State Legislatures articles from February 2005

State Legislatures archives from February 2005

More help fpr the unorganized.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Dear Editor: The "Paper Overload" article in your January issue is much appreciated. As a freshman legislator two years ago, I quickly became overwhelmed by the phone calls, correspondence, bits of paper, news articles, pamphlets and...

A jumpstart for alternatives.(Statestats)
February 1, 2005... With the goal of cutting back the nation's dependence on foreign oil and reducing motor vehicle emissions, 23 states have laws that promote the use of alternative fuels, or have stricter emisions standards. They include financial...

It's all in the family in California.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... It's all in the family in California. Assembly woman Sharon Runner and her husband, Senator George Runner, are the first married couple to serve in the Legislature. Assemblywoman Audra Strickland and Senator Elaine Alquist are the wives of...

Speaker redux.(People & Politics)(New Hampshire Speaker Doug Scammon)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Speaker redux. Newly elected New Hampshire Speaker Doug Scammon won't face a learning curve on the job. He's held it before. After 14 years, he won the post again, but this time with a lot of help from the other side of the aisle. Scammon, a...

Massachusetts Senator Charles E. Shannon, recently diagnosed with leukemia has battled cancer before.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Massachusetts Senator Charles E. Shannon, recently diagnosed with leukemia has battled cancer before. Shannon, elected in 1991, is a former police officer. "l have been down this road twice now, and I am determined to again beat this insidious...

A Kentucky county circuit judge ordered the local board of elections not to count the votes won by Republican Senate candidate Dana Seum Stephenson, ruling she had not lived in Kentucky long enough to meet the residency requirements.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... A Kentucky county circuit judge ordered the local board of elections not to count the votes won by Republican Senate candidate Dana Seum Stephenson, ruling she had not lived in Kentucky long enough to meet the residency requirements. Stephenson...

Bill Van Gerpen, elected to a fourth term in the South Dakota House in November, has resigned from the Legislature to remain on active duty with the National Guard.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Bill Van Gerpen, elected to a fourth term in the South Dakota House in November, has resigned from the Legislature to remain on active duty with the National Guard. Van Gerpen is a chaplain with the Iowa Air National Guard's 185th Air Refueling...

Representative Rick Noriega is on active duty in Afghanistan during the Texas legislative session.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Representative Rick Noriega is on active duty in Afghanistan during the Texas legislative session. But he put his district in good hands, personally selecting his replacement thanks to a new state constitutional amendment. His wife, Melissa...

A Republican is speaker of the Oklahoma House for the first time since 1922.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... A Republican is speaker of the Oklahoma House for the first time since 1922. The November election propelled the GOP into a 57-44 majority (the Democrats had controlled the House by five seats going into the election), ending the 82-year...

Vermont Democrats returned in triumph to the Statehouse following their sweep back to power in the House following the November election, which also strengthened their majority in the Senate.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Vermont Democrats returned in triumph to the Statehouse following their sweep back to power in the House following the November election, which also strengthened their majority in the Senate. The House elected the second woman in state history...

Fatal fifteen.(Trends And Transitions)(top states for traffic deaths related to alcohol)
February 1, 2005... At the top of the list for the highest pecentage of traffic deaths related to alcohol in 2003 are states from every region of the country. The national average is 40 percent. 1 Rhode Island, 55% 2 Hawaii, 53% 3 Nevada, 50% 4...

No answers to charter school questions.(Trends And Transitions)
February 1, 2005... The charter school controversy abounds as a slew of recent reports fuel the fire of this spirited debate. How does the performance of charter school students compare to that of traditional pubic school students? By definition, charter...

In-state or out-of-state?(Trends And Transitions)(case of wineries shipping direct)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Not more than one minute into the attorneys' oral arguments, the justices started peppering them with questions in front of the packed court room. The question? Can states allow in-state wineries to send their products directly to consumers...

Three-strikes for doctors in Florida.(Trends And Transitions)
February 1, 2005... Florida voters approved a three-strikes law in November unlike any other state's: a measure aimed not at killers or thieves but at doctors who foul up. The newly approved amendment to the Florida Constitution would automatically revoke the...

Frog freedom.(Stateline)(Frogjoy Woods)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Frogjoy Woods, a 46-acre tract of amphibian heaven in Waterwood, Texas, has been formally designated as America's first frog and amphibian sanctuary. The area was saved from development a few years ago by a frog-loving couple who donated the...

A long way to go.(Stateline)(rating women's equality)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Women are still decades away from achieving full equality in America, according to a new report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research. The new report rates Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota and Washington as the best for women. The seven...

Run wolf run.(Stateline)(Alaska wolf hunting program)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... A new role for private pilots in Alaska is ticking some people off. They have been given permits to shoot and kill wolves on select lands to make moose and caribou more plentiful for hunters. The pilots aren't paid, but they get to keep the...

Preventing puffing.(Stateline)(state funding of tobacco prevention and cessation programs)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... A new report by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids assesses whether states are using proceeds from the 1998 state tobacco settlement to fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs. It found that only Maine, Delaware and Mississippi currently...

Nature's mart.(Stateline)(Iowa Department of Natural Resources)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The cash-strapped Iowa Department of Natural Resources has opened an online store to make a little money while promoting outdoor recreation in Iowa and conservation of natural resources. They are selling books and apparel related to the great...

No drips in the legislature.(Stateline)(water saved from legislature roof goes to irrigation)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Lawmakers in North Carolina have approved a plan to build a cistern to collect thousands of gallons of rainwater that currently washes off the pyramid roofs of the Legislative Building into the storm sewers of Raleigh. After the cistern is...

No sharing allowed.(Stateline)(online distribution restricted by California law)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... California has become the first state to criminalize distributing videos, music and other files in bulk on the Internet without providing a link to their source. The new law requires anyone who dispenses copies of a film, game or piece of music...

Where's the money?(Stateline)(Opportunity Scholarship program in South Dakota)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... A new program in South Dakota offers $5,000 in four-year scholarships to high school graduates but is $500,000 short because more students than expected have applied and qualified for it. The Opportunity Scholarship program offers money to...

Web recovery.(Stateline)(Florida Division of Library and Information Services)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... After hurricanes ravaged their way through the South last fall, Florida officials used the Web to distribute information to state libraries and archives dealing with soaked collections. Officials at the Florida Division of Library and...

A tumult over taxes.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Townspeople of Killington, Vt., are so mad about the taxes they have to pay that they want to leave. They think the grass is greener over in New Hampshire, which has no income tax or sales tax. Last year they voted to secede. The main source of...

Preschool for some.(Stateline)(comparing preschool programs in the US)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... There's a huge disparity in the availability of preschool programs across the country, according to the second annual survey by the National Institute for Early Education Research. Nationally, total enrollment of 3- and 4-year-olds in...

Energy crisis deja vu: the U.S. energy needs--and the world's--are changing fast. Are we prepared?
February 1, 2005... Is the United States at the beginning of another energy crisis? Oil prices surged past $50 a barrel in late 2004, bumping heating oil and gasoline to the highest prices in years. Natural gas jumped to around $6 per million Btu after having...

Freedom from fossil fuels: a diversity of fuels--including hydrogen--is what is needed for U.S. energy independence says this Connecticut legislator.
February 1, 2005... Five-dollar-a-gallon gasoline. It's no stretch of the imagination anymore. In fact, it's just shy of becoming a reality. In some countries it's already here. And if that number gives you a chill then that same price for heating oil may...

NCSL and you.(National Conference of State Legislatures)
February 1, 2005... You are a member of NCSL. Every legislator in the nation and all legislative staffers are. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU? It means that you are part of the largest, most influential, prestigious organization of legislatures in the nation....

A president's perspective.
February 1, 2005... The 2004 elections both nationally and in the states showed how competitive and evenly matched our two parties are. While nationally the Republicans won a close presidential contest, and increased their margins in the House and the Senate,...

National Association of Legislative Offices.
February 1, 2005... Some members of the National Association of Legislative Fiscal Offices (NALFO) relish getting the most bang for their buck. Steve Klein, Vermont's fiscal director, reveals that he's never paid more than mid-four figures for a car. Bill Marx,...

Money matters top the list: fiscal prognosticators see budget concerns still dominating legislative discussions.
February 1, 2005... Money talks. And lack of money' speaks even louder. That's why budget issues will continue to dominate 2005 legislative sessions. Even though state revenues are rebounding from their lackluster performance of recent years, budget pressures...

West Virginia's Rx for drug costs: West Virginia's new prescription drug program is being called "the mouse that roared.".
February 1, 2005... A pathbreaking resolution passed unanimously by both houses of the West Virginia Legislature could lower the cost of prescription drugs for all West Virginians, and be replicated by other states. Passed during a special two-day session in...

Counting on gambling: state lawmakers often look at gambling to increase revenues. But is it worth it?
February 1, 2005... Editor's note: This is the second in a three-part series on gambling. Next month's article looks at Indian gaming. Does gambling pay off? This is the million dollar question, and for many the jury is still out. The debate centers on the...

Online organizing: reducing the heaping piles of paper around your office requires an effective e-filing system on your computer.
February 1, 2005... How much time do you spend each day looking for that one memo, that presentation from last month, or that press release you know you had? Probably more than you realize. Studies show that the average executive spends six weeks each year looking...

Debating gay marriage: legislators will continue to mirror the rest of the country as they grapple with this difficult issue.
February 1, 2005... Late in November, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected without comment a challenge to the Massachusetts ruling that legalized same sex marriage. At least 3,000 same sex couples have legally wed in Massachusetts since May 2004. State...

Dollars make a difference: when most states are mired in tight budgets and waiting for federal action, Arkansas has excess money to strengthen its welfare program. Other states may have to target more limited funds.
February 1, 2005... For most states, it would have been a meeting from the past--Arkansas legislators and agency officials sitting in a Senate conference room talking about how they should spend the $80 million in federal welfare funds that had built up in the...

As they see it.
February 1, 2005... "If you don't want to have your heart broken, don't fall in love." --Minnesota Representative Rebecca Otto, in the Pioneer Press, saying she had no regrets while packing up her office after losing her 2004 election campaign. She won a...