State Legislatures articles from October 2002

State Legislatures archives from October 2002

Letters.
October 1, 2002... THERE ARE OTHER VIEWS ON TAX FREEDOM DAYS Dear Editor: Your September Statestats "Tax Freedom Days" uncritically exhibits the tax freedom day data issued by the Tax Foundation. In the interest of fairness and accuracy, you should...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
October 1, 2002... The table showing pre-election party control of legislatures in the September issue of State Legislatures mistakenly listed the Maine Senate as tied. Going into the 2002 general election, Democrats control 19 seats, Republicans, 15, and there...

Republic on Trial: The Case for Representative Democracy. (Books).(Book Review)
October 1, 2002... Republic on Trial: The Case for Representative Democracy by Alan Rosenthal, Burdett Loomis, John Hibbing and Karl Kurtz, CQ Press, Washington, D.C., 2002. 219 pages. $22.95. To order call NCSL's Marketing Department (303) 364-7812 and ask for...

More adoptions out of foster care. (Statestats).
October 1, 2002... Unprecedented numbers of children have been adopted from foster care since Congress passed the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997. The law requires states to expedite the permanent placement of children and offers them financial...

Are poisons lurking in human bodies? (On First Reading).
October 1, 2002... Did you ever wonder what toxic pollutants might be flowing through your veins? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) answers this question with the release of its first "National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental...

Too drunk to be guilty. (On First Reading).(criminal law)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... An enraged, drunken husband hits his wife. She ends up in the emergency room. An intoxicated, belligerent man barricades himself in his house and threatens police. But when taken to court, both plead that they were too intoxicated to know what...

A new set of lifetime hobbies for the Disabled. (On First Reading).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Leading a long and active life, a person suddenly disabled by disease or disability may pine for the activities once taken for granted. Those disabled since birth can only watch as others participate in the things they can only dream about. ...

States pledge to help each other in times of need. (On First Reading).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... A mutual pledge of a helping hand, the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC for short), has been spreading from state to state since its inception in 1993. But the events of Sept. 11 brought home the need for this interstate agreement....

Virtual visits OK'D. (Stateline).(child custody case)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... A state judge overseeing a child custody dispute has recommended that a Connecticut man and his two children spend time together via computers, a first for the state. The mother wanted to move to another state so the judge recommended...

Blowin' in the wind. (Stateline).(wind power)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Developers and government agencies are proposing 11 wind power projects across New England, from the mountains of Maine to the Boston Harbor islands, according to The Boston Globe. If built, these wind turbines would provide about 4 percent of...

Odometer fraud hurts. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... There are more than 450,000 cases of odometer fraud each year in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Rolling back odometers makes it appear that cars have lower mileage than they actually do. That...

Amber Alert appeal. (Stateline).(abducted children warning system)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... More states are adopting the AMBER Alert warning system to locate abducted children. AMBER ALERT, now in about 17 states, is a partnership between law enforcement agencies and radio and TV stations to inform citizens quickly of child abductions...

It's a fairness thing. (Stateline).(school funding)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Large funding gaps still exist in many states between rich and poor school districts, according to a new report by the Education Trust. In most states (30 of the 47 states that submitted financial data to the federal government), school...

No special immunity. (Stateline).(gun industry law)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... California lawmakers recently passed a law repealing special legal immunity for the gun industry, overturning a 1983 law that the state Supreme Court interpreted as giving immunity to gun manufacturers. Gun makers could now be held legally...

On-line registration. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Arizona has become the first state in the nation to allow its citizens to register to vote via the Internet through a link on the Motor Vehicle Division page. Driver's license records are used to verify the address and other personal...

Hidden dangers of pregnancy. (Stateline).(domestic violence)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Pregnant women and young mothers in Massachusetts are more likely to die at the hands of their husbands or boyfriends than from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, according to a recent study by the state Department of Public...

English--a second language. (Stateline).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... The wave of immigrants in the last 10 years has put a particular strain on schools required to teach these children English. There are simply not enough teachers of English-as-a-second-language, especially in rural areas far from traditional...

Those darn weeds. (Stateline).(weed control laws)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... No cow pasture. No deer grazing. No wildflowers. Blame it on noxious weeds--not necessarily poisonous, but not edible either. State lists of noxious weeds vary, but all of them can take over millions of acres of native plants and destroy...

Special sessions take up death sentencing: high court ruling vacates some death sentences and prompts review in several states.
October 1, 2002... Legislatures in Colorado and Arizona hastened into special session to revise their laws after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this summer that a death sentence imposed by a judge, rather than a jury, was unconstitutional. The high court...

Roller coaster budgets: the astonishing revenue boom of the late 1990s gave lawmakers an exhilarating ride. The recent bust now has policymakers seeing red.
October 1, 2002... State lawmakers have been mired in budget misery for nearly a year now. The fiscal boom of the late 1990s that started sputtering in early 2001 came to a screeching halt by the end of the year. National economic woes, exacerbated by the Sept....

NCSL 2002 Annual Meeting: Summit for America; Nation's State Legislators Launch Campaign to Strengthen Democracy.
October 1, 2002... America's state legislators concluded their national meeting this summer resolving to address economic issues, protect democracy and engage citizens in the legislative process. The National Conference of State Legislatures' five-day Annual...

States tackle the nursing shortage: the lack of qualified nurses is reaching epidemic proportions. States, universities and hospitals all are trying to do something about it.
October 1, 2002... It's an impending disaster that may, ultimately, touch the lives of everyone. The growing shortage of qualified nurses has already hit some states and threatens just about everyone in the coming years. Today, America's hospitals have...

Talking about sex: sex can be hard to talk about with children. But with U.S. teen pregnancy rates the highest in the developed world, sex education can't be ignored.
October 1, 2002... Teaching children about sex and its consequences has never been simple. It's a challenge that Maryland Senator Paula C. Hollinger, a former school nurse, knows firsthand. Assigned to help teach family life to a class of fifth graders,...

Encouraging young citizenship: the Virginia House of Delegates faced the challenge of getting young people involved in the political process in a first-ever bipartisan conference.
October 1, 2002... If recent trends hold, only about 15 percent of citizens aged 18 to 25 will vote in November. Politicians cite this to justify why they typically pay little attention to young people. In a sad corollary, most young people cite being ignored by...

A dedicated dentist: one lawmaker's passion for dentistry brought nationwide attention to kids' oral health woes.
October 1, 2002... When Ray Rawson first ran for the Senate in the mid-1980s, his opponent called him "Root Canal" Rawson, poking fun at him and his profession. But he won the race (by a mere 680 votes) and became the first dentist to serve in the Nevada...