A New Voice.
A Stronger Wyoming.

Conservation & Land Use

Over 97% of District 23 – is under federal purview.  There are many people from elsewhere making decisions about these public lands who have neither an intimate knowledge of nor even a basic familiarity with them.  Shannon will amplify our local perspectives into a unified, strong, and effective voice in the legislature to ensure we do not see unacceptable changes and degradation. She will protect both public and private lands. She will balance the need to manage forests for fire suppression against the creation of permanent roads for unfettered and unlimited access. She will protect our trails, viewscapes, lakes, and streams for our recreational enjoyment and for the protection of fish and wildlife.

Housing

Very fast population growth in District 23 has strained housing availability and driven prices clearly beyond affordability. Innovative solutions – perhaps ones that have no precedence anywhere else – are needed now.  As a top priority, Shannon will work with citizens and organizations to understand the needs, visions, and expectations, and, jointly will identify pathways to realize them through legislative action and responsible property tax management. Jackson and Teton County literally have an opportunity to lead the state and nation in creating affordable housing and community balance.

Fiscal Management

Shannon aggressively will champion maintaining a balanced budget, managing income from the Mineral Severance Tax revenues responsibly, and ensuring taxation is fair and protective of citizens’ quality of life. This will be done with the expectation of tangibly improving affordability, specifically in Teton County. To accomplish this, she will promote budgetary decision-making that is based on demonstrated value-added and direct linkage to state program missions and objectives.  She will advocate for benchmarking government officials’ performance - both executive and legislative branches - on this.

Healthcare

Shannon understands healthcare delivery in Teton County. As a current member of the Board of St. John’s Health and a former member of the District Board of Health, Shannon is familiar with local health care resources and understands its funding challenges.   She will advocate for third-party payor laws and healthcare programs that serve District 23 — with particular attention to mental health needs identified in our community assessment.  She will monitor the impacts of the Wyoming’s Rural Health Transformation Program.  Her focus will be on affordable health insurance, more mental health resources, and accessible basic care, especially urgent care, close to home. 

Water Quality

With the dramatic increase in population, both our pristine surface and groundwater have degraded.  Although many organizations have expressed concern and even have assisted with monitoring, we must formalize the management and oversight of water quality.  Shannon will advocate for more formalized processes to tighten septic system compliance, injection well permitting, and agricultural effluent regulation to protect drinking water and keep recreational water clean.  As a former liaison between the USGS and Department of Energy, Shannon has overseen the monitoring of the second largest aquifer in the country.  She understands hydrology and fate transport.  She will support water quality rulemaking to protect our health, recreation, and wildlife from the impacts of growth and development.

Water Rights

Other states want Wyoming water because we host the headwaters for four of the seven major river systems in the West.  But we need water, too – for irrigation, agriculture, and a very significant use – recreation, a large component of this state’s and, notably, Teton County’s economy.  Yet data centers, out-of-state irrigators, and downstream municipalities are placing this water under attack.  As a water rights owner and as a current member of the Wyoming Governor's Groundwater Advisory Committee, Shannon will move this issue to the forefront in Teton County and Cheyenne.  She will fight for minimum streamflow rights to save our fish, the revisiting of prior water agreements, and the retention of reservoir levels for agricultural, recreational, and flood control.

Mineral Resources

Wyoming's extractive industries — oil, gas, coal, uranium, trona, bentonite — support  energy production and are a cornerstone of our economy through the Mineral Severance Tax.  Thanks to new discoveries and an expanded market, we also are now embracing a larger suite of economically extracted minerals - the rare earths and other precious metals.  We need to protect the extraction of these resources through the reduction of unneccessary regulations, increased incentives, and improved permitting efficiency.  Shannon will champion both the higher minimum rate for withdrawal and a sliding scale to match price declines or increases. She will advocate for the environmentally responsible extraction, storage, and transportation of these minerals while protecting the revenue base that funds our schools, hospitals, and communities.

Eldercare Services

Despite the excellent resources of the Jackson Senior Center, other organizations, and many volunteers, eldercare in Teton County still needs support.  The lack of local geriatric specialists, the lack of long-term memory care facilities, and the limited number of independent, supervised, and skilled nursing units creates barriers for our seniors.  This is not to mention the continually increasing costs for food, housing, and medical care. Shannon will work to strengthen existing resources; to promote the simplification of the medical billing and third-party reimbursement protocols; and to encourage more volunteerism in tax preparation, home-delivery of meals, and alternative transportation.

Education

Shannon supports the legislature's recalibration to target education funds more directly to teacher pay, benefits, and retention — and will monitor the long-term impacts to ensure there are no unintended consequences for other school programs.  The potential negative impacts of limiting extracurricular activities, especially athletics, on the social and emotional well-being of our youth also deserve to be wat.  The statewide literacy program, designed to identify students who otherwise may not succeed due to illiteracy, will have positive impact.  The focus on teacher pay will place school districts on footing to attract the best teacher talent, something the Cowboy states truly serves after years of low teacher pay.

Cybercrime

Cyber threats evolve faster than legislation can keep pace. Shannon will work to strengthen state penalties for cybercrime and fraud, expand citizen education, and support a volunteer-staffed hotline to help seniors and others who are victimized but too intimidated to report.

Immigration

Shannon supports the laws on immigration, including Immigrations and Customs (ICE) Partnerships and 287(g) Agreements required to enforce the law.  She does not support the use of violence by law enforcement in the apprehension of persons in the country illegally unless, by the judgement of law enforcement, that specific action was needed in order to prevent escape from or harm to the officer(s) or others.  She encourages the reporting of perceived violence to authorities and the honest and expeditious disposition of any complaints. She does not support the use of immigration contracts conceptually to generate revenue.

Energy

Wyoming is the Energy State.  Shannon will work to strengthen and preserve that reputation.  Our fossil fuels, uranium, rare minerals and special metals all are key contributors to the federal energy security agenda, and their extraction contributes very heavily to the Wyoming coffers.  Shannon supports the Energy Dominance Fund; carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies; cooperating with neighboring states to ensure grid reliability; and fossil fuel subsidies along with associated support for downstream clean energy technologies.  She believes in next generation nuclear as a safe, environmentally friendly adjunct to our traditional energy mix.  She will work relentlessly to ensure environmental integrity and safety in the energy cycle from creation, through its use, to residual disposition.