State Legislatures articles from July 2003

State Legislatures archives from July 2003

A test of values: the choices governors, state legislators, and Congress make to close huge budget gaps tell you what their priorities are. (Where We Stand).
July 1, 2003... What are we saying as a nation when a six-year-old child will lose healthcare coverage because she lives in a state that has slashed funding for Medicaid? Across our country, state budget gaps are threatening programs that America's...

States take action on the help America Vote Act. (Statestats).
July 1, 2003... Making it easier for Americans to cast their ballots, as well as streamlining the system so results are tallied fast and fairly-that was the goal of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. The federal law provides $3.65 billion to upgrade...

What happened to the "citizen" in the "citizen legislature? (On First Reading).
July 1, 2003... The conventional wisdom is that there are nine or 10 (depending on who is doing the counting) full-time legislatures and about 15 classic "citizen" legislatures in which most people hold other jobs when they're not attending to business at the...

Colorado adopts statewide school vouchers. (On First Reading).
July 1, 2003... A year after the U.S. Supreme Court declared that taxpayer-supported vouchers are constitutional, Colorado has adopted a statewide voucher plan, but it is being challenged in Denver district court. Approved by the legislature in April, the...

Mississippi, California take lead in battling meth epidemic. (On First Reading).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... The manufacture and use of methamphetamine in Mississippi may have surprised law enforcement when it skyrocketed in the 1990s, but lawmakers have taken crucial steps to fight the drug problem. The state now outlaws possession of two or more...

Sparks fly over indoor fireworks. (On First Reading).
July 1, 2003... Think about it. You're in a crowded club, surrounded by all kinds of flammable materials, watching sparks sail everywhere as a flashy display of fireworks is set off. It may be great entertainment, but is it also a recipe for disaster? ...

Supreme Court upholds Maine Rx program. (on First Reading).
July 1, 2003... The U.S. Supreme Court this spring upheld a Maine prescription drug discount program that provides low cost pharmaceuticals to all poor patients who qualify. Maine began its campaign to give uninsured residents low-cost drugs three years...

States fare well in federal budget. (On First Reading).
July 1, 2003... The $20 billion state fiscal assistance package that Congress and President George Bush approved in late May is unquestionably a boon to legislatures. Included in the $350 billion federal tax legislation, the money is intended to help...

Goodbye berry ban. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Some New Yorkers are berry, berry happy to be able to grow black currants once again. A 100-year-old ban on farming the controversial berry in the state was unanimously overturned by both houses of the Legislature in April. Back in 1705, U.S....

Keeping new drivers focused. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Novice drivers should be prohibited from using cell phones while driving, according to a new warning by the National Transportation Safety Board. It also recommends that driver education courses include warnings about the dangers of distracted...

Government online. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... American Internet patrons are using government Web sites to complete many transactions they currently do in person or by mail. And more Americans are online, e-savvy and exploring e-government, according to a new study by the Council for...

Prove it, teacher. (Stateline).(North Carolina Board of Education requirements)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... North Carolina legislators may kill a 1998 requirement by the state Board of Education that second-year teachers compile a portfolio to prove their teaching abilities. "I know what my teachers back home think," said Representative John Blust....

Unconstitutional constitution? (Stateline).(Alabama)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... In Alabama, the constitution requires segregated public schools, but that language would be deleted if a proposal passes the Legislature and is approved by a majority of voters. It also would erase sections dealing with the poll tax, which...

Gold mine glitch. (Stateline).(California mining industry)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... California recently adopted the nation's toughest restrictions on open-pit metal mining. The regulations require mining companies to refill all new open-pit mines and reclaim the land to the conditions of the surrounding natural landscape....

Naming rights. (Stateline).(Nevada's legislative building)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... The Nevada Senate recently voted to name the Legislative Building after Nevada's longest serving legislator, former Senator Lawrence Jacobsen. He served in the Legislature for 40 years--16 in the Assembly, 24 in the Senate before he retired at...

Paying to be watched. (Stateline).(foreign-student fees go to security surveillance)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... The federal electronic Student and Exchange Visitor Information System was created after Sept. 11 in an attempt to track changes to foreign students' immigration status, extensions to their stays, requests to bring family over to visit,...

Goin' on a bear hunt. (Stateline).(wildlife management)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Looks like New Jersey might have a black bear hunt this coming December to help control the growing number of the Ursus arnericanus. The local black bear population has rebounded from a low of 100 in the 1970s to more than a couple thousand...

Budget balancing--the game. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Forget those boring, violent computer games, the real challenge in on-line games these days is trying to balance the state budget during a recession. That's what Ma$$ Balance: Interactive Budget Simulation invites its players to do--balance the...

Humanitarian lawmaker. (Stateline).(Senator John Unger, West Virginia)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Senator John Unger from West Virginia began serving in early April as humanitarian relief director of communications in Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan and Turkey for Save the Children International. He will be coordinating crisis communication and relief...

Less is more. (Stateline).(school size and academic performance)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... New, Smaller high schools achieve better academic performance and higher graduation rates among disadvantaged urban youths, according to a recent seven-year study in New York City by the American Educational Research Association. Part of the...

How the money flows. (Stateline).(federal aid)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... The federal government spent $1.9 trillion in the states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and outlying areas during 2002, according to reports by the Census Bureau. Altogether, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid accounted for $890...

Walking on the edge. (Stateline).(pedestrian fatalities)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Nearly one in five pedestrians killed on America's roadways is the victim of a hit-and-run accident, according to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Pedestrian fatalities now account for about 12 percent of all...

It takes two in North Carolina: in the evenly split North Carolina House, it helps that the Republican and Democratic co-speakers have a lasting friendship.(Richard Morgan and Jim Black)
July 1, 2003... Democrat Jim Black and Republican Richard Morgan began their historic tenure in February as co-speakers of the North Carolina House of Representatives by banging their twin gavels in unison-a display of the harmony they promised would prevail...

Power parity in Oregon: after the 2002 general election resulted in a 15-15 tie in the Senate, Oregon lawmakers forged a historic power-sharing agreement.
July 1, 2003... As the Oregon Legislative Assembly met last year for a record five special sessions to cope with a sagging state budget, Senators Peter courtney and Lenn Hannon took a political beating from many of their colleagues. Courtney got into...

Georgia's shifting alliances: moving from a one-party state to two parties isn't easy or pretty. Georgia knows.
July 1, 2003... With just seven days left in his first legislative session, Republican Governor Sonny Perdue walked through the back door of his office and into the glare of TV cameras, welcoming a crowd of reporters attracted by the spectacle of Capitol...

Power struggles in Alabama: with more Republicans getting elected and conservative Democrats joining them, politics in Alabama are changing.
July 1, 2003... Traditions are changing in the Alabama Senate where Democrats once dominated, the governor picked leaders, and a handful of Republicans went along with the flow. Today the chamber acts more like a split body, even though the count is 25-10...

Missouri's GOP takes the reins: when Missouri Republicans took control of the legislature, the adjustment wasn't easy on the Democrats.
July 1, 2003... The 2002 election gave Missouri Republicans the victory that had eluded them since 1954: control of the House of Representatives. Although they had come close in the late 1990s, they could never quite pull it off. But redistricting and...

Do ethics laws work? As legislatures continue to strengthen their ethics laws, policymakers and the public wonder about the results.
July 1, 2003... Since New York passed the country's first major ethics law in 1954, an extensive patchwork of such statutes has unfolded across the nation. Today, all 5O states regulate the conduct of public officials. States, coupled with the federal...

Citizens in training: young people don't care much about government. But some groups are out to change that.
July 1, 2003... In Barbara Dupre's seventh grade language arts class, the students have decided that it was OK for a neo-Nazi group to march through a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Skokie, Ill., in the late 1970s. They also decided that anti-gay...

Homeland democracy: speaking up for the legislature: at the center of representative democracy is the need for legislatures to define and communicate messages in today's language, using today's technology.
July 1, 2003... As he stood in front of a crew that had served on the longest carrier deployment in a generation, President George W. Bush announced on May 1 the end of major combat operations in Iraq. "Men and women in every culture need liberty, like...