State Legislatures articles from January 2001

State Legislatures archives from January 2001

LETTERS.(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2001... INSIDE OR OUTSIDE, A DOME IS A DOME Editor: In the October/November 2000 issue of State Legislatures, you inaccurately state that Virginia is one of seven states whose capitol does not have a dome. That's news to me. Thomas...

CORRECTION.(Correction Notice)
January 1, 2001... A pie chart showing the percent of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families cases where only a child received assistance was mislabeled in the December magazine. Of the total TANF cases in 1999, 70 percent were adult-headed cases and 30 percent...

CURIOSITY, CONFIDENTIALITY AND COMPUTERS.(Review)
January 1, 2001... Ben Franklin's Web Site: Privacy and Curiosity from Plymouth Rock to the Internet by Robert Ellis Smith, Privacy Journal, Providence, Rhode Island, 2000. 407 pages, softcover, $24. To order from NCSL call (303) 830-2054 and ask for item number...

The Reinventor's Fieldbook.(Review)
January 1, 2001... The Reinventor's Fieldbook: Tools for Transforming Your Government by David Osborne and Peter Plastrik, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, California, 2000. 689 pages, softcover, $39. You remember David Osborne? He and Ted Gaebler published...

Fewer Women in 2001 Legislatures.(Statistical Data Included)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... The percentage of women serving in state legislatures has dropped slightly, according to preliminary estimates by the Center for American Women in Politics, Rutgers University. A total of 1,670 women served their states in the legislature in...

WOMEN DO SET RECORDS.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Though the number of women elected to state legislatures showed a slight decline in 2000, a record number will serve in the U.S. Senate. At least 13 women will serve in the august body, including Jean Carnahan of Missouri, who was appointed to...

WOMEN IN STATE LEGISLATURES 1976-2000.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... WOMEN IN STATE LEGISLATURES 1976-2000 1975 604 1977 688 1979 770 1981 908 1983 991 1985 1,103 1987 1,170 1989 1,270 1991 1,368 1993 1,524 1995 1,532 1996 1,540 1997 1,593 1998 1,617 1999...

Valuable Horseshoe Crabs Need State Protections.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... They're sort of flat and funny looking. Remnants of the age of dinosaurs, horseshoe crabs have been around some 350 million years. But they may go the way of the giant reptiles without some kind of state intervention to help preserve their...

States Win Innovations Awards.(Innovations in American Government Awards)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Four states were among the 10 winners of this year's prestigious Innovations in American Government Awards. Each year, the program honors pioneering governments with $100,000 grants and national recognition for creativity in public...

Healthy Beaches Are Good for the Economy.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Warm sandy beaches and bright blue waters call to us during the long cold winter. And potential tourists give little thought to stomach cramps, diarrhea, hepatitis or other ailments that might mar that siren call. States are hoping to keep it...

California County Provides Children's Health Insurance.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Uninsured children in Santa Clara County, Calif., will become a phenomenon of the past under its new Children's Health Initiative set to begin this month. County supervisors approved a plan in October to insure additional children by combining...

Quarter Mania Grips States.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Until the State Circulating Commemorative Quarter Dollar program (its official name) began in 1999, few people thought about the reverse side of George Washington's head in their change purse. Now, minutemen from Massachusetts mingle with...

TROUBLE SCOOTING IN NEW JERSEY.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Motorized scooters and skateboards would be outlawed on most public roads and sidewalks under a bill before the New Jersey Legislature. "The speeds of both motorized skateboards and scooters, which commonly are referred to as 'go-peds,' make...

IT'S EVERY YEAR IN KENTUCKY.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Like most states (44 to be exact), the Kentucky General Assembly will be meeting every year from now on. In November, the citizens gave the legislature this new right when they adopted constitutional Amendment 1. Kentucky is the first state to...

DON'T STEAL MY NAME.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... California, hoping to protect people against Internet fraud, recently passed legislation preventing "cybersquatting." The term refers to registering, in bad faith, ".com" and other domain names that are identical or confusingly similar to...

HITTING THE BOOKS BEFORE HITTING THE ROAD.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Getting a driver's permit in Delaware is not as easy as it used to be. A bill passed last summer requires students to meet certain academic standards before receiving a permit. A student needs to earn a passing grade in five credits at the time...

NATIVE AMERICAN TO ADORN DOME.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Not only will Oklahoma have a new capitol dome, it will also have a bronze statue to place atop it. The decision to have a statue of an American Indian was unanimous by the Capitol Preservation Committee. Senator Enoch Kelly Haney, an Oklahoma...

THE MORE YOU MAKE...(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... The good economy is overflowing in state treasuries. In fact, state revenues grew by 5 percent in 1999. And individual state income taxes made up the largest chunk of the increase. Connecticut residents paid the highest taxes in 1999, a result...

IS THAT OAK OR MAPLE?(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... The National Arbor Day Foundation is offering a free pocket guide for identifying trees. You may already know oak, maple, fir and pine, which are all included, but can you spot a golden chinkapin willow, or a redbud, or a sycamore from a mile...

IOWA SEEKS THE POOR, THE TIRED, THE HUDDLED MASSES.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Cheese fondue may be what most Iowans think of as a melting pot. With nearly 96 percent of the state white, the governor has proposed making Iowa an "immigration enterprise zone," by seeking exemption from federal immigration quotas, helping...

ARCTIC TOXINS A CONCERN.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... During the past decade, scientists working on many separate studies have expressed concern over the increasing presence of toxins such as PCBs, DDT, dioxin and arsenic in Alaska's air, water, wildlife and people. "These contaminants are coming...

DON'T RIDE IN THE BACK.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Thousands of people have died as a result of riding in the cargo area of pickup trucks, and the American Academy of Pediatrics thinks that's way too many. Forty-eight percent of those killed in 1997 were children and adolescents. Pickup trucks...

GOING TO COLLEGE AT HOME.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Out West, where the antelope roam and towns can be really far apart, governors have created a virtual university designed to bring higher education to far-flung populations. The Western Governors University started offering classes last July...

Walking the 2001 Political Tightrope.
January 1, 2001... State legislatures will be tackling some tough issues in a new, very balanced, political environment. The 2000 elections have put state legislatures on a political tightrope. Never before has the political landscape been so balanced....

States' Rx for Drug Costs.
January 1, 2001... With skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs creating real hardships for the elderly and the uninsured, some states acted quickly to expand access. If it wouldn't have been for the cost of the drugs, I wouldn't have had to go back to...

Taking the Pulse of Public Health.
January 1, 2001... As health needs change, lawmakers consider what role public health will play in a new era. In 1900, people could expect to live to the age of 40. Today, they can expect to live to almost 80," says Jeffrey Koplan, director of the centers...

Keeping Our Capitols Secure.
January 1, 2001... Statehouses need to be as open to the people as possible as well as safe places to work. To outsiders it may have seemed like a harmless prank when an environmental activist pushed a cream pie into the face of Minnesota Senator Carol Flynn...

"Good Morning, West Virginia".
January 1, 2001... Lawmakers are finding a new and entertaining way to keep constituents informed. John Unger may be a member of the West Virginia Senate but between 8 and 9:30 a.m., Monday through Friday, don't call him senator. As the producer and host of...