“What you’ve heard from the community colleges and members of the community is they are looking for on-the-ground training in their communities,” Nethercott said. “Zoom Technology (video conferencing software used for remote learning) isn’t the infrastructure we need for hands-on programming that is needed in our communities for economic development that only the community colleges can provide.”

The bill passed 4-1, with Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, voting against it, arguing that though he supported the aim of the bill, the topic should be discussed in the interim.

“It would be, as an interim topic, the highest priority of the committee to make sure the university and the colleges work together with us as a committee to come up with legislation that may be identical to this or somewhat different but produces a product that everyone is on board with,” Rothfuss said.