§ 19-7-103 — Adjutant general; appointment; rank; removal; duties and qualifications

(a) The governor shall appoint a qualified adjutant
general to be the commander of the Wyoming national guard and
director of the Wyoming military department. He shall have the
rank the governor designates and may be removed by the governor
as provided in W.S. 9-1-202. A prospective appointee shall
possess the following qualifications:
(i) Have served as a field, staff or line officer in
the United States army or air force, or national guard, or both,
for at least ten (10) years;
(ii) Have been a member of the Wyoming national guard
for at least four (4) years immediately preceding his
appointment;
(iii) Have attained at least the rank of lieutenant
colonel and be federally recognized in that rank at the time of
his appointment; and
(iv) Be a resident of the state of Wyoming.
(b) The adjutant general of Wyoming shall have powers and
duties and be paid a salary as follows:
(i) He is in control of the military department of
Wyoming and subordinate only to the governor in matters
pertaining thereto. He acts as the governor's designee with
respect to personnel matters, including enlistments, promotions,
demotions and discharges;
(ii) He shall issue and transmit all orders of the
commander in chief and make returns and reports as the secretary
of defense may direct;
(iii) He shall keep a record of all officers
commissioned by the governor and maintain electronic access to
all current orders, rules and regulations prescribed by the
secretary of defense and the several agencies of the department
of defense for the national guard;
(iv) He shall audit all claims and accounts against
the military department not otherwise provided by law and shall
have charge and carefully preserve the colors, flags and
military trophies of war belonging to the state which shall not
be loaned or removed from their prescribed place of deposit
except by order of the adjutant general;
(v) He shall ensure all organizations have access to
the proper blanks, books and forms required and such military
instruction books as may be prescribed;
(vi) He shall report to the governor on such matters
as may be required by the governor as provided by W.S. 9-2-1014
and at such other times as the governor may require;
(vii) He shall make out reports and returns to the
several agencies of the department of defense as may be required
by law or regulations;
(viii) He may use the coat of arms of the state of
Wyoming as his seal of office with the words: "State of Wyoming,
Adjutant General's Office";
(ix) The annual compensation of the adjutant general
shall be the base pay of a colonel, pay grade 0-6, the same as
the armed forces of the United States, with longevity for
appropriate years of military service, to be paid monthly out of
the state treasury as the salaries of other state officers are
paid;
(x) He may purchase for cash or upon contract or
otherwise acquire lands within Wyoming for use by the national
guard or for the use of other elements of the armed forces as an
artillery and target range and training and maneuvering area. He
may acquire lands for such purposes by eminent domain when the
state board of land commissioners gives its written approval or
consent;
(xi) He may accept gifts of land for the purposes
provided by paragraph (x) of this subsection and may lease, or
accept payment in kind as consideration for any lease, any of
the acquired parcels of land or buildings during periods when
the lands are not in use for military purposes. He may acquire
and install on the land such permanent improvements, including
fences, as may be necessary for the full utilization of the land
for the military purposes herein declared;
(xii) He may dispose of lands, buildings or fixtures
under the control of the department by sale, exchange or other
transfer. He may execute deeds for such transfers in the name of
the state. Money from such sale, exchange or transfer may be
utilized for the acquisition of additional lands, buildings or
fixtures within the same budget biennium. Any such sale,
exchange or other transfer shall be conducted in accordance with
the provisions of W.S. 36-9-101, 36-9-102 and 36-9-104 through
36-9-120, except these provisions of W.S. title 36, chapter 9
shall not apply when both the title to the land and to all
buildings thereon is solely in the name of the department or any
division of the department and the provisions of W.S. 9-2-
3204(b)(viii) also shall not apply when both the title to the
land and to all buildings thereon is solely in the name of the
department or any division of the department. The sections of
title 36 identified in this paragraph and W.S. 9-2-3204(b)(viii)
also shall not apply when any such sale, exchange or other
transfer is to another governmental entity, state agency or
local government, as defined in W.S. 1-39-103, even if the title
to the land and to all buildings thereon are not solely in the
name of the department or a division thereof;
(xiii) Repealed by Laws 2017, ch. 47, § 2.
(xiv) Except as federal law requires, he shall secure
a complete and accurate military service record of past and
present Wyoming national guard personnel and those veterans who
declare Wyoming as their residence upon separation from the
military. He may accept the assistance and cooperation of all
other governmental agencies and individual citizens to secure
such records. He shall carefully keep and preserve such records
physically or electronically in accordance with the laws and
practices applied to the preservation and safekeeping of
official records. All such records are confidential in
accordance with the usual procedures and customs prevailing in
the military service;
(xv) He is the channel of military and military
department related correspondence with the governor and shall
have custody of all military records, correspondence and other
military documents until he has legal authority to properly
dispose of or preserve physically or electronically such
documents;
(xvi) He shall control all armories that are owned,
erected, purchased, leased or provided by the state. He may
acquire, in the name of the state of Wyoming, by purchase,
donation or dedication any property which may be used for
military purposes. For the control and management of armories
described in this paragraph, he may establish armory boards
whose personnel shall serve without pay. Subject to his
direction, armory boards shall control, manage and supervise all
activities in armories and may rent armories to persons or
organizations not connected with the organized militia;
(xvii) He shall ensure commanders of national guard
units have access to the blank forms, rolls, bonds and other
returns they are required to make. He shall explain the
principles upon which returns shall be made, and may make such
general regulation concerning the same as will best promote
uniformity in their rendition;
(xviii) He shall keep physically or electronically
the papers, volumes and records of the department in an office
provided by the state;
(xix) He shall perform such other military duties as
ordered by the governor;
(xx) He shall administer the Wyoming national guard
educational assistance plan in accordance with W.S. 19-9-501
through 19-9-504;
(xxi) He may use federal procurement procedures when
letting contracts concerning properties under the control of the
adjutant general, subject to authorization as provided in W.S.
9-2-3204(b)(iv)(H);
(xxii) If the authority is specifically granted by
the legislature in its biennial budget, he may hire a person to
occupy a new or existing position of state employment within the
military department when federal funds are received which
reimburse the state of Wyoming for one hundred percent (100%) of
the cost of the position. In the event that federal funding
becomes unavailable to maintain one hundred percent (100%)
reimbursement for a position filled pursuant to this paragraph,
as determined by the United States property and fiscal officer
for Wyoming, he shall eliminate the position. He shall report
to the legislature through the general government appropriations
process all positions that are created or eliminated pursuant to
this paragraph;
(xxiii) He may delegate part or all of his
responsibilities under paragraphs (iii) and (xiv) of this
subsection to the veterans' commission;
(xxiv) On behalf of the military department he may
accept gifts, grants, funds, assistance or other contributions
from any federal, state or local governmental entity or from any
private source in accordance with W.S. 19-7-208;
(xxv) He shall enter into agreements, exchange
information and otherwise assist the department of workforce
services to counsel, mediate, investigate and determine claims
by members of the Wyoming national guard and employees of the
military department under the federal laws enforced by the equal
employment opportunity commission or under W.S. 27-9-105, as
applicable. He shall promulgate rules that coordinate with the
department of workforce services rules promulgated under W.S.
27-9-104(a)(viii) to accomplish the powers and duties in this
paragraph and W.S. 27-9-104(a)(viii), consistent with equal
employment opportunity commission rules and requirements and
federal law. Nothing in this paragraph prevents a state employee
of the military department claiming to be aggrieved by an
employment practice specified as discriminatory or unfair in
W.S. 27-9-105 from filing with the department of workforce
services a complaint in accordance with W.S. 27-9-106.
(c) Not later than October 31 of each year, the adjutant
general shall report to the governor and the joint
transportation, highways and military affairs interim committee
on sexual harassment, discrimination and sexual assault matters
within the military department. The report shall include at a
minimum the following information for the fiscal year preceding
the report, presented in a manner to avoid identification of
individual persons:
(i) Military department demographics including the
number of state and federal employees, civilian and military
employees, full and part-time air national guard members, full
and part-time army national guard members and the gender of
those members and employees;
(ii) Factual information on all incidents, reports
and formal and informal complaints of sexual harassment,
discrimination and sexual assault including:
(A) Trends regarding position levels or status
of reporting persons and persons named in reports and locations
of incidents;
(B) Incident dates, details and actions taken as
allowed under privacy laws;
(C) Inspector general and congressional
complaints known to the adjutant general.
(iii) Changes in options for employees and members to
report incidents of sexual harassment, discrimination or sexual
assault;
(iv) Results and comparative results from previous
years' external assessments, internal assessments, unit climate
surveys or group interviews such as unit sensing sessions;
(v) Assessments, analysis and policies and procedures
implemented in response to incidents of sexual harassment,
discrimination or sexual assault;
(vi) Required annual trainings, corrective action
plans and recommendations for legislative or other actions.