State Legislatures articles from March 2007

State Legislatures archives from March 2007

*Getting out the vote *.(STATESTATS)
March 1, 2007... Widespread reforms like the federally enacted "motor voter" law and state initiatives like early voting, "no excuse" absentee balloting, election day registration and Oregon's balloting by mail system have made it easier than ever to cast a...

Kansas Speaker Melvin Neufeld has appointed three Republicans and three Democrats to a committee that will review the election of fresh man Democratic Representative Gene Rardin, who won his race against opponent John Kriegshauser by just two votes.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Kansas Speaker Melvin Neufeld has appointed three Republicans and three Democrats to a committee that will review the election of fresh man Democratic Representative Gene Rardin, who won his race against opponent John Kriegshauser by just two...

District of Columbia Council.(Charlotte Brookins-Hudson resigns)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Charlotte Brookins-Hudson has resigned as general counsel to the District of Columbia Council after 30 years of service. Brian K. Flowers has been named the new counsel.

June Goulson, director of the New Hampshire independent Senate Research Office.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... June Goulson, director of the New Hampshire independent Senate Research Office, resigned from her position 20 years to the day after she launched it under then Senate President William Bartlett.

Texas Speaker Tom Craddick, the first Republican speaker in 130 years when he was elected to the post in 2003, fended off an attempted coup to win his second term as House leader.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Texas Speaker Tom Craddick, the first Republican speaker in 130 years when he was elected to the post in 2003, fended off an attempted coup to win his second term as House leader. Craddick, who is a 36-year veteran of the House, had helped...

Peter Schwartzkopf.(organ donation)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Delaware Representative Peter Schwartzkopf has a different definition of constituent service. When his neighbor across the street went into kidney failure, Schwartzkopf volunteered to be tested and learned he was a match. He gave up his kidney...

North Carolina House.(People & Politics)(Joe Hackney elected as speaker)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... The North Carolina House elected 14-term veteran Joe Hackney as speaker, ending a power-sharing agreement with Republicans that lasted four years. The Democrats added to their slim margin in the House when they picked up five seats in the...

Senator Ron Ramsey became the first Republican Senate speaker and lieutenant governor to be elected in Tennessee since 1869 when Democrat Rosalind Kurita cast her vote for him.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Senator Ron Ramsey became the first Republican Senate speaker and lieutenant governor to be elected in Tennessee since 1869 when Democrat Rosalind Kurita cast her vote for him. The 51-year-old Ramsey replaces 85-year-old Senator John Wilder who...

William Sharpe Jr.(senator recovering from brain surgery)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Senator William Sharpe Jr. is recovering from 10-hour brain surgery to treat an aneurysm. Sharpe is the president pro tempore of the West Virginia Senate. His condition has been upgraded from critical to good. There is no word on when he will...

Dan Sutton.(People & Politics)(South Dakota Senate investigates Dan Sutton)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... The South Dakota Senate has censured Senator Dan Sutton for inappropriate contact with a male Senate page. Three days of hearings before a special committee preceded the 32-2 vote. Sutton is also being investigated by the state attorney...

March is Women's History month.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... In 1981 Congress established National Women's History Week during the second week of March. In 1987, Congress expanded the week to a month. 152 MILLION The number of females in the United States. That exceeds men by 4 million. ...

National treasure.(capitols)(Landmark overview)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... The Pennsylvania state Capitol is now officially a national treasure. The 100-year-old building recently received National Historic Landmark status. The designation comes from the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior....

Working on welfare diversion.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Some people go on public assistance because of a lack of transportation, a health emergency or the birth of a child. But welfare diversion programs that provide lump sum payments to families to help them through these events are now being...

Legislatures look at Civics Education.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... The American public believes that educating young people about our system of democracy should be a central mission of schools, according to a 2004 survey by several organizations. However, most feel public schools are not fulfilling this...

The trickle-up trend.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(microenterprises offer lower-income families means of living)
March 1, 2007... What do a Nobel Prize winning economist from Bangladesh, a nuclear waste clean-up crew in Colorado, and a couple of ponies have in common? They all make a living thanks to Microenterprise development. A microenterprise is a business with...

Plain talk works.(language)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Washington state officials are making a real effort to talk to the public in simple, clear language. Two years ago Governor Chris Gregoire ordered all state agencies to adopt "plain talk" principles. More than 2,000 state employees have...

Tailgaters beware.(STATELINE)(Arizona Department of Public Safety)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... No one likes a tailgater, but what can you do about it? In Arizona, new laser devices that measure the distance between two moving vehicles are allowing Arizona authorities to give out tickets to tailgaters. The Department of Public Safety has...

Yellowstone is growing up.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Two domes inside the collapsed, restless volcano in Yellowstone are swelling faster than has ever been recorded. The huge caldera that stretches across the park's middle has been rising and falling for at least 15,000 years, sometimes swinging...

Move over.(STATELINE)(law regarding changing of lanes in Alabama)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Alabama's new move over law has surprised some motorists who have been ticketed for not changing lanes when a police patrol vehicle, ambulance, fire truck or other emergency vehicle is stopped and flashing its emergency lights. Representative...

No time left.(STATELINE)(more emphasis on social science education)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... The intensive time required to prepare students for mandatory testing in the nation's public schools is stealing time away from other subjects. Students no longer have time to discuss and study the news, and ultimately become educated about and...

Girl violence.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Girls today are more violent than girls of two or three decades ago, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Today, girls account for about a quarter of assaults by juveniles. In 1980, it was less than 10...

Don't free the fish.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Hawai'i is participating in a national campaign to encourage pet owners to turn in unwanted aquarium fish and plants instead of dumping them in streams or the ocean. The concern is that non-native released plants and animals will establish...

Capitol security.(STATELINE)(Indiana)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Indiana is purchasing metal detectors and x-ray baggage scanners that will soon be installed at entrances to the Capitol. New rules prohibit visitors from bringing knives, stun guns and firearms into the building, adjoining Government Center...

Oregon goes annual on TV.(STATELINE)(The Oregon Channel)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Oregon lawmakers have decided to try out annual sessions starting this year. The state is one of only six that meet every two years. The legislature convened Jan. 8 and will end no later than June 29. Next year it will meet for as many as 60...

Africa votes.(STATELINE)(Center of Integrity, Empowerment and Fairness)(old voting machines from Indiana to be used in Benin elections)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Hundreds of old voting machines in Indiana that have been replaced by newer technology will be shipped to the West African nation of Benin. New state mandates resulting from the Help America Vote Act forced counties to update their voting...

Recycling homes.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Some hurricane damaged homes along the coast of Mississippi are being spared the wrecking crane in favor of the recycling bin. Some older homes have lumber in them that isn't available on the market anymore--cypress and heart pine. Often those...

Hot sand.(oil and natural gas exploration )(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Some Wisconsin sand is so highly sought after you'd think it was gold. One underground mine there scoops thousands of tons of this "frac sand" from the bluffs along the Mississippi River. It's valuable because it's as round as really tiny...

Nuclear renaissance? Many are looking at nuclear energy as a solution to our energy needs and foreign oil dependency.
March 1, 2007... The first nuclear reactor, in 1951, produced enough electric power from splitting the atom to illuminate four light bulbs. Today, 103 commercial nuclear power plants in 31 states produce approximately 20 percent of the electricity used in the...

Tough act to follow: as the federal government wrestles with its role in controlling greenhouse gases, one state hasn't hesitated to attack global warming.
March 1, 2007... Massachusetts is suing the Environmental Protection Agency to force regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in a case that is before the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue is whether the Clean Air Act requires EPA to control these gases, which...

The power of polls: a primer for generating, analyzing and using poll information.(TOOLS OF THE TRADE)
March 1, 2007... Nearly three-quarters of Americans believe the country would be better off if public officials "paid more attention to public opinion," and 61 percent said the nation would be better off if leaders paid more attention to "polls." This...

Plunging into the gene pool: even though the legal landscape has changed, concerns about the abuse of genetic testing persist.
March 1, 2007... Is your genetic information safe? Sixteen years have passed since Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson signed the first state law to prevent genetic discrimination in March 1991. A tidal wave of genetics legislation followed, propelled by the...

Going paperless: there may never be a completely electronic legislature, but some are getting close.
March 1, 2007... For John Brueggeman, who was in his early teens when e-mail first became available and his early 20s when the dot-com bubble burst, instant electronic information and communication is life-long and natural. "I've been using computers as...

Direct democracy's disaster: through the initiative process, Colorado recently passed a law with loads of unintended consequences.(constitutional amendment 41)
March 1, 2007... On Nov. 7, 2006, Colorado voters handed critics of direct democracy the gold-standard example of the foolishness that the initiative process can produce. Nearly 100 years ago, Grove Johnson voiced his disdain for direct citizen lawmaking, which...

A new day for learning: it's time to look at changing the length and scope of the school day to help kids succeed.
March 1, 2007... Sonia arrives home from school Friday at 6:30 p.m. It's been a productive day for this 16 year old. Since 7 a.m. she's completed her regular schedule of courses at the high school, as well as met her third grade "reading buddy" for their weekly...

Lawmaker holds hope in Hemp North Dakota Representative David Monson wants to be the first American farmer to grow industrial hemp.
March 1, 2007... David Monson began pushing the idea of growing industrial hemp in the United States a decade ago. Now his goal may be within reach, but the North Dakota farmer, school superintendent and state legislator first needs to provide two sets of...

As they see it.(senators opinions)
March 1, 2007... "The most important thing you have in this body is your integrity. And that's yours to lose." --Former Idaho House Speaker Bruce Newcomb to new legislators, in the Idaho Statesmen. "It attacks the very nature and fiber of what we are...