State Legislatures articles from March 2009

State Legislatures archives from March 2009

Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau a first.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Editor: The February issue of State Legislatures magazine contained an informative article about the role of legislative service agencies in providing reliable, nonpartisan research services to state...

Cost of corrections.(THIS MONTH)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Read more about how states are looking at policies to reduce their prison populations. There is also additional information on new approaches to parole and probation violations, and you can read the full PEW report...

Budget update.(THIS MONTH)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The federal surface transportation bill comes up for reauthorization this year. Read about how the bill is shaping in Congress.

Fiscal woes.(THIS MONTH)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Michigan is facing eight years of recession, but it's far from the only state trying to close deep budget shortfalls. NCSL's State Budget Update details where states stand in terms of shortfalls for FY 2009 and FY 2010, and what they are...

Voting nonpartisan help.(THIS MONTH)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Overseas and military voting pose steep challenges to state election officials. Read about ways to deal with the problem and the new Pew report on the topic. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

GrassCatcher: daily news.(REGULAR FEATURES)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] See what major news outlets are writing about state policy at State Legislatures' GrassCatcher. It's updated daily.

The reflecting pool.(REGULAR FEATURES)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NCSL Deputy Executive Director Carl Tubbesing is State Legislatures' eye on the state-federal relationship. Read what he has to say this month.

Blog: the thicket.(REGULAR FEATURES)
March 1, 2009... A bipartisan blog about the legislative institution and federalism written by and for legislative junkies. Updated often. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Foreclosures persist.(STATESTATS)
March 1, 2009... The percentage of loans in foreclosure continues to be high, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association's National Delinquency Survey. "In the third quarter we saw about 575,000 foreclosure actions started, compared with an...

Founding Father Thomas Paine is finding it hard to get respect in Arkansas.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Founding Father Thomas Paine is finding it hard to get respect in Arkansas. Representative Lindsley Smith wanted to make Jan. 29 "Thomas Paine Day." But her bill was stalled in a Senate Committee where some members believed his 1776 pamphlet...

Representative Joe Straus is the new speaker of the Texas House, winning by acclamation and ending the six-year reign of Tom Craddick.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Representative Joe Straus is the new speaker of the Texas House, winning by acclamation and ending the six-year reign of Tom Craddick. The two-term lawmaker is the first Jewish speaker since Texas was a republic, and the ecumenical day opened...

For a few moments it looked like chaos.(People & Politics)(new speaker of the Tennessee House, Kent Williams)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... For a few moments it looked like chaos. The new speaker of the Tennessee House was a Republican, as expected since the GOP won control of the chamber for the first time since Reconstruction by one seat in November. But he wasn't the presumptive...

Salvatore DiMasi, speaker of the Massachusetts House since 2004, resigned from the legislature in January saying, "My head is held high, and I am proud of my record.".(People & Politics)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Salvatore DiMasi, speaker of the Massachusetts House since 2004, resigned from the legislature in January saying, "My head is held high, and I am proud of my record." DiMasi had been embroiled in allegations of influence peddling, which he...

Connecticut lawmakers, facing an $8 billion budget deficit, took some time off in January to hear David Osborne, author of the 1992 bestseller, Reinventing Government.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Connecticut lawmakers, facing an $8 billion budget deficit, took some time off in January to hear David Osborne, author of the 1992 bestseller, Reinventing Government. Osborne came at the invitation of Governor Jodi Rell, who thought he could...

Louisiana Representative Nick Lorusso, a lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, has been called to active duty in the Army Reserve.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Louisiana Representative Nick Lorusso, a lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, has been called to active duty in the Army Reserve. A new constitutional amendment, proposed by the Legislature and approved by the voters in...

Dave Upthegrove.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The University of Washington, facing a $116 million cut in state support on top of a $17 million reduction this year, has decided to shut its doors to students who want to start in the spring--but not all of them. Athletes are exempt, along...

Correction.(People & Politics)(Correction notice)
March 1, 2009... People and Politics incorrectly stated in February that former Colorado Representative Bernie Buescher lost his primary. Buescher lost his general election and is now Colorado's secretary of state.

The four-day school week.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As the economy slows and state budgets tighten, more states are looking into allowing four-day school weeks. More than 30 years ago, in response to the energy crisis, New Mexico was the first state to allow school...

California fights global warming.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The California Air Resources Board adopted a global warming plan in December, outlining what individuals and businesses will have to do to meet the state Global Warming Solutions Act passed in 2006. It's the nation's most sweeping global...

Homes that work forever.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... As people age, keeping them in their homes is difficult. More than 30 percent of homeowners have trouble walking and using stairs, and 7 million use scooters, wheelchairs, canes, crutches or walkers. In fact, most people seek nursing home care...

Where the air is clear.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The good news is that 83 percent of Americans live in areas with acceptable year-round levels of particle pollution. According to the American Lung Association's 2008 State of the Air report, exposure to particles over time can increase the...

Singing the Sunday blues.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(liquor selling on a Sunday)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Arguing that increasing tax revenue should be motivation enough, proponents of abolishing the Sunday prohibition against alcohol sales are increasing their efforts. They argue that by allowing liquor stores to open...

Slow motion energy.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A device to harness energy from slow-moving water currents and turn it into electricity is exciting scientists around the world. Developed at the Marine Renewable Energy Laboratory at the University of Michigan, it's...

Pet paradise.(STATELINE)(Animal Legal Defense Fund)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The Animal Legal Defense Fund has ranked states and territories based on their laws protecting animals. Researchers looked at 14 categories of animal protections laws. "While animals certainly do not vote," says Stephan Otto, director of...

Vet court.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Madison County in southern Illinois now has a court to deal only with military veterans charged with nonviolent crimes. According to the Associated Press, the court is the first of its kind in the state, and probably only the third in the...

Baby blues.(STATELINE)(teen pregnancy)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... After 15 years of decline, the nation's teen pregnancy rate increased in more than half the states from 40.5 births per 1,000 women in 2005 to 41.9 in 2006, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "I think it is cause for...

High-school partners.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont have formed a consortium to redefine and transform high schools. They want to increase the region's graduation rates and the percentage of students who go to college, and ensure that more students...

Peep, peep.(STATELINE)(law allowing residents to keep a limited number of backyard birds)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A growing nationwide trend, according to The Christian Science Monitor, is raising chickens for their eggs in city dwellers' backyards. Mostly, growers are concerned about the safety of their food, but if the economy...

Abusive dates.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Concerned about abuse in adolescent dating relationships, a couple of states have passed laws to educate teenagers about dangerous behavior, according to The New York Times. Harassment, name-calling and ridicule appear to be increasing with the...

Teaching to buy.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Utah Representative Lynn Hemingway wants to make it easier for teachers to buy homes. "On a teacher's salary, it's very difficult to save enough money for a down payment," he told The Salt Lake Tribune. His...

Wisconsota?(STATELINE)(Minnesota and Wisconsin)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] State agencies and cabinets in Minnesota and Wisconsin are exploring ways to share services. The governors thought it was a good way to try to save money. "These two states are really--maybe more than any two in the...

How virgin is it?(STATELINE)(olive oil)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... After discovering peanut, soy and hazelnut oils in olive oil for sale in Connecticut, the Department of Consumer Protection enacted standards to protect people with nut allergies. Connecticut became the first state to set standards to protect...

Red light cameras.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The number of crashes at intersections with red-light cameras doubled in the first year after their installation, according to a recent study in Houston. What isn't known is if the number of crashes might have increased even more without the...

Will it work? The recovery plan will help states struggling with massive budget shortfalls, but it may not be enough.
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The economic recovery plan passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in late January throws a fiscal lifeline to struggling states. The $819-billion, two-year proposal--crafted by Democratic members of...

Crime costs: tough-on-crime laws impose a steep sentence on state budgets.
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The United States has the highest incarceration rate in world. One in every 100 adults is in a prison or jail. The country even has more people in prison or jail than China, the world's most populous nation. ...

The state of corrections.
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In September, NCSL and the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States convened a group of state lawmakers to discuss sentencing and corrections policies. This discussion included the size of...

States pressed to meet sex offender registration law.
March 1, 2009... States are facing a deadline that requires them to change sex-offender registration policies or face loss of federal criminal justice money. The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act is a portion of the 2006 Adam Walsh Child...

A huge pothole: transportation budgets are out of alignment and the repair bill is through the roof.
March 1, 2009... The new Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis opened last September with squad cars, fire trucks and ambulances leading a parade of motorists who wanted to be the first to drive on the span replacing the structure that collapsed in August 2007...

Michigan's long fiscal misery: as the automobile industry struggles to survive, is there hope for the state's recession-wracked economy?
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Michigan's long-standing state budget crisis is inextricably linked to the domestic auto industry's freefall and, in some ways, one mirrors the other. The Midwest state and its once-mighty car giants are in...

131 million: voters put the ballot to the test in a record-setting election.
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the months leading up to the Nov. 4 election, news stories raised the specter of a "perfect storm" to describe the upcoming meltdown. Pundits predicted the election would put states and local election officials to...

As they see it.
March 1, 2009... "We want to be tough on crime, but we don't want to be absurd." --Texas Representative Jim McReynolds, about new federal requirements for tracking sex offenders, to the Dallas Morning News. "There's a phenomenal change in the whole...