State Legislatures articles from May 2004

State Legislatures archives from May 2004

Some Web sites are dumb.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... Editor: I was disappointed to see your article on "dumb laws" in the April edition of State Legislatures, and especially to see that you referred readers to the dumblaws.com Web site, which is full of false information. As the...

No quirky laws in North Dakota.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... Editor: I read with interest the article in the latest NCSL magazine about quirky laws. It says don't fall asleep with your shoes on in ND. I did my search and had an attorney with N.D.'s Legislative Council do a search of our century code...

Michigan is two peninsulas.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... Editor: I am catching up on reading. When I opened the December issue of State Legislatures magazine to Page 11, I saw a map of the United States. The map is color coded to identify states with limits on appeal bonds. However, I would...

Correction.(Letters)(Correction Notice)
May 1, 2004... Wrong Name The author of Tomorrow's Energy: Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and the Prospects for a Cleaner Planet is Peter Hoffmann, not Paul, as reported in the February magazine. We regret the error.

The early years of life.(Statestats, American babies demographics)
May 1, 2004... We know how important the early years are in human development. But up until now, there hasn't been much data about the lives of very young children--especially their physical and emotional well-being, where they live and with whom, who cares...

Colorado legislature.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... In a legal battle that pits Colorado's top Republican lawmakers against their GOP governor, the Colorado legislature is challenging Governor Bill Owens' authority to spend some $146 million in federal tax relief money. Owens earmarked the money...

Sheldon Silver.(People & Politics)(will examine travel policies)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has appointed a panel to examine travel policies following a member's conviction for padding expenses. Silver also directed the Standing 2Committee on Ethics and Guidance chaired by Assemblyman Mark...

Iris Estabrook.(People & Politics)(wants to change state campaign finance law)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... New Hampshire Senator Iris Estabrook has sponsored legislation to "put teeth" into the state's campaign finance law by establishing civil penalties for the four existing statutes that currently carry only criminal penalties. The bill, she says,...

The chairman of the Louisiana House Insurance Committee was booted from his post after he voted against Governor Kathleen Blanco's $160 million tax renewal on business utility bills.(People & Politics)(Troy Hebert loses his post)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The chairman of the Louisiana House Insurance Committee was booted from his post after he voted against Governor Kathleen Blanco's $160 million tax renewal on business utility bills. Representative Troy Hebert, insurance chair for three years,...

Steve Rauschenberger.(People & Politics)(will not be GOP candidate for U.S. Senate)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Illinois Senator Steve Rauschenberger lost his race to be the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate. An 11-year veteran of the Senate, Rauschenberger is assistant Republican leader.

The individuals are changing, but the names may remain the same in Arkansas.(People & Politics, political representatives)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The individuals are changing, but the names may remain the same in Arkansas. The spouses of three members forced out by term limits are hoping to continue the family tradition. Janice Prater, wife of Representative Larry Prater, is running for...

Indiana Senator Charles "Bud" Meeks died in March.(People & Politics)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
May 1, 2004... Indiana Senator Charles "Bud" Meeks died in March. He was 67. Meeks entered politics in 1975 as Allen County sheriff, a post he held until term limits forced him out in 1982. He stayed on though, after losing a contest for mayor, as chief...

Harry Tipton.(People & Politics)(died at the age of 76)(Obituary)
May 1, 2004... Twenty-four year veteran of the Wyoming House, Representative Harry Tipton, died in March at the age of 76. A doctor who practiced medicine for SO years, Tipton started the first well-baby clinic on the Wind River Indian Reservation. He was...

California to control county court buildings.(Trends And Transitions)
May 1, 2004... California is in the process of negotiating, county by county, the transfer of 450 courthouses to the state. The deadline for the project is 2007. A law adopted two years ago began the process. It set up the transfer of court facilities...

Taxing online sales.(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Twenty states have added a line to income tax forms that requires consumers to declare any taxes they owe on out-of-state and online purchases. Residents are supposed to pay sales taxes to their states if they order such things as books,...

Kid safety in cars.(Trends And Transitions)(Illustration)
May 1, 2004... 2,095 Number of children under age 14 who died in auto accidents in 2002. 263,000 Number of children under 14 who were injured in car crashes. 50 The percent of...

Deaf children: the right to be heard.(Trends And Transitions, specific rights for the deaf)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... New Mexico joined 10 other states when it enacted an educational bill of rights for deaf and hard-of-hearing children this spring. The new law gives deaf youngsters specific rights: services based on their needs, trained teachers and...

The road to ratification: what it takes to amend the U.S. constitution.(Trends And Transitions)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... 1. Passage by Congress A two-thirds vote by both houses of Congress is required to pass legislation proposing an amendment. The president has no formal role. 2. State Notification After Congress passes the legislation, it...

En Espanol.(Stateline, Kentucky Legislative Research Commission )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The Kentucky Legislative Research Commission recently established a toll-free Spanish language telephone line to use when leaving legislators messages, obtaining information on bill status or checking meeting times of various legislative...

Online and easy.(Stateline, lottery-selling)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Georgia could be the first state to try to sell lottery tickets on the Internet. The idea comes after warnings that the state's high performing lottery could see flat revenue growth by the end of the decade. Lawmakers are looking at ways to...

Time zone troubles.(Stateline, liquor time)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Right now in Michigan, the law says liquor sales can't begin until noon on Sunday. It doesn't specify the time zone because most of Michigan is on Eastern time. But for four counties bordering Wisconsin, that's a problem. They are on Central...

Smile, you're on camera.(Stateline, camera phone usage law)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... With the proliferation of tiny cameras built into cell phones, digital organizers and other high-tech devices comes the menace of pictures shot surreptitiously in public bathrooms, locker rooms and other private places. They then appear on the...

Strength in numbers.(Stateline, homeland security pacts )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Arizona and New Mexico have signed the country's first interstate homeland security pact to let the border states share sensitive information for tracking criminals and terrorists who travel across the Southwest. Federal Homeland Security...

Mystery room unveiled.(Stateline, capitol architecture)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Every capitol may have its secrets, but not every capitol has a mystery room. Montana's has been there for about 100 years. Now, the state plans to spend about $12,500 to transform the concrete-and-brick enclosure from long-hidden space into a...

Star light, star bright.(Stateline)(Night Sky Protection Act 2000)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... These days, in some places, it's hard to know if the stars still shine. Too often, the celestial nighttime view is obscured by brightly lit shopping malls and the general glare from urban centers. Reducing this light pollution, however, is no...

Forgo peanut butter?(Stateline)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... A Fargo, N.D., manufacturer of sunflower seed butter is smiling these days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture added the product to its commodity list for school food service programs. This means school cafeterias will be reimbursed for...

Goodbye forced overtime.(Stateline, overtime-ban)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... No longer can hospitals, nursing homes and home health care companies in New Jersey force their employees to work over-time, except in emergencies. Nurses believe the law will improve patient safety and prevent mistakes committed by people who...

The grass is greener.(Stateline)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Up in New England, many residents of the popular ski resort area of Killington, Vt., want the town to secede from the state and join neighboring New Hampshire, 25 miles to the east. It's really a dispute over taxes. The main source of...

Don't open it.(Stateline, ban on open containers of alcohol )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Fourteen states are under federal orders to spend 3 percent of their federal highway construction funds this year on traffic safety projects because they still allow open containers of alcohol in motor vehicles. The federal penalty to encourage...

Matrix revolution: sophisticated technology allows law enforcement across the nation to communicate quickly and solve crimes.
May 1, 2004... On May 8, 1998, a 23-year-old doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania was raped and murdered. Through DNA evidence, police knew she was the victim of a serial rapist who had attacked at least five other women in Philadelphia. But...

Is SCHIP shipshape? Even successful health insurance programs for kids are hard to keep going when budgets are squeezed.(State Children's Health Insurance Program)
May 1, 2004... Tight budgets require tough decisions. Even though it's not popular to cut programs that provide health insurance to kids, some states have had no choice. There were 11 million children in the United States without any health coverage in...

Colorado shuts down its prepaid tuition plan: 1996 statute 23-3.1-201.(On Reconsideration)
May 1, 2004... THE ACT'S GOALS * Help students and their families invest and save for college. * Ensure that money saved for college today would be equal to the cost of college tuition tomorrow. The fund was designed to keep pace with the average...

The mandate monster: unfunded federal mandates are back, and they are costing states billions.
May 1, 2004... In the late 1980s, state legislators were "mad as hell" and they weren't going to take it anymore. They were angry about unfunded federal mandates. Democrats and Republicans alike railed against specific mandates, such as elements of the Safe...

A public kind of private school: Columbia University has launched a private school that also enrolls neighborhood kids by lottery. It's every teacher's dream school. Educators are watching to see if it works.
May 1, 2004... Columbia University in New York City opened the doors last fall to a new elementary school that is in many ways a hybrid between the worlds of private and public education. Like only a few public schools, The School at Columbia has...

Class size squeeze: when Florida voters approved an amendment to reduce class sizes, did they know all the ramifications?
May 1, 2004... Frustrated by some of the most over-crowded classrooms in America, Florida voters rewrote their constitution in 2002 to cut class sizes. But so far, it hasn't worked out the way educators and parents might have hoped. More teachers were...

The outcry over outsourcing: a debate rages throughout state capitols over the loss of American jobs to foreign countries.
May 1, 2004... Have you purchased a new computer lately, but couldn't figure out how to download the software? No problem. You telephone the help desk and reach a friendly, knowledgeable customer service representative. The voice on the line, however, doesn't...

Making newsletters work for you: newsletters can be an important tool to inform constituents and make them feel they are part of the process.(Tools Of The Trade)
May 1, 2004... Newsletters are one of the most tried and true methods of communicating with constituents. The standard legislative practice is to print a newsletter at the end of the session and summarize accomplishments. Focus groups tell us, however, that...

As they see it.
May 1, 2004... "Washington shouldn't hold states to account for government services if it doesn't hold itself accountable for paying for them." --An editorial in The Christian Science Monitor reacting to NCSL's report on the cost of federal mandates to...