State Legislatures articles from January 2005

State Legislatures archives from January 2005

The female factor.(Statestats)(female state legislators)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... This session will see 1,660 women legislators serving across the country. Women hold 22.5 percent of legislative seats in the 50 states, a ratio that has remained constant since the 1999 session. That percentage doesn't seem particularly high...

The Colorado legislature switched control, and with at made leadership history.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... The Colorado legislature switched control, and with at made leadership history. Democrats elected Joan Fitz-Gerald as the state's first woman Senate president and Peter Groff as president pro tem, making him the highest elected black official...

Maryland's House of Delegates will observe a 300-year-old tradition--unique among the world's legislative bodies--when it convenes in January.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Maryland's House of Delegates will observe a 300-year-old tradition--unique among the world's legislative bodies--when it convenes in January. Mary Kay Monahan, chief clerk of the House, will enter the chamber carrying a two-foot long...

Oklahoma's first Republican speaker in 80 years, Todd Hiett, says he will "govern with open arms.".(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Oklahoma's first Republican speaker in 80 years, Todd Hiett, says he will "govern with open arms." The last time the GOP controlled the Oklahoma House was in 1920, and that was only the second time since statehood. Democrats took back control...

Indiana Democrats found themselves completely out of power in the State House for the first time in 16 years when the GOP took control of the House by a 52-48 margin.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Indiana Democrats found themselves completely out of power in the State House for the first time in 16 years when the GOP took control of the House by a 52-48 margin. "We're going to hit the ground running," says Speaker Brian Bosma, who has...

The election left the Pennsylvania Senate with one more OP seat and three vacancies.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... The election left the Pennsylvania Senate with one more OP seat and three vacancies. On Nov. 2, Republicans controlled the chamber 29-21. But Republican Bob Regola defeated two-term Democrat Allen Kukovich in an upset in the western part of the...

Reapportionment pitted Green Party Representative John Eder against another incumbent.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Reapportionment pitted Green Party Representative John Eder against another incumbent, Democrat Edward Suslovic in Maine in a three-way race. Eder won, maintaining his status as the only Green Party state legislator in the nation.

Louisiana Senator Melvin "Kip" Holden became the first black mayor-president of Baton Rouge when he defeated Republican incumbent Bobby Simpson, in a rematch of the 2002 race.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Louisiana Senator Melvin "Kip" Holden became the first black mayor-president of Baton Rouge when he defeated Republican incumbent Bobby Simpson, in a rematch of the 2002 race. What is this unusual position? Mayor of the state capital city and...

Three state legislators who were re-elected in November, couldn't give victory speeches.(People & Politics)(away on military service)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Three state legislators who were re-elected in November, couldn't give victory speeches. They were away on military duty. California Assemblyman Tom Umberg, on active duty in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, sailed to victory by a 2-1 margin against his...

Van Tran became the nation's first Vietnamese-American legislator when he was elected to the California Assembly Nov. 2.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Van Tran became the nation's first Vietnamese-American legislator when he was elected to the California Assembly Nov. 2. A Republican from Little Saigon in Orange County, Tran was 10 when his family fled Vietnam. California voters did not give...

Comparison shopping for drugs.(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Trying to save money on your state's prescription drug costs? Confused about which drugs are most effective--and cost-effective? Go to www.ohsu.edu/drugeffectiveness. That's the address of the Web site for the Drug Effectiveness Review Project...

Gains & losses.(Trends And Transitions)(party gains in state legislatures)(Illustration)
January 1, 2005... GAINS & LOSSES Winning Presidential Party Gains or Losses in State Legislative Elections President House Senate Total 1940 D +170 -58 +112 1944 D +119 ...

Supreme Court wrestles with juvenile executions.(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... The U.S. Supreme Court's recent consideration of Roper v. Simmons has catapulted into the spotlight the execution of juveniles under the age of 18. Roper v. Simmons came to the Court on appeal from the Missouri Supreme Court, whose ruling...

California protects child prostitutes.(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Adults who hire juvenile prostitutes will be treated as sex offenders under a tough new law in California. "Under the current system, children who engage in this type of activity are hit with the heavy hand of the law, while the adults who...

Regional changes in legislative seats.(Trends And Transitions)(Illustration)
January 1, 2005... REGIONAL CHANGES IN LEGISLATIVE SEATS (BETWEEN 2002 AND 2004) Net Seats Gained House Senate Total Nation 19 D 4 R 15 D South 51 R 20 R 71 R...

New Jersey seeks second in command.(Trends And Transitions)(lieutenant governor position)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Once again, New Jersey is facing a leadership change--the second in the last four years. The first was when former Governor Christie Whitman left for Washington, D.C., to join the Bush cabinet in 2001. This time, Governor James E. McGreevy...

The covenant conundrum.(Stateline)(power of homeowner associations)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Have homeowner groups gone too far? Should basketball hoops, patio roofs and flag displays really have to be approved by your neighbors? Homeowner associations collect tax-like "assessments," but are subject to little public oversight. More and...

Shoo-in for some.(Stateline)(uncontested elections for state legislative seats)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... There were quite a few tight races this past election, including many at the state level. Boy what a voter turnout! There were also, however, a whole lot of unopposed state legislative seats. The state chambers with the highest percentages of...

Can you hear me now--and again?(Stateline)(recycling cell phones)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... California has passed a first-in-the-nation bill requiring retailers who sell cell phones also to recycle them. The measure by Assemblywomen Fran Parley, is an expansion of the state's effort to recycle electronic waste. As many as 16 million...

A wild idea.(Stateline)(wild rice harvest by Native American communities)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Some rice chiefs of the Sokaogon band of Ojibwa Native Americans are trying to keep alive the traditions of the centuries-old wild rice harvest. "We're following people who have passed on," said Roger McGeshick. "We're hoping to keep it alive....

Who's buckling up the best?(Stateline)(seat belt usage by state)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... People in Hawaii (95.1 percent), followed by Washingtonians (94.2 percent) are the best at buckling up their seat belts. And nationally, we all are buckling up better than we used to--with a record 80 percent of people doing so in 2004. The...

Try it, you'll like it.(Stateline)(organic foods at school cafeterias)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... A growing number of school cafeterias are serving healthy, organic food as a way to improve children's health and fight obesity. Most of the food comes from local, small farmers. At Lincoln Elementary in Olympia, Wash., for example, the...

America the colorful.(Stateline)(Crayola crayons in state colors)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Remember the smell of your brand new pack of Crayola crayons the first day of school? You might even have known all the names of the colors by heart. Now, Crayola plans to produce 500,000 boxes of state-themed crayons, chosen through a...

A soy solution.(Stateline)(soy biodiesel plant)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Delaware's soybean farmers are excited about the construction of a soy biodiesel plant that will be the first of its kind in the Northeast. Soy biodiesel is made from the oil that is left over after soybeans are processed for feed. The hope is...

No Billy goats gruff here.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... New Mexico is the first state to make a smart bridge. Built-in sensors monitor stresses and strains on bridge materials, providing data to fix problems early before a catastrophic failure. Scientists hope the data collected will also help them...

Big skies, small salaries.(Stateline)(salary statistics)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Montana has the lowest wage per job in the country, but has improved slightly in terms of total average income over the past few years, according to a report by the state Department of Labor. The average salary is $26,900 per job, just behind...

Can you spare a dime?(Stateline)(personal financial management education)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... The average student who graduates from high school lacks basic skills to manage his personal financial affairs, according to the JumpStart Coalition. Many teenagers are unable to balance a checkbook and have no insight into the basic survival...

State legislatures' top 10: here's a sample of the key policy issues that promise to cross state borders and test political wills.(Cover Story)
January 1, 2005... American state legislatures will set to work in January on a variety of critical issues--some raised by the voters in November and others the result of the nation's decision to give George W. Bush a second term. Voters were decisive on...

Federal Top 10: on the agenda in Washington D.C., are--at the very least--10 issues that state legislators will keep their eyes on.
January 1, 2005... Theodore Roosevelt famously characterized the presidency as a "bully pulpit." Two days after the election, President George W. Bush used that bully pulpit to set the country's policy agenda and establish priorities. "I earned capital in...

Budgets on the rebound? Revenues are showing signs of recovery, but will that be enough to keep state budgets solvent?
January 1, 2005... By now it's old news: State budgets suffered historic deterioration during the last national recession. That's what makes the recent news so welcome. Revenues are recovering. So logic argues that the worst is behind us. But unfortunately, it's...

A responsibility for civility: the lack of trust and respect in Congress makes it mighty hard to be effective.
January 1, 2005... When he was just a 16-year-old schoolboy, George Washington sat down and copied out 110 "Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior," based on a 16th century set of French maxims. Many of these had to do with simple manners--"Cleanse not your teeth...

Fiscal folly? Colorado can't claw its way out of a severe fiscal crisis because of its TABOR amendment, which has the state slashing programs while refunding taxes. Although it has its supporters, others say it has to change. And with new party control, it just might.(Taxpayer's Bill of Rights)
January 1, 2005... Three years after Colorado's budget began to sink, revenues have started to come back bigger than expected. That should be good news. But in Colorado, budgeting has little to do with logic, thanks to two conflicting constitutional amendments...

Nuts & bolts of TABOR: Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment that limits the growth of government like nowhere else.
January 1, 2005... Colorado's TABOR Amendment is the most stringent tax and expenditure limitation that American voters have ever imposed on their state and local governments. It was submitted to Colorado voters by popular initiative in 1992 as a constitutional...

Gambling on gaming: revenues from gambling are just too tempting for troubled state budgets.
January 1, 2005... Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series on gambling. Watch for "Does Gaming Pay Off?" in February and "Indian Gaming Grows" in the March magazine. What was once considered a vice has gone mainstream. As states continue to...

How to prevent paper overload: as a legislator or a staff member, you need a strategy for processing all the information that enters your office, or the new session will quickly morph into stress and chaos.(Tools Of The Trade)
January 1, 2005... The start of every legislative session brings excitement, hope and a barrage of paper. As soon as the gavel drops, legislators and staff become the targets of interest groups, citizens, government representatives, lobbyists, staffers and other...

Rural remedies: sometimes overlooked is the boost a small town's health care workers can give the local economy.
January 1, 2005... Grays Harbor County lies on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington about 75 miles from Seattle. This rural county--there are about 35 people per square mile--offers rolling tree-covered hills and beautiful ocean beaches giving way to rugged...

Symbolmania: by statute or resolution, legislators continue to adopt symbols to represent their state. Do these gestures trivialize the process?
January 1, 2005... The Ohio legislature recessed at the end of May last session without having resolved a number of not-at-all-urgent issues--whether the smallmouth bass or the walleye pike would be designated the state fish, whether the papaw or apple would...

As they see it.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... "We're not at the edge of the Earth, but we can certainly see it." --Superintendent John Davis of Alaska's Bering Strait School District, in the Los Angeles Times, in a story on how the expansive but sparsely populated state is using...