State Legislatures articles from April 2009

State Legislatures archives from April 2009

Hospital infections.(STATE LEGISLATURES ONLINE)
April 1, 2009... Read more about MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections. Also, a Q&A with an official from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiologists of America.

California's budget struggle.(STATE LEGISLATURES ONLINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... The Golden State's Legislature is not the only one dealing with a deep budget shortfall. Learn more about the fiscal problems facing states and steps they're taking to cope.

Economic recovery.(STATE LEGISLATURES ONLINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Read the latest about the economic recovery act; efforts state legislatures are making to keep an eye on how federal recovery money is spent; and details on the maintenance of effort provisions in the new law.

GrassCatcher: daily news.(STATE LEGISLATURES ONLINE)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] See what major news outlets are writing about state policy at State Legislatures' GrassCatcher. It's updated daily.

The reflecting pool.(STATE LEGISLATURES ONLINE)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NCSL Deputy Executive Director Carl Tubbesing is State Legislatures' eye on the state-federal relationship. Read what he has to say this month.

Blog: the thicket.(STATE LEGISLATURES ONLINE)
April 1, 2009... A bipartisan blog about the legislative institution and federalism written by and for legislative junkies. Updated often. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Reapportionment is right around the corner.(STATESTATS)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Preparations for the 2010 census are in high gear with the decennial head count just over a year away. In December, the U.S. Census Bureau released new state-by-state population estimates for 2008 hinting at what the...

During a marathon, 46-hour session of the California Legislature to close a $42 billion budget gap, the Senate GOP caucus dumped its leader, Dave Cogdill, after he negotiated a bill with legislative leaders and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that included tax increases.(People & Politics)
April 1, 2009... During a marathon, 46-hour session of the California Legislature to close a $42 billion budget gap, the Senate GOP caucus dumped its leader, Dave Cogdill, after he negotiated a bill with legislative leaders and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger...

One day he was the first Republican speaker of the Tennessee House in 40 years, the next day he was, well, a speaker without a party.(People & Politics)(Kent Williams)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... One day he was the first Republican speaker of the Tennessee House in 40 years, the next day he was, well, a speaker without a party. The state Republican Party kicked out Speaker Kent Williams in February, costing the GOP its one-vote majority...

Social networking is the new communications buzz phrase, but in Maryland they didn't think much of it.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Social networking is the new communications buzz phrase, but in Maryland they didn't think much of it. The General Assembly banned all access to Facebook and MySpace for computers running on the legislative network. Some 43 members of the...

Alabama Senator Rodger Smitherman was elected Senate president pro tem, the second African American in the state's history to hold the post.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Alabama Senator Rodger Smitherman was elected Senate president pro tem, the second African American in the state's history to hold the post. Senator Hinton Mitchem stepped down from the post after 17 votes necessary.to win were committed to...

Florida Republicans, in an unprecedented move, stripped Representative Ray Sansom of his short-lived tenure as House speaker before he had presided over his first regular session of the House, and chose Larry Cretul as the new leader.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Florida Republicans, in an unprecedented move, stripped Representative Ray Sansom of his short-lived tenure as House speaker before he had presided over his first regular session of the House, and chose Larry Cretul as the new leader. "It was...

Wisconsin Assembly leaders in February approved a rule banning fundraising by members while the state is debating the budget.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Wisconsin Assembly leaders in February approved a rule banning fundraising by members while the state is debating the budget. Majority Leader Thomas Nelson said the ban is groundbreaking and the strongest campaign finance reform in decades....

Greg Ernst, a New Orleans maritime lawyer, has been appointed to fill the seat of Louisiana Representative Nicholas Lorusso while he is on active duty for one year.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Greg Ernst, a New Orleans maritime lawyer, has been appointed to fill the seat of Louisiana Representative Nicholas Lorusso while he is on active duty for one year. Lorusso, a lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, sponsored...

Cigarette excise taxes.(TRENDS & TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Smoking costs $193 billion annually ($96 billion in direct costs and $97 billion in lost productivity), according to a 2008 report...

Preparing for an emergency.(TRENDS & TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What happens when a disaster shuts down public health laboratories? Under normal conditions, these labs provide a range of critical services, including newborn screening, biological and chemical terrorism testing,...

Engaging citizens online.(TRENDS & TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... The Minnesota Senate has created a new website that seeks citizen input to solve the state's projected $4.8 billion budget deficit. Visitors to the site can comment and provide their ideas for key areas in the budget. The site also has links to...

Prescription drug costs slow.(TRENDS & TRANSITIONS)
April 1, 2009... In 2003, prescription drugs were widely blamed for fast-escalating health costs. They'd increased 12 percent overall that year, including a whopping 18 percent to 20 percent increase for Medicaid programs. States passed dozens of laws trying to...

Brains over brawn.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With most mammals, the biggest and most aggressive males claim the alpha role and reign supreme. But a new study from the University of Minnesota suggests that, at least among chimpanzees, smaller, more mild-mannered...

Poker's met its limit.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... A Pennsylvania judge has ruled that poker tournaments are illegal gambling under state law and has refused to dismiss charges against three men. The judge didn't buy the argument that state law prohibiting gambling is too vague to know whether...

SWAT control.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Maryland lawmakers are looking at requiring police departments to better monitor the use of special tactical SWAT teams. This comes after a botched police raid at the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo that ended in the death of his two...

Guns in lots.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... An Arkansas legislator wants holders of concealed-carry gun permits to be able to stash their weapons in their cars while parked on college campuses. He's concerned that many adult students taking night classes have nowhere to leave their guns...

A river runs dirty.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in a study to identify and reduce dangerous levels of E. coli in the Ohio River. The bacteria have been found in at least 500...

Canines at the Capitol.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Oregon Senator Vicki Walker wants to let the dogs back in--to the state Capitol, that is. A no-dog rule went into effect this session because some lawmakers wanted a more professional atmosphere. Plus, there was the...

Minor distinction.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Washington state law does not ban teachers from having sex with 18-year-old students, an appellate court recently ruled. The case involved a 33-year-old teacher who was charged with first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, even though the...

Giddy up and graduate.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Minnesota Representative Pat Garofalo wants to give college scholarships to students who graduate early from high school. The scholarships, which will increase in value based on how early the student graduates, could be used at any accredited...

Highway privacy.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Arizona lawmakers are looking at a bill to prohibit the state from using cameras to catch speeders on highways. Representative Sam Crump believes photo enforcement is geared more toward generating revenue than...

Tech interns.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Who you gonna call? College kids, that's who. Who else is better at computers? That's why two Dakota State University students can be found training state lawmakers on their wireless computers and fixing problems at...

Be prepared.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Kentucky's preparation for a big earthquake paid off big time in late January, not because a quake hit, but because an ice storm did. The ice storm was so bad it killed 30 people, left a record 769,000 people without electricity, and sent...

Medicaid: under the weather: states are facing growing numbers of people in need of medical care, and even billions from the economic recovery package will not solve all their problems.(Cover story)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Stone-faced and desperate, the unemployed father pleaded with Nevada's lawmakers. Doctors refused to operate on the out-of-work pharmacist's daughters Hannah, 8, and Zaynah, 5. The girls suffer from cerebral...

Infection correction: hospital-acquired infections can be reduced significantly or even eliminated with sound prevention procedures.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] After surviving a motorcycle crash in 2006, David Meyer--a healthy, active man in his 50s--never guessed that the broken ankle he suffered in the crash would be the least of his worries. He underwent surgery for...

Green 2.0: renewables can promote economic recovery, increase energy security and protect the environment.
April 1, 2009... Shiny silicon-covered rooftops generate electricity. Crops share fields with towering wind turbines. Technology taps the Earth's heat to release a constant, reliable source of clean electricity. Although these scenarios already exist, state...

California compromise: the wrenching effort to forge a budget deal put a spotlight on the political impasse at the statehouse.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] After years of bitter partisan battles over taxes, spending and the condition of the state's finances, the California Legislature in February adopted a compromise plan aimed at eliminating most of a $42 billion gap...

Think recovery: the economic stimulus act is one of the most complex bills ever passed. Here are some tips on how to understand the legislation.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] *** economic recovery law. The last section of the act's first title declares its funding to be for an emergency. That's why Senate negotiators were adamant that this year's fix for the alternative minimum...

As they see it.(quotation)(Quotation)
April 1, 2009... "We have to be careful about what people desperate for a job may do.... If we're not careful, we could have situations that are unanticipated and that we haven't seen in this country for a while." --Demetrios G. Papademetriou, president of...