

    1. All data centers must have closed loop systems;
    2. All discharge must be regulated to avoid toxic contamination of water sources;
    3. Companies must incur cost of increased energy so that the cost of electricity does not increase for citizens;
    4. Location of centers with set back of five miles from housing and neighborhoods and;
    5. A cap on noise operational limits.

    I would propose a moratorium of six months to a year minimum for research in order to create regulations that determine what other issues exist and to work with other levels of government to protect our citizens. We are moving too fast on these possibly damaging projects.

  • A Little Known BEAD Act

    A Little Known BEAD Act

    Our rural areas need reliable internet. Wyoming received $348 million under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Act in 2023 authorized by President Joe Biden and in 2025 the money was approved and deposited with the Wyoming Business Council. The Wyoming Joint Appropriations Committee reduced the Business Council’s budget to $15 million in 2026, so the $348 million was transferred to the Governor’s office. This grant to connect Wyoming’s 39,000 under-served rural homes and ranches is a high priority even though several issues exist. The money for high-speed internet must be spent within four years. It is a great opportunity to connect our small businesses, schools, and agricultural producers with the internet communication we have in the cities. I spent the last 15 years traveling through Wyoming visiting schools and hospitals for AIG/VALIC, Corebridge as a financial consultant and experienced the problems our rural areas face. I will not let the current administration waste Wyoming’s rural internet funding. We need to make sure this money is utilized by Wyoming and I will work with the Governor’s office to ensure the funds get used appropriately.

  • Mental Healthcare is Healthcare

    Mental Healthcare is Healthcare

    There is a mental health crisis in the United States. When I think about this, I think of my brother Wayne – a genius, an extraordinary pianist, humorous, and the kindest person I have known. At age 17, he took acid and never came back. He spent years being homeless in San Francisco and only when he found himself in a mental hospital with proper medication and counseling, he was able to come home. He died at age 42. Since then, my mother, Dr. Phyllis Kinney and I have written books about drugs and legal rights of individuals with mental illness through National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Wyoming Alliance of Mental Illness (WYAMI). We need to create and provide funding to take better care of our families.

    Some of the cuts made recently were to the “Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) where half of its workforce was reduced through layoffs. Along with these cuts, most youth mental health staff at the Center for Mental Health Services were let go; early discretionary budgets were slashed nearly $1.1 billion by Elon Musk and DOGE from SAMHSA and billions from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

    More than 1 billion people worldwide live with a mental health condition. One in seven young people. Despite these alarming numbers, the public health response is woefully inadequate. In the words of Dr Tedros, WHO Director General, “Mental health remains one of the most neglected areas of public health and health services delivery”. Indeed, the WHO report World Mental Health Today, published in September, paints a sobering picture with rising incidence rates, persistent service gaps, and a glaring neglect of youth-specific mental health needs.  The following article in the Lancet from November 2025 explains it more:  Mental health: a public health crisis unfolding

    https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(25)00261-0/fulltext

    I will work to bring back funding for these important programs. I urge you to do your own research, as well. Mental and physical health should be treated equally for everyone.

  • Another Call for Public Lands

    Another Call for Public Lands

    Teno Rencalio was the last Democrat elected to the Wyoming US House in 1965 and he served until 1978. I believe we need to turn the page and work toward the needs of Wyomingites. I will work to make sure that all citizens, the hard-working, honest, help-your-neighbor individuals are number ONE in my priorities. The Public Lands in Public Hands Act, H.R. 71 restricted transfer or sale of federal lands that have public access and was introduced in Congress on January 23, 2025 and has not moved since. I plan to reintroduce that bill. I am grateful for your concern about our future – everywhere I go I see beautiful public lands. In order to do this, I need your support! Electing another Democrat to the US House will ensure Wyoming’s legacy for generations to come! Thank you!

  • Fireside Chat: Data Centers

    Fireside Chat: Data Centers

  • Fireside Chat: Public Lands

    Fireside Chat: Public Lands