Wyoming Nursing Home Camera Laws: Electronic Monitoring Act

Wyoming's Long-term Care Electronic Monitoring Act, Wyo. Stat. sections 35-2-1301 through 35-2-1308, covers both assisted living and nursing care facilities, with mandatory two-tier signage and roommate consent, but no dedicated tampering penalty.

Information last verified on 2026-08-14.

This page covers Wyoming's Long-term Care Electronic Monitoring Act: what it grants, the roommate-refusal process, and two gaps worth knowing before relying on this law: no dedicated tampering penalty and a narrower evidence clause than several peer states. For Wyoming's general recording-consent law, see Wyoming Recording Laws. See the Nursing Home Camera Laws by State hub for how every state approaches this issue, and the existing 50-state statute comparison table for a side-by-side look at every enacted law.

Does Wyoming Law Allow Cameras in Nursing Home Rooms?

Yes. The Long-term Care Electronic Monitoring Act, Wyoming Statutes Title 35, Chapter 2, Article 13, has been in force since October 1, 2020. Section 35-2-1302(a)(v) defines a covered "facility" as "an assisted living facility or a nursing care facility certified, licensed or otherwise authorized or permitted by law to provide long-term care," covering both settings equally, for residents 18 or older. A resident with decision-making capacity may request in-room monitoring. If the resident lacks capacity, a legal representative may consent, provided it does not contradict the resident's known prior wishes and the resident does not object.

Roommate Consent and What Happens on Refusal

Under section 35-2-1305(c), "no resident shall install an electronic monitoring device in the resident's room without the consent of any other resident residing in the same room." Under section 35-2-1306(g), any resident living in a room with monitoring may set limits on its use, restricting it during specific times, in the presence of specific individuals, during personal care and treatment, or for any other reason, and the facility must make reasonable efforts to disable or obscure the device to accommodate those limits and must document them. Consent, once given, may be revoked at any time and for any reason, and the device must stop operating immediately on revocation.

If a roommate refuses, Wyoming's Act does not create a facility-funded accommodation mechanism the way Connecticut, North Dakota or South Dakota's laws do. Instead, "a resident requesting to use electronic monitoring may request to switch rooms or roommates, subject to availability and at the resident's expense," putting the cost of a room switch on the resident rather than automatically on the facility.

Signage: Mandatory and Two-Tier

Section 35-2-1304 requires notice or signage in a conspicuous location at or near the facility's main entrances stating that electronic monitoring devices may be in use, plus a separate notice at the entrance to each resident's room where a device is being used, matching Rhode Island's two-tier model.

Who Pays

Under section 35-2-1306(e), the resident or representative is responsible for all costs of purchasing, installing, using, maintaining, servicing and removing the device. No electricity carve-out comparable to Connecticut, Ohio, Rhode Island or South Dakota's facility-covers-electricity pattern was found in this subsection.

Facility Access Restrictions and Liability Shield

Under section 35-2-1306(h), a facility or an employee of the facility may not have access to video or audio recordings captured by an electronic monitoring device except as specified in the Act. Separately, under section 35-2-1307(e), the facility has no civil or criminal liability for a violation of a resident's privacy right arising from monitoring conducted in accordance with the Act.

Evidence Admissibility: A Limiting Clause, Not a Special Grant

Section 35-2-1307(a) states that "no court or state agency shall admit into evidence or consider during any proceeding any recording created using an electronic monitoring device in a facility unless the recording is otherwise admissible under the Wyoming Rules of Evidence." Unlike Rhode Island's or South Dakota's affirmative admissibility grants, which say a compliant recording may be admitted subject to specific conditions, Wyoming's clause simply restates that ordinary evidentiary standards govern. A reader should not treat Wyoming's law as guaranteeing that monitoring footage will be admitted; it is subject to the same rules as any other recording.

No Dedicated Tampering Penalty

Section 35-2-1308 is captioned "Electronic monitoring devices; rulemaking; compliance with rules." Subsection (a) directs the Wyoming Department of Health to promulgate the rules necessary to implement the Act, including rules for receiving and resolving resident grievances, and subsection (b) requires any resident or facility using a device before, on or after October 1, 2020 to comply with the Act. Neither subsection is a penalty provision. No criminal misdemeanor, civil fine or explicit tampering prohibition appears anywhere in sections 35-2-1301 through 1308. That is a real, distinguishing gap: North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island and South Dakota all criminalize device tampering, and Wyoming's Act does not.

Retaliation Ban

Under section 35-2-1306(a), a facility shall not refuse to admit, remove or retaliate against a resident who requests to use, uses, or declines to consent to use electronic monitoring, notably protecting the declining direction as well as the requesting one.

Using Camera Footage as Evidence of Abuse or Neglect

Camera footage that appears to document abuse or neglect can support a report to Wyoming's Long-Term Care Ombudsman or Adult Protective Services, and can support a civil claim. Footage alone rarely resolves a claim; it is typically weighed alongside medical, staffing and care-plan records, and, because Wyoming's admissibility clause is not a special grant, admissibility will turn on the same evidentiary rules as any other recording.

Audio Recording and Wyoming's General Consent Law

Section 35-2-1302(a)(iv) defines a covered device broadly enough to include audio, video or both: "a video camera or other surveillance instrument with a fixed position that captures, records, transmits or broadcasts audio, video or both." Section 35-2-1303(b) then clarifies that "Notwithstanding W.S. 7-3-702, nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize or permit the use of an electronic monitoring device for the nonconsensual interception or unauthorized recording, storage or disclosure of private communications or actions occurring in a resident's room." That carve-out is not limited to audio: it reaches unauthorized recording of actions occurring in the room as well as private communications. So Wyoming's general wiretap and consent rules still constrain audio capture of other people's private conversations, layered on top of this Act's device-installation authorization. See Wyoming Recording Laws for that general framework.

Getting Help

Wyoming's Long-Term Care Ombudsman and the Wyoming Department of Health, which implements the Act's regulations, are practical first stops for a resident or family navigating a monitoring request, a roommate dispute, or a suspected abuse or neglect situation.

Related Resources

• Nursing Home Camera Laws by State is the hub page for this cluster, covering every state's regime at a glance.
• The 50-State Nursing Home Camera Law Comparison covers the full 18-state comparison and how Wyoming's approach compares.
• Wyoming Recording Laws covers the state's general consent framework outside the Long-term Care Electronic Monitoring Act.
• Wyoming Power of Attorney Laws covers how a legal representative gets authority to request monitoring on a resident's behalf.
• Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect covers how an abuse or neglect claim works once evidence, including camera footage, is in hand.
• Surveillance Camera Laws by State covers the general legal framework for security cameras outside a nursing home setting.

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Last updated: 2026-08-14.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I put a camera in a Wyoming nursing home or assisted living room?

Yes. Wyoming's Long-term Care Electronic Monitoring Act covers both assisted living facilities and nursing care facilities. A resident with decision-making capacity may request in-room monitoring, and a legal representative may consent on behalf of a resident who lacks capacity, provided it doesn't contradict the resident's known wishes and the resident does not object.

What happens if my roommate refuses to consent to a camera in Wyoming?

Wyoming's Act does not require the facility to fund an accommodation. Instead, the resident may request to switch rooms or roommates, subject to availability, at the resident's own expense, a real difference from states that put the cost of accommodating a roommate's refusal on the facility.

Is it a crime to tamper with a monitoring device in a Wyoming nursing home?

No dedicated criminal or civil tampering penalty was found in the Act's text. Wyoming's statute establishes a facility liability shield and an access restriction, but, unlike several peer states, does not itself create a misdemeanor or civil fine specifically for interfering with a device.

Can Wyoming nursing home footage be used in court?

Wyoming's clause is a limiting statement rather than a special admissibility grant: no court or state agency shall admit a recording into evidence unless it is otherwise admissible under the Wyoming Rules of Evidence, the same standard that applies to any other recording, not a guarantee that monitoring footage will automatically come in.

Who pays for a monitoring device in Wyoming?

The resident or representative is responsible for all costs of purchasing, installing, using, maintaining, servicing and removing the device. No electricity carve-out for the facility was found in the Act's cost section.

Is signage required for a monitored room in Wyoming?

Yes, and it is two-tier, matching Rhode Island's model. The facility must post notice or signage in a conspicuous location at or near its main entrances stating that electronic monitoring devices may be in use, plus a separate notice at the entrance to each monitored resident's room.