State Legislatures articles from May 2008

State Legislatures archives from May 2008

Climate change requires action.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2008... Editor: Your recent articles on energy bring up the issue of the global warming crisis. With the absence of federal action on this issue, state-level legislation is necessary to not only protect a state's environment and economy, but also...

Correction.(Correction notice)
May 1, 2008... The map on seat belt laws on page 9 in the April issue is wrong. This is the correct version. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The role of manufacturing.(STATESTATS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The part manufacturing plays in the U.S. economy has changed in very complicated ways over the past 50 years. In 1960, people who worked in manufacturing made up 28 percent of the non-farm workforce. That number has fallen to barely more than...

Tennessee is losing a legend. Senator John Wilder, who has served 44 years in the Senate--36 of them as Senate speaker and lieutenant governor--announced he is retiring at the end of the year.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Tennessee is losing a legend. Senator John Wilder, who has served 44 years in the Senate--36 of them as Senate speaker and lieutenant governor--announced he is retiring at the end of the year. The 86-year-old...

Former Georgia Representative Ron Sailor, who resigned from the House in March after pleading guilty to federal money laundering charges, is now under investigation by the state Ethics Commission.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Former Georgia Representative Ron Sailor, who resigned from the House in March after pleading guilty to federal money laundering charges, is now under investigation by the state Ethics Commission. Federal investigators say Sailor is cooperating...

This is simply not how democracy is supposed to work," says Wisconsin Senator Scott Fitzgerald of the extraordinary veto power exercised by the state's governors.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... This is simply not how democracy is supposed to work," says Wisconsin Senator Scott Fitzgerald of the extraordinary veto power exercised by the state's governors. The so-called partial veto authority granted constitutionally to Wisconsin...

Delaware Republicans are having a tough time finding someone they like to run for governor.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Delaware Republicans are having a tough time finding someone they like to run for governor. Representative Donna Stone, president of NCSL, turned down the opportunity, even though she would be a "great governor," according to the state party...

Former Florida Representative Frank Peterman, a pastor and Democratic lawmaker since 2000, has been named by Republican Governor Charlie Crist secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Former Florida Representative Frank Peterman, a pastor and Democratic lawmaker since 2000, has been named by Republican Governor Charlie Crist secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice. Peterman served on the House Juvenile Justice...

The U.S. Supreme Court in March upheld Washington state's top-two primary system, which had been adopted by the Legislature in March 2004, vetoed by Governor Gary Locke in April 2004, approved overwhelmingly by the voters in November 2004 and struck down by the U.S. District Court in July 2005.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The U.S. Supreme Court in March upheld Washington state's top-two primary system, which had been adopted by the Legislature in March 2004, vetoed by Governor Gary Locke in April 2004, approved overwhelmingly by the voters in November 2004 and...

Don Perata.(People & Politics)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The winning bidder, who preferred to remain anonymous, paid $19,800 for the candy-apple red 2006 Dodge Charger with 21,000 miles, flashy 22-inch rims and leather interior on eBay. Until December, when it was carjacked at gunpoint in Oakland,...

Educating the homeless.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)
May 1, 2008... The wave of house foreclosures along with the drowning economy is increasing the number of homeless and highly mobile students. Some schools around the country are anticipating the number of homeless students to more than double this year....

Cockroach delight.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Farmers in the South are elated. A flying cockroach from Asia has shown a liking for the pesky bollworm that threatens cotton, soybean, corn and tomato crops. The roach also eats the eggs of the beet armyworm, a...

Identify yourself.(STATELINE)(anonymous online posting)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Kentucky Representative Tim Couch wants to cut down on online bullying by making anonymous online posting illegal. His bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and email with that site. Website...

Lights on!(STATELINE)(driving with lights on)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Nebraska has repealed its ban on driving with your lights on during the day. The law had outlived its usefulness, says Senator Rich Pahls. The law dates back to a time when people were supposed to turn their parking lights on only if they...

Teenage trouble.(STATELINE)(National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey on sexually transmitted disease in teenage girls)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... A quarter of all teenage girls are infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Nearly half the African-Americans and 20 percent of the whites in the study of girls...

Testy seniors.(high school national assessment of reading and math )(STATELINE)
May 1, 2008... Eleven states are volunteering their high school seniors for the 12th grade version of the National Assessment of Educational Progress in reading and math. It's a move that could lay the foundation for greater state participation in that test...

Sick at work.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At least 12 states have considered sick pay legislation this year. Nearly half of all U.S. workers--59 million--don't have paid sick leave, making them choose between staying home and losing wages or working sick and...

No to drug testing.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Washington state Supreme Court recently ruled that random drug testing of student athletes is not allowed under the state constitution. A school district there began the policy during a time of great concern that substance abuse was the No....

Smelly offense.(STATELINE)(on perfumes and colognes aggrevating asthmatic students)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... A Minnesota lawmaker, Representative Karen Clark, wants an educational campaign in schools on how perfumes and colognes can aggravate students with asthma and other health problems. "You can smell it from 10 feet away," Mikolai Altenberg, a...

Dollar senseless.(STATELINE)(paying off debt)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Almost nobody who responded to a recent survey could explain the ramifications of paying off a debt in monthly installments vs. a lump sum. Only 35 percent understood how compound interest is calculated. Eleven...

Home for a book.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Homeless men in Cleveland are reading books and opening up about their health and histories. Donna Kelly, an outreach nurse, began a book club last fall after noticing how many homeless men brought books to the...

A fear of phosphates.(STATELINE)
May 1, 2008... Virginia has joined a handful of states that have banned phosphates from all home dishwasher detergents. The ban will not take effect until 2010, however, to give detergent companies time to develop alternatives. Phosphates encourage the growth...

Salt overdose.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Last winter's heavy snowfall and cold temperatures required record amounts of salt on roads, causing water quality concerns. In Wisconsin, the Department of Transportation estimates that a record 700,000 tons of salt was used on state highways,...

Pension tension: very few states hold all the assets they should for future retirement and health care benefits.
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Some have fame thrust upon them, as has Kathleen Casey-Kirshling of New Jersey. She was born one second after midnight on Jan. 1, 1946, making her the very first member of the baby boomer generation. She has drawn...

A profusion of plastic: most everyone agrees that reducing the amount of plastic we throw away is a good idea.
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Against a rising tide of beverage bottles and food containers, state lawmakers, manufacturers, suppliers and trade organizations are coming up with new ways to increase recycling and reduce the amount of plastic...

Driving while distracted: inexperienced teen drivers too often take fatal risks.
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On a June night in 2007, a fiery head-on collision killed five young women in upstate New York. The victims, all of whom had graduated from high school five days earlier, died instantly when their sports utility...

Nutrition rules: making healthy food choices available to school kids is a priority for many lawmakers.
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You are what you eat, they say--and plenty of school kids are testing that theory every day. To keep kids healthy, legislators are taking a look at how to help them with nutritious choices at school. From 2005...

Preschooler's progress: advancing preschool is high on many legislative agendas. How to measure success is next.
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Learning in preschool is magic. Preschoolers play with various containers in the sandbox, predict what will happen to leaves when the wind blows and make patterns with colored blocks. They pretend to be bus drivers...

Veteran's mysterious maladies: studies continue to examine the effects of depleted uranium on returning soldiers.
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As soldiers return home after tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, many look forward to enjoying the simple pleasures of a "normal" life again. But complicating this readjustment to the daily routine are the lingering...

State of blogging: lawmakers are creating blogs to get their constituents involved.
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] In some places, legislators are "Very Big Deals" and regularly quoted in the local media, says Virginia Delegate Kristen Amundson. But as a representative for the suburbs of Washington, D.C., her local media has...

As they see it.
May 1, 2008... "Service to government is among one of the most honorable things one can do.... I am not interest. eel in partisan politics, where one party tries to kill the other or where people vote like they are told instead of voting their conscience.......