State Legislatures articles from February 2008

State Legislatures archives from February 2008

More advice for avoiding ethical pitfalls.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
February 1, 2008... Editor: Some good stuff in your December piece, "Advice to Avoid Ethical Pitfalls." I'm reminded that many years ago as staffers in the Illinois Legislature, my colleague Patrick O'Grady (who's still there) and I developed three easy rules...

Correction.(LETTERS)(Correction notice)
February 1, 2008... The map, "Keeping Track of Sex Offenders," on page 13 of the December 2007 issue of State Legislatures magazine lists Iowa incorrectly. Iowa does require offenders convicted of aggravated sex offenses or offenses against a minor to be...

Where the jobs will be.(STATESTATS)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You don't often hear, "When I grow up, I want to be a retail salesperson." Yet the U.S. Department of Labor projects that between 2004 and 2014, there will be 736,000 openings for retail sales people, the most of any...

Tom Murphy, the iron-fisted, cigar chomping speaker of the Georgia House who served as leader for 28 years, died in December at 83.(People & Politics)(Obituary)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Tom Murphy, the iron-fisted, cigar chomping speaker of the Georgia House who served as leader for 28 years, died in December at 83. It is said that Murphy was more powerful than the five Democratic governors--from Jimmy Carter to Roy Barnes--he...

The Texas state attorney general has ruled that the position of speaker of the Texas House is a statewide office, and "his tenure explicitly begins when the House first assembles and temporarily organizes, and, due to the ongoing duties imposed by the law, must continue until the next session commences.".(People & Politics)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The Texas state attorney general has ruled that the position of speaker of the Texas House is a statewide office, and "his tenure explicitly begins when the House first assembles and temporarily organizes, and, due to the ongoing duties imposed...

One of the nation's longest serving legislators, Tennessee Senator John Wilder, 86, plans to seek re-election to the seat he has held for more than 40 years.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... One of the nation's longest serving legislators, Tennessee Senator John Wilder, 86, plans to seek re-election to the seat he has held for more than 40 years. He was speaker of the Senate and lieutenant governor for 36 years until he lost to...

Former House Appropriations Committee Chair Brett Feese is drawing the highest salary in Pennsylvania state government, and it is raising the ire of Governor Ed Rendell.(People & Politics)
February 1, 2008... Former House Appropriations Committee Chair Brett Feese is drawing the highest salary in Pennsylvania state government, and it is raising the ire of Governor Ed Rendell. Feese, a Republican, decided not to seek reelection in 2006. He became...

New Mexico Senate President pro tem Ben Altamirano, the Legislature's longest-serving member, died in December.(People & Politics)(Obituary)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... New Mexico Senate President pro tem Ben Altamirano, the Legislature's longest-serving member, died in December. He was 77. Altamirano was remembered at a memorial service at the Capitol as a compassionate bipartisan lawmaker who worked for...

Senator Billy Hewes is the likely new president of the Mississippi Senate.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Senator Billy Hewes is the likely new president of the Mississippi Senate. In December he gained the support of Lieutenant Governor Phil Bryant. The Senate customarily endorses the lieutenant governor's choice for the post. Hewes would replace...

Alfred Carr was sworn in December 20, to fill the seat of Maryland Delegate Jane Lawton, who collapsed and died after giving a speech in Washington, D.C., in November.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Alfred Carr was sworn in December 20, to fill the seat of Maryland Delegate Jane Lawton, who collapsed and died after giving a speech in Washington, D.C., in November. A former mayor of Chevy Chase, Lawton, 63, was appointed in 2005 to fill the...

Little powerhouses.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The smallest state capitals and their populations are: [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MONTPELIER, VERMONT 8,003 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PIERRE, SOUTH DAKOTA 14,052 AUGUSTA, MAINE 18,626 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Staying in school.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... In an effort to decrease high school drop out rates, several states have raised the maximum compulsory school attendance age. Most states, however, have exemptions related to employment, behavioral problems, disabilities, parents' permission,...

Property tax relief for veterans.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Since combat operations began in Afghanistan and Iraq, more than 30 states have either expanded or extended local property tax relief to veterans. States provide property tax relief to veterans through varying avenues--exemptions, abatements,...

E-prescribing.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)
February 1, 2008... Medication errors cost the health care system $77 billion and cause 7,000 deaths annually, according to the Institute of Medicine. But e-prescribing--the electronic transmission of a prescription between a doctor and a pharmacy--may change...

Revenue outlook shows mixed picture.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Many state policymakers expected FY 2008 revenue growth rates to slow, and they were fight. A slumping housing market is pinching collections from sales taxes or real estate transfer taxes in at least half the states and Puerto Rico. Personal...

Green school buses.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Austin, Texas, school district recently got one of only 18 hybrid school buses in the whole nation. It will consume about half as much fuel as a regular bus and emit far fewer pollutants. It uses the same...

Death penalty gone.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... In mid-December, New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine signed a law abolishing the death penalty. The measure replaces a sentence of death with a sentence of life in prison without parole, which spared the life of eight men on death row. New...

eGotcha.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Police in North Carolina no longer hand out paper citations. Through the state's eCITATION program, tickets are sent directly from a patrol car to the court system. The state is the first to use this fully electronic system, which has decreased...

Buffalo bargain.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The buffalo auction is back on in Kansas. The Department of Wildlife and Parks sold 35 animals last November. A year ago, according to the Associated Press, the sale had to be canceled after the spread of an especially virulent disease...

Testing forever.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... We are definitely in a competency testing era in American education. Now it's spreading to higher education. Some parents, legislators, employers and students are calling on universities to prove they are actually providing the proper and...

Goodbye grandma.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Grandparents can't block custodial parents from moving out of state with a child even if the grandparents have visitation rights, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled recently. In a unanimous decision, the judges said...

Fit in fifth grade.(STATELINE)(Healthy Eating Active Living)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Alabama is introducing kids to the fun of exercise and healthy living through a pilot program called Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL). Alabama' first lady, Patsy Riley, and Marsha Folsom, wife of Lieutenant...

Student stats.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Students in most states are performing as well as or better than most students in most foreign countries in math and science, but the highest achieving states are still significantly below the highest achieving countries, according to a new...

Sunny Oregon.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Solar panels will soon become a roadside attraction in Oregon. A pilot program will install photovoltaic solar panels on state property such as bridges, road shoulders and noise barriers along highways, according to The Oregonian. The state...

Laptop legacy.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Students in grades one through eight in Birmingham, Ala., will be the first in the nation to receive laptop computers designed for children in third-world countries. The mayor signed an agreement to buy 15,000 laptops for $200 each from One...

Crossing the line.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... An interstate dispute between New Jersey and Delaware is once again going to the Supreme Court. This time it's about a liquefied natural gas plant that New Jersey wants to build. Trouble is, it requires building a pier and tanker loading area...

Doggy do-gooders.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Animal Legal Defense Fund released its second annual ranking of states and the District of Columbia on the relative strength and general comprehensiveness of their animal protection laws. "Animals do not vote,"...

Why China matters: China's growing economic power should not be ignored.(Interview)(Cover story)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] State Legislatures asked Ted Fishman, author of China, Inc., why China matters to state lawmakers. SL: What is the most important thing state legislators need to know about China? FISHMAN: China is growing...

Higher ed challenge: legislatures need to do some heavy lifting in higher education to keep the United States globally competitive.
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Developing the higher-education budget was remarkably simple when I entered Indiana's legislature in 1967. We would agree to a lump sum for all institutions and let the presidents of the state's two largest...

World grows smaller, IB gets big: amid concern about preparing U.S. students for a global economy, the International Baccalaureate program is catching on fast.(Reprint)
February 1, 2008... In a large black-and-white photograph hanging in Jane Stassen's office, 1930s-era construction workers perch on a thin steel beam some 70 stories above New York City, precarious but undaunted as they read newspapers and eat lunch on a break....

Textbook turmoil: is containing the cost of college textbooks a role for state legislatures?
February 1, 2008... Carlyn Mumm paid more for her books--$975--one semester as a freshman at Arizona State University than her father paid for tuition--$600--at the University of Illinois in 1977. For some of her science and business classes, one book can cost...

Looking back for the future: renovating our beautiful state capitol buildings requires commitment and money--lots of it.
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] More than 15 years ago, Utah lawmakers learned that the building in which they did the people's business was at extreme risk of being toppled by Mother Nature. The 1916 Capitol was erected near an unknown fault...

As they see it.
February 1, 2008... "My favorite person is Connie the cleaning lady. She rocks. She keeps it real for me at 6:30 a.m." --Freshman Representative Lisa Bennington of Pennsylvania to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review when asked who her favorite person is at the...