24-2-101. Department and commission created; qualifications; appointment; term; removal; compensation; location of offices; power to bring civil actions; official seal.

(a) There is created a department of transportation to consist of a transportation commission and a director of the department of transportation. The commission shall consist of seven (7) commissioners, of whom no more than seventy-five percent (75%) shall be registered in the same political party. They shall biennially elect their chairman on or after the first day of March. The commissioners shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, and each shall serve for a term of six (6) years. The terms of all commissioners appointed after the effective date of this section shall terminate on the last day of February of the sixth year of the term regardless of the date of the beginning of the term. The governor may remove any commissioner as provided in W.S. 9-1-202.

(b) One (1) commissioner shall be appointed from each of the following districts:

(i) District No. 1 composed of the counties of Laramie, Goshen and Platte;

(ii) District No. 2 composed of the counties of Albany, Carbon and Sweetwater;

(iii) District No. 3 composed of the counties of Lincoln, Teton, Sublette and Uinta;

(iv) District No. 4 composed of the counties of Campbell, Johnson and Sheridan;

(v) District No. 5 composed of the counties of Big Horn, Hot Springs, Park and Washakie;

(vi) District No. 6 composed of the counties of Crook, Niobrara and Weston;

(vii) District No. 7 composed of the counties of Converse, Fremont and Natrona.

(c) The appointment in each district shall rotate successively among the several counties comprising the district. If any commissioner ceases to reside in, or for a continuous period of six (6) months or more is absent from the county, the governor shall declare his office vacant and shall appoint a successor from the same county in accordance with W.S. 28-12-101.

(d) Each commissioner shall qualify by taking the constitutional oath of office, and each shall receive a salary of six hundred dollars ($600.00) per year and actual and necessary traveling expenses while away from home in the performance of the duties of office, to be paid from the state highway fund.

(e) The commission shall maintain offices at the state capital. The commission is empowered to sue in the name of the "Transportation Commission of Wyoming", and may be sued by that name in the courts of this state and in no other jurisdiction upon any contract executed by it. The attorney general is the legal advisor of the commission and shall prosecute and defend all actions and shall also appear in all proceedings in any federal department in which the commission is a party or is interested.

(f) The commission shall have a seal bearing the words "Transportation Commission of Wyoming, Official Seal", and all copies of all records and other instruments in the office of the commission, certified under the hand of its secretary with the seal affixed shall be received in any court as prima facie evidence of the original record or instrument.

(g) Effective July 1, 1979, appointments and terms shall be in accordance with W.S. 28-12-101 through 28-12-103.

(h) The commission, department and appropriate divisions within the department may operate upon a federal fiscal year basis commencing October 1 of each year. The commission, department and all divisions within the department shall report revenues and expenditures upon a state fiscal year commencing July 1, 2010.