§ 8-1-103 — Rules of construction for statutes

(a) The construction of all statutes of this state shall
be by the following rules, unless that construction is plainly
contrary to the intent of the legislature:
(i) Words and phrases shall be taken in their
ordinary and usual sense, but technical words and phrases having
a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law shall be understood
according to their technical import;
(ii) Words importing joint authority to three (3) or
more persons shall be construed as authority to a majority of
those persons, unless otherwise declared in the law giving the
authority;
(iii) Reference to a numbered section, subsection,
paragraph, subparagraph or other subdivision "of the statutes"
and the abbreviation "W.S." when used in conjunction with a
statute section number or its designation or identification
means the Wyoming Statutes in their most recently published form
including amendments to original enactments;
(iv) Words in the present tense include the future
tense;
(v) Words in the plural form include the singular and
words in the singular form include the plural;
(vi) Words in the masculine gender include the
feminine and neuter genders;
(vii) Any uniform act shall be interpreted and
construed to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the
law of those states which enact it;
(viii) If any provision of any act enacted by the
Wyoming legislature or its application to any person or
circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect
other provisions or applications of the act which can be given
effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this
end the provisions of any such act are severable;
(ix) Reference to legislative salary, per diem or
compensation in any statute establishing the amount of salary,
per diem or compensation to be paid a person who is not a
legislator, shall be deemed a reference only to the rate of
legislative salary, per diem or compensation set by statute and
shall not be construed to authorize the payment of salary for
meeting preparation days as provided for legislators under W.S.
28-5-101(e)(iii) or the payment of salary for travel days
provided for legislators under W.S. 28-5-101(e)(iv);
(x) Reference to the "cooperative tribal governing
body" means the inter-tribal council of the Eastern Shoshone and
Northern Arapaho tribes or its official successor joint
governing body. If the cooperative tribal governing body is a
party to a cooperative agreement or contract with the state or a
political subdivision under the laws of this state, a successor
joint tribal governing body or each tribe as an individual
sovereign shall remain a party to the agreement or contract
unless specified otherwise in the agreement or contract.