S. 2273 explained  ·  119th Congress  ·  Pending in Congress

Wyoming Education Trust Modernization Act

Create a free account or sign in to follow S. 2273 and get alerts. Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources Create a free account or sign in to follow the Public Lands and Natural Resources policy area and get alerts. ▲ 14 days since action Sponsor: Cynthia M. Lummis, WY-Senate, R → Congress.gov

Cosponsors: 1 (0 D, 1 R) · per Congress.gov, 2026-10-14

Introduced: 2025-07-14

Latest action (2026-10-05): Held at the desk.

What S. 2273 does, in plain terms

Wyoming Education Trust Modernization Act This bill provides Wyoming with more flexibility to invest the principal of its permanent school fund by allowing the state to use earnings generated from investment of the fund rather than only interest. By way of background, Congress created the fund when Wyoming became a state by granting certain federal lands to be held in a trust for the state. Proceeds from school trust land sales, exchanges, or disposals are deposited into the fund to support public schools.

Official summary by the Congressional Research Service, via Congress.gov.

Constitution Index

“VFA Constitution grade”

A

Constitutionally sound

Graded 2026-10-05

SI-generated grade · five published checks · not individually reviewed by a person · methodology

Wyoming managing its own school trust fund investment policy is core reserved state power with no rights infringement, sovereignty burden, centralization, or taking. Grade A.

  • ✓ Passes · Enumerated powers
    State action managing its own permanent school trust lands granted by Congress at statehood under Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 (Property Clause) and the Wyoming Act of Admission. Administration of state trust funds for schools is within reserved state powers under the Tenth Amendment, not a federal enumerated-power question. No federal overreach.
  • ✓ Passes · Bill of Rights
    No provision restricts speech, religion, arms, searches, trial rights, or other Bill of Rights protections. The bill concerns management of a state trust fund for public schools and does not authorize surveillance, censorship, disarmament, or punishment. No First through Tenth Amendment right is infringed.
  • ✓ Passes · Individual sovereignty
    The bill restricts no personal conduct regarding person, property, speech, labor, or belief. It governs how the state invests and spends its own trust fund earnings. No individual liberty requires government justification here because no liberty is burdened.
  • ✓ Passes · Decentralization
    Managing a statewide permanent school trust requires centralized state fiduciary management; individuals, families, or single counties cannot administer a multi-generational endowment. The bill keeps decision-making at the state level, does not transfer power to the federal government, and increases state flexibility consistent with the Tenth Amendment reservation of powers.
  • ✓ Passes · Due process and takings
    No deprivation of life, liberty, or property without notice and hearing under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, and no taking under the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause. The bill changes investment/use rules for earnings already held in trust for schools; it does not confiscate private property or divert trust corpus to non-trust purposes.

Sources: Wyoming Education Trust Modernization Act

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