State Legislatures articles from January 2004

State Legislatures archives from January 2004

2004 political landscape.(Statestats)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The 2003 elections brought only a few changes to the color-coded maps showing partisan control of legislatures and governors' offices. Democrats scored victories in New Jersey by seizing the Legislature and in Louisiana by winning the...

People & politics.(Trends And Transitions)
January 1, 2004... Texas Senator Bill Ratliff, regarded as the conscience of the Senate and known to his colleagues as Obi-Wan Kenobi, resigned from the Legislature Jan. 10 after a distinguished 15-year career. Ratliff made history when he became the first...

Gays and marriage.(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... It's stirring controversy and conversation all over the country. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that same sex marriages are allowable under the state Constitution has many states re-examining the issue and their laws. Here's where...

Turning brown green in New York.(Trends And Transitions)
January 1, 2004... After a seven-year struggle, the New York Legislature passed the Superfund Refinancing and Brownfield Cleanup Act of 2003 signed by the governor Oct. 7. In addition to providing $120 million in annual bond revenue to clean up hazardous...

California vineyard crowns frog prince.(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Three endangered species--the California red-legged frog, the least Bell's vireo and the Southwestern willow flycatcher--are safer now, thanks to the Safe Harbor agreement signed between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Robert Mondavi...

A reading success story: an AFT pilot project that focuses on teaching teachers has produced impressive gains in student reading scores at high-poverty schools.(Where we stand: the AFT on critical issues)
January 1, 2004... Few skills are as crucial for success in school--and in life--as the ability to read. Unfortunately, too many children living in poverty fall behind their more affluent peers in reading proficiency and test scores. Much needs to be done, but...

One stop to independence.(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Finding the services that allow elderly people or those with disabilities to live on their own can be a frustrating experience of red tape and hassles from various agencies. But states have come up with an answer: a one-stop center that...

Hello, Bombay? Can I renew my license?(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Have you telephoned your Internet service provider lately? If you have, chances are the person on the other end of the line was based in India. And they're not the only ones. Food stamp recipients and other users of state services are finding...

Rudolph look out.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Now that reindeer have just finished their busiest season of the year, Alaska is promoting a new effort to put more of them (in the form of steaks and sausages) on grocery store shelves and restaurant menus. The state Department of...

No to flame retardants.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... California became the first state in the nation to ban flame-retardant chemicals known to accumulate in the blood of mothers and nursing babies. Commonly used to coat furniture, electronics, plastic and foam products, studies show that North...

Hazmat hazards.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The number of incidents involving potentially harmful materials was down last year, to their lowest level since 1997. The number of related fatalities was the lowest since 1995. This is good news. But people in Illinois are still concerned,...

Nothing's free.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Looking to close a $1 billion budget gap, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a new law last summer that expands the state's power to recover money it has spent on social services. It allows the government to recoup expenses from the...

The best of the Web.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Nevada, Minnesota and South Dakota legislatures have the best Web sites for letting citizens track legislation, communicate with state lawmakers and get information about state laws, according to the Center for Digital Government. It rated...

A light switches over.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The Eagle Bluff Lighthouse is the first "public domain" lighthouse in Wisconsin that the Coast Guard has relinquished, transferring ownership of this beautiful structure to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Public-domain...

Safety thrice over.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The Illinois legislature passed three traffic safety bills in 2003, becoming the first state to enact all three provisions in the same year. Senator John Cullerton sponsored all the bills, which allow police officers to stop motorists who are...

A numbers game.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Just exactly how many kids do drop out before graduating from high school? It's hard to say. Seems that many states sharply understate their high school dropout rates. A recent study by Jay P. Greene of the Manhattan Institute contrasts sharply...

Detecting ocean debris.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have combined satellites, sophisticated color and thermal imaging, and small twin-engine planes equipped with a group of sensors to detect floating ocean debris. Much...

Land deal like no other.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Other historical events seem to get more attention. But the Louisiana Purchase, which took place 200 years ago last month, changed the shape and history of the United States like nothing else. Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon negotiated the...

It's never too late.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... It's not often that a state gets to ratify an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It's even less often that the ratification is 135 years late. But Ohio did just that. Last Constitution Day (Sept. 17), the state ratified the 14th Amendment,...

Restroom relief.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Citizen activist Tom Keating is a man with a cause. He walks the Georgia Capitol's corridors with notepad in hand, looking for allies. His mission? To clean up the state's public school restrooms. Good bathrooms, he believes, make for good...

Time off for trials.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Oregon recently passed a law allowing crime victims and their immediate family members to take unpaid leave from their jobs to attend a trial. Craig Plunkett, who was fired for taking time off to attend the trial of his son's accused killer,...

Grandma or mom?(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... One-third of grandparent caregivers are the sole guardians of their grandchildren, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report. Advocacy groups say the No. 1 reason for grandparents raising grandchildren is that the parent is involved with...

A leading perspective.(Conversations)(Interview)
January 1, 2004... State Legislatures gathered a group of legislative leaders to talk about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the 2004 session. Recognizing that almost all states are struggling with weak economies, health care, education and...

Gene's top 10 picks: NCSL's director of public affairs takes a stab at predicting what's most likely to top legislative agendas this year.
January 1, 2004... Each year at this time, we run a very sophisticated computer program--one much more challenging than the one chess champion Gary Kasparov recently faced-to forecast the top 10 issues that state legislatures will consider in the upcoming year....

Insurance mandates and health care costs: requiring insurance companies to cover certain services has defendants and opponents.
January 1, 2004... Substance abuse and chemical dependency treatment. Colorectal cancer screening. Newborn testing for sickle-cell anemia. Is there a common thread? These are three of the hundreds of health insurance benefits required by law. And they are...

Legislators teach and learn: when legislators venture into classrooms, civics come alive.
January 1, 2004... Nuts or no nuts? That proved to be the slicking point as first and second graders debated what makes a perfect chocolate chip cookie. The stalemate continued until one student stood up and asked why not make half with nuts and half without? ...

Education survives in Michigan--for now: despite partisan differences and economic difficulties, lawmakers and the governor reached an early consensus that funding education would be Michigan's top priority.
January 1, 2004... Michigan legislative leaders and Governor Jennifer Granholm scrambled like mad this past summer to protect state aid to public education in the face of a flood of red ink. In the middle of an economic bloodbath, policymakers decided that...

Theme for a day: the New Jersey Assembly did something more than business as usual last session. Lawmakers "bundled" bills into topic areas for legislative "theme days.".
January 1, 2004... So what if... instead of bills wending their way separately through the legislature at their own pace... they were all packaged under various "themes?" That was the idea of New Jersey Speaker Albio Sires and Majority Leader Joseph...

Identity thieves: let's catch them if we can: nearly 10 million Americans had their identity stolen in the last year, making it the fastest growing white-collar crime.
January 1, 2004... Sheila's nightmare began 11 years ago when she was only 19. A co-worker stole her Social Security number from her personnel file and used it to get a Mexican relative into this country. Using Sheila's name and Social Security number, the...

States tackle deep discount cigarettes: cheap cigarettes have undercut the major tobacco companies and their ability to make payments to states under the master tobacco settlement agreement.
January 1, 2004... Because they're cheaper--$12.99 to $13.50 per carton, compared with Marlboros at $22.99 or Camels at $24-deep discount cigarette brands have cornered an estimated 10 percent to 15 percent of the U.S. market. This is not good news for states...

As they see it.
January 1, 2004... "This should go down in history. Today, the government did the right thing." --Delaware Senator Karen F. Peterson in The News Journal on the plan for county, state and federal agencies to buy more than 75 percent of a 194-home community...