State Legislatures articles from April 2002

State Legislatures archives from April 2002

Letters.
April 1, 2002... Junk Science Reporting? Editor: "Too Much High Tide," in your Stateline column of the January 2002 magazine reported that "the Gulf of Mexico will continue to rise by more than 3 feet during the next century," is junk science...

Maine wins court case on prescription drug prices. (Update).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... It was another step for those states trying to provide affordable medicine to their poorer citizens when District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina rejected a pharmaceutical industry claim that the Healthy Maine Prescription Program illegally expanded...

Observing State Tax Policy. (Books).
April 1, 2002... State Tax Policy: A Political Perspective by David Brunori, The Urban Institute Press, Washington, D.C., 2001. 156 pages, softcover, $25. To order, call (202) 261-5687 or toll-free 1-877-847-7377. Much has been written about the fragile...

Rainy day funds: Running for cover. (Statestats).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... During the economic boom of the 1990s, most states bolstered budget reserves, especially their rainy day funds. States increased these funds from $2.7 billion in 1991 to $25.3 billion in 2001. Rainy day funds are money saved when state...

Urban sprawl may be bad for your health. (On First Reading).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Once upon a time, perhaps during the days of Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best, you walked a lot. You walked to the neighborhood store, to school, to the bus stop if you had to go downtown. The neighborhood design of the time encouraged...

Ohio turns trees into supplies for poor school districts. (On First Reading).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Ohio's Trees to Textbooks forest management program is providing money for computers, school supplies and other needs of the state's poorest school districts. Eighteen districts got $743,420 from the sale of timber last year cut from 1,500...

States work to improve child care assistance so parents can go from welfare to work. (On First Reading).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... To work and get off welfare, parents need help with child care. Two recent publications highlight the importance of child care assistance decisions facing state policymakers. The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and the Children's...

It's not pot; it's hemp: a viable agricultural product. (On First Reading).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Pot it's not, It's industrial hemp, used to make rope, clothes and car parts (replacing fiberglass), as well as to supply omega oils for cereals, nutrition bars, body oils and shampoos. A distant cousin to its more maligned relative,...

States look to gamblers to boost sagging budgets. (On First Reading).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... It may be just another roll of the dice, but nearly a dozen states are hoping that expanding gambling will shoot them into the black or at least close a few budget gaps this year. Over the past several decades, all but two states--Hawaii...

Searching for ways to feel safe. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Americans are arming themselves in record numbers since Sept. 11 in an apparent effort to feel safer. The rise was anywhere from 9 percent to nearly 22 percent last fall. Those in the gun industry say a range of firearms have been purchased...

Sliding to safety. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Serious playground injuries at North Carolina day care centers have dropped significantly and state safety regulations seem to be the reason, according to a University of North Carolina Chapel Hill study. Researchers found that injuries...

Righting past wrongs. (Stateline).(crimes against African Americans)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The Alabama House has agreed to study whether blacks have had land taken from them by fraud and deceit. Representative Thomas Jackson said he became concerned following a series of Associated Press stories late last year documenting land losses...

Party animals invade D.C. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Chicago has cows, Cincinnati, pigs, and Buffalo, of course, bison. Now it's Washington, D.C.'s turn. And what do you think would be chosen to decorate the nation's capital? Why donkeys and elephants, of course. These symbols of the Republican...

Stockpiling our security. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... In the wake of Sept. 11, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has plans to offer supplies of potassium iodide to all 50 states. It prevents thyroid cancer if administered within two to five hours after a nuclear release. Because thyroid cancer is...

Lawyering across state lines. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Practicing law in more than one state just got easier for lawyers in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, where a mutual bar admittance plan began Jan. 1. Under the agreement, attorneys who pass one state bar exam can be admitted in the other two, as...

Surfing court records. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Iowa has joined some 20 other states that give computer users in all of the state's 99 counties an on-line look at civil and criminal records--from speeding ticket fines to child support payments to murder cases. Only public records will be...

Hawaiian citizens do it online. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Starting this session, Hawaiian citizens can send testimony on legislative bills through an e-mail address devoted solely to that purpose. Before, all questions, concerns and testimony went through a single e-mail address. The Legislature...

Protecting us against ourselves. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Ever think about playing a round of poker while bulls charge you? How about keeping a hula hoop going while Ferdinand dances around you? People actually pay to participate in such events in the hope of winning a prize. It almost got a young man...

Unintended consequences-or not? (Stateline).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Washington voters banned most forms of animal trapping a year ago, but it may be working in unintended ways. Initiative 713 banned the use of body-gripping traps to capture any mammal. It also outlawed two types of poisons. Now dam-building...

The land of opportunity. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Voters in St. Paul, Minn., recently elected the nation's first Hmong legislator to the state Senate. Mee Moua, a lawyer and lobbyist, was born in Laos and spent five years in a refugee camp in Thailand before coming to the United States 23...

Mississippi bears all. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Mississippi is considering the merits of designating the teddy bear as the official state toy. Representative Steve Holland thinks it's a great idea. "I love 'em," he says. After all, they do have a legitimate connection to the state. Exactly a...

Renewing the energy debate: States are expanding their use of renewable energy to protect themselves from fluctuating energy costs and to rejuvenate rural economies.
April 1, 2002... Kevin Willert's family has farmed the Buffalo Ridge area in southwestern Minnesota for more 100 years, but now he has a new crop: the wind. Willert heads a landowners' association that leases land to developers who build wind turbines to...

How smart is your state?(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Take this simple test 1. A suspect is engaged in a statewide crime spree across several local and county jurisdictions. Our state troopers can: () A) improvise a command and control structure by borrowing the faxes and phones at the...

California dot.com boom went bust: the wild variations in California's revenue stream make budgeting really tough.
April 1, 2002... Call it the Mickey Mouse effect. Ted Gibson still remembers the winter of 1992 when California, mired deep in recession, suddenly saw a surge in withholding from the personal income tax. Gibson, the chief economist in the state Department...

Leaving prison once and for all: Helping ex-prisoners successfully return to society can greatly improve their chances of staying out of trouble.
April 1, 2002... Robert E. Roberts knew the political earth had shifted when a bill or funding his Project Return came before the Louisiana Legislature last year, and a handful of conservative lawmakers widely known for their get-tough approach to crime came...

Be prepared: Communicating in a crisis; the success or failure of managing a crisis depends upon the ability to communicate effectively--even within a legislature.
April 1, 2002... An earthquake centered near Olympia struck two state capitols on the morning of Feb. 28, 2001. Legislators and staff in Washington's capitol found themselves huddled together under tables and in doorways during an earthquake measuring 6.8 on...