Wyoming has a small, citizen legislature based on small House and Senate districts, which may make it easier for us to build majorities at both the state and local level. For one thing, a small legislature means that fewer of us would be required to control the legislature, leaving others to fill important local offices. This could be very important for us when you consider how many may or may not be willing to run for public office, or remain there for very long.
The following are excerpts from Wyoming's State Legislature Webpage:
Wyoming's Citizen Legislature:
"Wyoming remains one of the few states having a true part-time citizen legislature. While this may keep Wyoming legislators in closer touch with their constituents, it also means that they do not enjoy the same accommodations provided to full-time legislators in larger states. For example, legislators in Wyoming do not have individual staff. As noted below, staff services for Wyoming legislators are provided by a small permanent central staff agency (the LSO) and by temporary session staff.
Office accommodations are similarly austere. Except for a few officers of the House and Senate, members of the legislature are not provided offices in the Capitol nor do they maintain full-time offices in their districts. While in session, the "office" of a typical Wyoming legislator consists of the legislator's desk on the floor of the House or Senate and one or two file cabinet drawers in a committee meeting room. Except for the relatively short periods of time they meet each year in Cheyenne for the annual legislative session, Wyoming legislators can be contacted at home or at their places of business."
Wyoming Legislative Sessions:
"The Legislature meets in general session in odd numbered years, beginning on the second Tuesday of January. The general session is limited to 40 legislative days, but generally lasts around 38 days.
The Legislature meets in budget session in even numbered years, beginning on the second Monday of February. A typical budget session lasts 20 legislative days. Except for the budget bill, any other bill requires a 2/3rds vote of the House or Senate for introduction in a budget session.
Special sessions of the Legislature may be called at any time by the governor."
Testifying Before the Legislature (a good opportunity for activism):
"For each bill under consideration, committees will generally schedule at least one meeting at which public testimony is solicited. If you are unable to attend the meeting in person on the day the bill is being discussed, you may provide written testimony which may be left with the committee secretary.
A brochure is available in the LSO which provides general information to members of the public explaining how to make a presentation to a legislative committee."
District Sizes and Legislative Majorities
The entire premise behind the FSP is the idea of forming a majority of small government advocates in a state legislature. Consider the following quotations:
From Jason Sorens's What Can 20,000 Liberty Activists Accomplish? - concerning Quebec's Parti Quebecois and how they achieved a legislative majority in Quebec in 1976:
"At the time, the PQ had a paid membership of roughly 100,000, while the population of Quebec at that time was 6.2 million. In other words, having a paid member for every 62 citizens of the province gave the PQ a parliamentary majority. Applying the same ratio to the FSP's membership goal, we get 1.2 million population for a state in which 20,000 party members could win majorities at the state level."
From the FSP FAQ:
Q. Why don't we try "taking over" a city, a county, a group of counties, or a foreign country?
A. Counties do have some substantial powers, but states have even more powers, including control over most sales, income, and property taxes, control of the state police, and full control over statewide legislation. State legislatures have absolute authority over counties and towns: they can alter, abolish, and overrule them at will. At the same time, it would be more difficult to get a few hundred people to move to a single county than to get a few thousand people to move to a single state. As larger territories, states have more diverse economies & communities than counties...
Clearly, the FSP's underlying assumption is that it is working to establish a majority in a state legislature. This pursuit will involve many different variables, of course, two of which will be district size and the number of seats necessary for a majority: