State Legislatures articles from January 2008

State Legislatures archives from January 2008

Award winner.
January 1, 2008... The director of the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau Robert W. Lang has been chosen to receive the 2007 Steven D. Gold Award, which recognizes a significant contribution to public finance in the field of intergovernmental relations or state...

Legislatures: just the facts.(STATESTATS)(Table)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There are 7,382 elected members serving in our nation's 50 state legislatures. The number of legislators serving in each state varies dramatically, from New Hampshire's 400-seat House of Representatives to Alaska's...

Colorado Representative Debbie Stafford stunned her GOP colleagues in October when she announced she is switching parties.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Colorado Representative Debbie Stafford stunned her GOP colleagues in October when she announced she is switching parties. Stafford's move puts the Democrats' majority in the House at 40-25, and they celebrated by giving her a jersey with her...

John Olsrud.(People & Politics)
January 1, 2008... When John Olsrud took a job with the North Dakota Legislative Council right after he graduated from law school in 1967, he assumed he'd be there just a few months because he'd lost his student draft deferment. The council director at the time...

Carole Hillard.(People & Politics)
January 1, 2008... Carole Hillard, former South Dakota legislator, lieutenant governor and self-described "humanitarian junkie" who traveled the world to promote democracy, died in October in Switzerland. She was 71. Hillard broke three vertebrae when she fell on...

Mike May.(People & Politics)
January 1, 2008... Even in September the Colorado Rockies were a long shot to make it to the World Series. But when they did, fans spent two frustrating days on computers tying to get tickets. When word got out that the executive director of the Colorado...

Flags flew at half mast in honor of former Idaho Senator Charles E. "Chick" Bilyeu who died in October.(People & Politics)(In memoriam)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Flags flew at half mast in honor of former Idaho Senator Charles E. "Chick" Bilyeu who died in October. He was 90. Bilyeu served in the Senate for 24 years until 1994, and was a professor emeritus in speech and drama at Idaho State University,...

The Quran is not the first holy book Oklahoma lawmakers have received as a gift.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... The Quran is not the first holy book Oklahoma lawmakers have received as a gift. The Baptist Convention of Oklahoma gave all 149 members a copy of the Bible earlier this year. "It's one of the nicest things I've received in my three years in...

Hold the phone, I'm not voting.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(law against recorded campaign telephone messages)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Two-thirds of registered voters received recorded campaign telephone messages in 2006, according to a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Known as "robo-calls," this form of political advertisement is becoming increasingly...

R u DWTing?(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(increase in the number of accidents caused by driving while texting)
January 1, 2008... A new potentially dangerous driver, distraction is creating quite the buzz these days. It s the activity in our cars known as DWT, or for those illiterate in virtual lingo, "driving-while-texting." Anyone with a teenager knows that text...

Oral health help.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Legislative Oral Health Caucus formed to increase the reach of preventive dental care)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Legislators in Massachusetts have developed the nation s first Legislative Oral Health Caucus to increase the availability of preventive and restorative dental care statewide. Dental disease is the most common chronic disease of childhood, five...

Lethal injection on trial.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)
January 1, 2008... Recent stays of execution in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas and Virginia come on the heels of the Sept. 25, 2007, decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Baze v. Rees sometime early this year. In...

Snare drum doldrums.(STATELINE)(susceptibility of students in marching bands to hearing damage)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Marching bands, which expose young ears to loud sounds, can cause irreparable hearing damage, according to Brian Fligor, director of diagnostic audiology at Children's Hospital in Boston. Last year the National...

Horse defense.(STATELINE)(Representative JoAnn Osmond's policy for safer animal transport)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... After 17 horses died in a horrific crash of a double-decker semi-trailer packed with 59 horses in Illinois, Representative JoAnn Osmond moved to outlaw the trailers. Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont and have already done so....

Parents and abortion.(STATELINE)(Alaska Supreme Court rules against the need for parental consent when teenagers get abortions)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Teenage girls don't need to get their parents' consent to get an abortion in Alaska, ruled the Alaska Supreme Court recently. In a 3-2 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that the law infringes on a girl's right to reproductive freedom. The...

Healthy new England.(STATELINE)(a report by the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention finds Vermont as the healthiest state)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Vermont is the healthiest state in the nation, surpassing former No. 1 Minnesota this year, according to a report by the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention. Hawaii came in third,...

Darfur protest.(STATELINE)(law against companies whose businesses benefit the Sudanese government)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Massachusetts is the 21st state to pass a law to divest stock of companies working on ventures that benefit the Sudanese government. The state pension fund will sell more than $50 million worth of stock in eight companies as a protest to the...

Sour cellphones.(STATELINE)(law that enables customers to break their contract with their cellular service providers if their phones are unsatisfactory)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Illinois General Assembly is looking at a cellphone "lemon law" that would allow consumers to break their contract with a service provider without financial penalty if their phone develops a problem on three or...

Green go getters.(STATELINE)(Forbes Magazine's list of American States ranked based on policies that promote better environment)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Vermont, Oregon and Washington are the most "green" states in the nation, according to a recent listing by Forbes. It ranked each state in six equally weighted categories: carbon footprint, air quality, water quality, hazardous waste...

Teen tanning troubles.(STATELINE)(health risks for minors using tanning facilities)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Concerned that tanning rays can cause skin cancer and eye damage, Ohio Representative Courtney Combs wants to require a doctor's prescription before allowing teens to expose themselves to tanning booths' ultraviolet rays. No other state has...

Hunting hiatus hurts.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Blue laws limit certain activities on Sunday, and several states still ban liquor sales on the Christian day of rest. But did you know seven states ban hunting on Sundays? And four other states limit some aspect of...

Breeder freedom.(STATELINE)(laws that regulate breeding of pets)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Oklahoma is the second largest producer in the country of commercial pets, behind only Missouri. Yet it has no law to regulate pet breeders. That lack of regulation has led to cruel conditions at puppy mills, the...

Lies can live.(STATELINE)(Washington state Supreme Court ruled that punishing false advertising is against the constitutional rights of political candidates)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Government can't try to stop political candidates from deliberately lying about each other in campaign ads, a divided Washington state Supreme Court ruled in October. According to The Seattle Times, in the 5-4 decision, the high court said a...

Open acts, closed responses.(STATELINE)(National Freedom of Information Coalition study finds flaws on state public records laws)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... The haphazard construction of state public records laws has resulted in an information gap that hurts the public's ability to examine even the most fundamental actions of government, a study by the Better Government Association and the National...

Campaigning on health care: with health care reform on just about everybody's mind, the presidential hopefuls propose solutions.(Cover story)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Everyone who has read the paper, eyed an astounding medical bill or waited in an emergency room agrees: Our health care system is a mess. The United States has the highest per-capita health care spending among...

Federal (in) action: it's hard to get much done in our nation's Capitol these days.
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you've been frustrated by the gridlock in our nation's capital over the past 12 months--not to mention the bickering, posturing and partisanship--better restock your cache of Valium, because 2008 will be even...

High speed to the Hinterlands: getting high-speed Internet to the remaining 6 percent of the population that lacks it takes a concerted effort.
January 1, 2008... When South Dakota Senator Orville Smidt surveys his state's growing and vast communications infrastructure, he's hopeful about the future. "We have more coverage at this point, particularly in the most remote communities, than we've ever had,"...

Election reflection: Democrats gained back some power in the South.
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For voters in Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia, 2007 was a big election year with all legislative seats up for elections. These "odd-year" elections often garner little attention and generate little...

Statehouse security: making our capitols safe requires a balance between security measures and easy access.
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When Scott Renfroe visited the Colorado Capitol before his election as a state senator in 2006, a highpoint was always entering the ornate 1890s building through its grand front doors. "Looking up high and seeing...

Tools for the modern legislator: current technology can make the work of the lawmaker much easier.(TOOLS OF THE TRADE)
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Most legislators can't remember the number of times they were teased with comments such as "your first session is like taking a drink out of a fire hose." The remark is in jest, but highlights a serious challenge:...

As they see it.(quotations from several politicians and civilians)
January 1, 2008... "We cannot continue to spend the exact amount of time with our most disadvantaged kids as we do with our most advantaged kids and hope that those kids are somehow going to catch up or get to grade level." --Margaret Spellings, U.S....