State Legislatures articles from April 2006

State Legislatures archives from April 2006

Serving constituents.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... Editor: I want to applaud State Legislatures magazine for its article on the importance of constituent relations for legislators. ("Keeping in Touch," February 2006) As state governments expand, as well as automate, many constituents...

Missed California expert.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... Editor: I found the article in the January issue of State Legislatures magazine entitled "Eminent Domain--For the Greater Good?" to be interesting and informative. However, there was one glaring omission in that you forgot to mention my...

Not enough zeros.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... Editor: You might double check your figures on page 9 in the January 2006 issue of State Legislatures, which show 62,000 homes in the USA use natural gas and 8,000 use heating oil. I suspect a few zeros may have been left off the numbers....

More podcasting in Minnesota.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... Editor: In the March 2006 issue of State Legislatures magazine, you write that Washington is the first state to offer podcasts of legislative floor sessions and committee meetings. This might not be true. The article didn't say when...

State energy revenues gushing.(STATESTATS)(Table)
April 1, 2006... A handful of major energy-producing states are reporting a significant rise in 2005 severance tax collections related to the recent up tick in energy prices. States that rely on natural resources for a substantial share of state revenues derive...

People & politics.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)
April 1, 2006... A Wisconsin corruption scandal over caucus employees campaigning on state time has sent the former Senate majority leader to jail, prompted guilty pleas from three other lawmakers and raised questions about the ethics of gubernatorial campaign...

It's tax time again.(personal tax burdens in different countries)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Think your taxes are high? Maybe not. Denmark and Germany lead the world in personal tax burdens, taking a combined 42 percent of personal income in taxes and for social security. The following figures were compiled by the Organization for...

Sak in the hat.(Michael G. Sak celebrates Theodor Geisel's birth day)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... In Michigan, Representative Michael G. Sak kicked off "Read Across America" day with a green eggs and ham breakfast and reading to students in the Capitol rotunda. He joined millions from around the country in celebrating the birthday of...

Mining safety laws reevaluated.
April 1, 2006... Several states dusted off decades-old mining safety laws and took action to modernize them following the Sago Mine explosion in West Virginia that killed 12 miners--the deadliest mining accident since 1968. Actions include requiring...

A new wave of gun laws.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... People should be allowed to use deadly force to protect themselves and their property--home, vehicle, boat--without fear of prosecution. Or should they? Florida thinks they should. It passed S.B. 436 last fall, and several states have...

Fear not your telephone.(TRENDS & TRANSITIONS)(telemarketing regulations)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... In response to increasing consumer frustration with unwanted telemarketing calls, Congress and the states have passed do-not-call laws. They establish and fund databases that contain the telephone numbers of citizens who elect not to receive...

One or two?(STATELINE)(pregnant women case to consider unborn child as a person)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Fighting a $360 fine, a pregnant Arizona woman tried to make the case that she could use the high occupancy lane (HOV) on Interstate 10 because her unborn child should count as a passenger. She cited several criminal statutes that define an...

Mississippi meltdown.(STATELINE)(obese people)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... The chairmen of the Mississippi House and Senate public health committees stepped on digital scales in the Capitol rotunda in mid-January to begin a 10-week regimen of self improvement. Representative Steve Holland and Senator Alan Nunnelee...

Tree travail.(STATELINE)(Department of Transportation's plans to cut down trees)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... If hurricanes don't down the trees in Alabama, the Department of Transportation will. It has launched a statewide program to cut down hundreds of roadside trees to reduce the risk to motorists who drive off the road. Liability is also a...

Fishy in Hawaii.(STATELINE)(humuhumunukunukuapuaa's licence as official fish)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Seems many people were under a false assumption that the beloved humuhumunukunukuapuaa was still the official state fish of Hawaii. Not so. In 1984, lawmakers limited the official designation to just five years, but few knew. When...

A hand at gambling.(STATELINE)(regulation of use of wireless, handheld gambling devices)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Gamble while lounging under an umbrella at the hotel pool? How about in the buffet line or while waiting to see your favorite entertainer? Nevada has passed a law allowing the use of wireless, handheld gambling devices at its hotel-casinos so...

Potty parity.(STATELINE)(law of contruction of tiolets for men and women)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... More states and cities are passing laws requiring higher ratios of women's to men's toilets in new construction projects. The new push, which is making its way into construction standards, says restrooms should provide two to three times as...

Gun gaffe.(STATELINE)(concealed weapons)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Vice President Dick Cheney should have gotten some advice from Virginia Delegate John Reid. In January his handgun went off in his legislative office, firing into a bulletproof vest hanging in the middle of the door to the reception area. No...

Log-jam.(STATELINE)(logging regulations)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Thousands--maybe millions--of logs sent down Georgia's rivers in the 19th and 20th centuries sank to the bottom before they reached ports and sawmills. These "deadheads" remain well-preserved on river bottoms. Their wood is valued for its tight...

Those beautiful bison.(STATELINE)(bison hunting regulation)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Back in 1855, the United States and the Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho signed a treaty allowing tribal members to hunt bison on public land near Yellowstone National Park. That treaty will be honored, Montana officials say. Youth from the tribe plan...

Hemp hope.(STATELINE)(Cannabis (Plant) production research regulations)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Hemp can earn millions for American farmers, and even help reduce the destruction of trees, argue supporters. It can be used to make clothing, cosmetics, food, paper, rope, jewelry, luggage, sports equipment, toys and more. And even though it...

Up in smoke.(smoking bans in California)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... California has become the first state to declare secondhand smoke a toxic air pollutant. The decision by the California Air Resources board puts environmental tobacco smoke in the same category as diesel exhaust, arsenic and benzene. The...

Preparing for a pandemic: concern over a possible avian flu pandemic is moving states, communities and the federal government to action.
April 1, 2006... Pandemic. It's a word of horrific implications. In the past, millions of people have died from flu viruses that swept through a less populated, less well-traveled world than the one we know today. So the idea that the avian flu, a bird virus...

A new Medicaid: new federal law gives state officials greater latitude in shaping Medicaid reforms.
April 1, 2006... The long-term spending bill that Congress approved earlier this year left the state-federal landscape marred by fiscal craters and public policy debris. The new law "unreforms" the 1996 landmark welfare reform law and shifts several billion...

Supreme Court tackles Texas: the high court bas waded into the thicket of Texas politics, agreeing to review controversial redistricting there that produced ballot box gains for Republicans, but criminal charges for GOP Congressman Tom DeLay.
April 1, 2006... It's the middle of the decade, so why all the attention to redistricting? The U.S. Supreme Court has shaking us from our slumber, agreeing to hear several challenges to the fabled Texas 2003 congressional re-redistricting. The outcome of...

Oh the climate, it is a changin': from city to state to nation, officials are trying to reduce the amount of pollutants that are contributing to global warming.
April 1, 2006... Austria's Pitztal Glacier is draped with blankets to slow unusually rapid summer melting. Ski resorts in the Pacific Northwest closed early last year because it rained instead of snowed. We just might be forced to start buying only "pure...

Saving the mighty miss: years of tinkering by the Army Corps of Engineers has inexorably harmed the fragile ecosystem of the Lower Mississippi River. Six states have banded together to reverse the damage.(Mississippi River Conservation Initiative)
April 1, 2006... The place they call Island 63 could be one of the Mississippi River's richest natural gems if only it were still an island. As it is, this three-mile-long spit of sand and willows no longer provides isolation for shore birds, refuge for small...

Rural clout at the capitol: with the growing number of urban districts, rural legislators are forming caucuses to unite behind their common concerns.
April 1, 2006... The simple life. The open spaces. The quaint towns. The rural attraction. But they come at a cost. Fewer services. Lack of health care. Consolidated schools. No Internet service. Lack of jobs. Low incomes. And as urban areas grow, people...

How to guide legislative interns: legislators and staff bear a responsibility for the education and experience of a legislative intern.(TOOLS OF THE TRADE)
April 1, 2006... Every year thousands of undergraduate and graduate students from hundreds of colleges and universities intern in state legislatures. They fill in on day-to-day tasks, are helpful on research projects and in some places, are virtually all the...

As they see it.(legislator's opinion)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... "When did our lunch line become a crime scene? I think our children should be learning more of their ABCs and less CSI." --Iowa Senator Herman Quirmbach to the Sioux City Journal on a proposal to allow the use of fingerprint scanners in...