State Legislatures articles from March 2004

State Legislatures archives from March 2004

From poverty to business owner.(Statestats)
March 1, 2004... What kind of business can you start with a loan of less than $25,000? Two million Americans can give you an answer from personal experience. That's the estimated number of microentrepreneurs currently running their own businesses in this...

Edith Langster is used to public service.(People & Politics)
March 1, 2004... Edith Langster is used to public service. She's serving her fifth term in the Tennessee House of Representatives. But her public service career hit a milestone in January when she marked the 30th anniversary of the day she became the first...

Three experienced, well-regarded staff directors have recently retired.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Three experienced, well-regarded staff directors have recently retired. Robert Erickson, director of the research division of the Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau, retired in January. He began his legislative career in 1979 and became research...

One year after assuming the position of Minnesota Senate majority leader and just weeks before the start of the new session, John Hottinger was voted out by fellow Democratic Farm-Labor members and replaced by Dean Johnson.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... One year after assuming the position of Minnesota Senate majority leader and just weeks before the start of the new session, John Hottinger was voted out by fellow Democratic Farm-Labor members and replaced by Dean Johnson. The move, insiders...

Two highly respected Iowa lawmakers have announced they will not seek re-election next year, taking with them a combined 60 years of experience when they depart.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Two highly respected Iowa lawmakers have announced they will not seek re-election next year, taking with them a combined 60 years of experience when they depart. Representative John Connors, 81, is a former firefighter who has been elected to...

Marcus Halbrook, the former director of the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research, died Dec. 17.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
March 1, 2004... Marcus Halbrook, the former director of the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research, died Dec. 17. He was 77. Halbrook was one of a generation of legislative staff directors who helped define the role, responsibilities and ethic of the...

The Rhode Island Senate made history in January when it elected 44-year-old M. Teresa Paiva Weed its first woman majority leader.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Rhode Island Senate made history in January when it elected 44-year-old M. Teresa Paiva Weed its first woman majority leader. "She is the very personification of the quality and professionalism that the Senate is known for and will continue...

Lawmakers plan counterattack against base closings.(Trends And Transitions)
March 1, 2004... Although they're a year away, states are gearing up to fight proposed Pentagon base closings in 2005. And the military says the cuts, the fifth since 1988, will be the biggest yet--an estimated 20 percent to 25 percent of all facilities. ...

Ohio targets Rx help for poor, elderly.(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Ohio General Assembly has approved a prescription drug discount plan that allows uninsured people with low to moderate incomes and seniors 60 and over without prescription coverage to buy drugs at discounted prices. Ohio's Best Rx...

Top 10 health care issues.(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... 1. Access to health insurance 2. Medicaid pharmaceutical costs 3. Pharmaceutical assistance programs 4. Medicaid budget shortfall 5. Nursing home quality and safety 6. Nutrition and obesity 7. Childhood diabetes ...

Law schools for legislators in one day or less.(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Most state legislators have never stepped inside a law school. But a new trend is bringing law school--or, at least, a mini-law school--to them. Each year, more state bar associations are conducting half or full-day programs, billed as Law...

DNA: crime solvers' magic bullet.(Trends And Transitions)
March 1, 2004... 48 The number of states participating in the National DNA Index system. 1,407,627 The number of convicted offender profiles in the system. 10,300 The number of investigations assisted. 35 The number of states...

Slower traffic keep right.(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Slow and steady may ensure that the tortoise wins the race, but it doesn't work for drivers. Some states are passing law to keep poky drivers out of the left lane of the highway. Illinois now prohibits drivers from traveling slowly in the...

Lost but found.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Kids playing around a watering hole on their property (yes, kids still do that) have discovered a threatened species of frog not seen in 34 years. Thought to have inspired Mark Twain's tale of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,"...

Addicted to TV.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... And you thought cell phones were a driving distraction. Now we have a growing demand for dashboard televisions. New, flat screen technology fits almost anywhere, including within view of the driver. "We probably do three a day," says Tim Witek,...

Help with heat.(Stateline)
March 1, 2004... Families of Oregon National Guard members and military reservists on federal duty are getting special help paying their heating bills. "A month or two before they get word they are going to be deployed," says Governor Ted Kulongoski, "they were...

Gotcha.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Florida's inspection stations, originally set up to protect fruit, vegetables and livestock, are turning up drugs, stolen goods and illegal aliens since the heightened alert after Sept. 11, 2001. The stations, primarily responsible for checking...

Sippin' on Sunday.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... As proof that Sunday is becoming just an ordinary commercial day, bans on alcohol sales in states across the country are disappearing. Massachusetts, in December, joined five other states that have relaxed the Sunday bans in the past 18 months....

Northern connections.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Hoping to promote better working relationships between Vermont and Quebec, Premier Jean Charest and Vermont Governor Jim Douglas signed a series of agreements designed to foster cooperation on tourism, transportation, security, the environment,...

Stripping for schools.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Funding for schools or the lack thereof--has caused some creative solutions out there. None so interesting as in a district in Oregon. Junction City school district is hoping to earn as much as $75,000 from a 2004 nudie calendar featuring the...

Now act like parents.(Stateline)
March 1, 2004... Apparently some parents need a law to help them say no to their children. A new law in California permits parents or legal guardians to be incarcerated for up to one year and fined up to $1,000 for "knowingly permitting" teen drinking in their...

Free to run.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Aaron Patterson is running for the legislature in Illinois. Last year, Aaron Patterson was on Death Row. "The system took my life for 16, 17 years, and I want to make sure that others aren't held hostage in that system like I was," he says,...

Shoot, rejected in Delaware.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... If you've got anything to hide, don't go to Delaware to buy your gun. Customers stand a higher chance of failing the mandatory background checks in that state than would-be buyers anywhere else, according to the federal Bureau of Justice...

No question where to turn.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Making our streets safer for older drivers makes them safer for everyone. Detroit knows this well. It upgraded some busy intersections with bigger street name signs, larger and brighter stoplights, new walk lights and left-turn lanes, and newly...

Paradise returned.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Navy recently returned an island sacred to Hawaiians--Kahoolawe--to them after spending 10 years and $460 million to clean up 50 years of shrapnel and unexploded bombs. The uninhabited 45-square-mile island is untouched by tourists....

Medicaid: 10 fixes that work: of all the reforms states have retired, these are the ones that hold the most promise.
March 1, 2004... The national economy hit states hard. Most cut their budgets, and Medicaid wasn't spared. States have trimmed services, cut provider payments and taken people off the rolls. Yet Medicaid continues to consume a larger and larger slice of...

Lots of kids drink ... keeping teens away from alcohol is tough, but not impossible.
March 1, 2004... Lots of kids party, and alcohol is easy to get," says Jane McKnight, a California high school junior. "In our class, we have a 'go to' guy for alcohol. He can't even drive yet, but he looks older and knows a store where they don't card...

Too many kids smoke: teen smoking rates have fallen, but there's still work to be done in trying to keep kids from becoming addicted to tobacco.
March 1, 2004... It is a good news/bad news scenario. The good news is that teen smoking rates have fallen, tapering off from 36.5 percent among high school seniors in 1997 to 26.7 percent in 2002, according to Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study, an annual...

Pungent power: there's a spark of light in manure--it can make electricity.
March 1, 2004... Ah, the aroma of livestock. As farms grow and cities sprawl, the control of animal waste is becoming a greater challenge for many areas. Approximately 250 million dry tons of animal manure are produced each year in the United States. Much...

Telephone 101: personal contact with your constituents: the telephone can be a legislator's most important communication tool. Here are six hints for taking advantage of the opportunities a constituent's call provides.(Tools Of The Trade)
March 1, 2004... Everyone knows how to use a phone, right? Most legislators say it's the most important and most frequently used method of communicating with constituents. In many cases, a phone call is a chance for you or your staff to send a powerful...

South Carolina reforms auto insurance: 1997-98 South Carolina Act #260 motor vehicle financial responsibility act title 56, chapter 9 as amended.(On Reconsideration)
March 1, 2004... THE ACT'S GOALS * Significantly increase the number of insurance companies doing business in the state. * Lower the price of auto insurance for good drivers. * Ensure that premiums are priced fairly. WHAT THE ACT DOES *...

Take your pick education: giving parents choices for their children's education is all the rage. But some worry that it may be too much of a good thing.
March 1, 2004... For Francisco Lopez, the decision was easy: "When our oldest daughter was going to public school, her classroom had more than 25 students in it. We were worried that because there were so many children, she would be lost and not get the...

As they see it.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... "The administration says the law is not an unfunded mandate, but many of us feel that it is. " --Utah Representative Kory M. Holdaway, in The New York Times, on the No Child Left Behind Act. "We used bubble gum, Scotch tape and...