State Legislatures articles from October 2007

State Legislatures archives from October 2007

Looking at smoking bans.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Editor: In your Statestats article on smoke-free laws in the July/August issue, you denote West Virginia as not having nor considering a ban on smoking in cars with children. In fact, the Senate did consider and...

Correction.(Correction notice)
October 1, 2007... The story "Homegrown Energy" in the June issue of State Legislatures, should have Robert McFarlane, former National Security Adviser to President Reagan, saying that recent attempts to blow up the world's largest oil processing facility in...

Pharmaceutical savings.(STATESTATS)
October 1, 2007... States may be overlooking saving money on drug purchases for federally qualified health care facilities. The 340B federal drug pricing program requires drug manufacturers to provide outpatient medicines to eligible health care centers at a...

People & politics.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Obituary)
October 1, 2007... The man who guided the nationally recognized restoration of Michigan's Capitol building and whose job was his passion died in September at age 64. Jerry Lawler, who worked for the Legislature for 38 years, was executive director of the Michigan...

Complete streets for all.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As congestion grows in all types and sizes of communities, legislators are beginning to take interest in a land use and transportation policy called "complete streets." It includes infrastructure planning for...

Let's buy local foods.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)
October 1, 2007... With an eye to saving the family farm and coaxing kids to eat better, some legislators want state agencies and schools to give preference to purchasing local foods. The catch? The U.S. Department of Agriculture claims it's illegal. ...

Gambling on child support.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Centennial State gamblers beware. Colorado lawmakers recently passed the Child Support Obligations law to ensure that large winners who are delinquent on their child support payments won't get their pay-outs. Race tracks and casinos will...

Health care in the Hinterland.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Nebraska)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... When it comes to ensuring adequate rural emergency health care, distance is only one of the problems. "In rural Nebraska, we don't talk about distances in terms of minutes and miles. We talk about hours to transport a patient," says...

Legislator to President.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Do you know your U.S. presidents? Your state legislators? Take our little trivia quiz, courtesy of C-SPAN Classroom's Career Paths to the Presidency. Answers below (no peeking). 1. Which of the following is the...

Aging in Hawai'i.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Growing old in Hawai'i is easy; in fact the Aloha State leads the country in life expectancy, with an average life span of 81.3 years. Minnesota is next at 80.3. According to a Manhattan Institute for Policy Research...

Delaware's first.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Not only is Delaware the first state, it is now also No. 1 when it comes to websites. Brown University's annual review of more than 1,500 state and federal (but not legislative) websites says Delaware state government is best at making...

Higher education help.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... About 500 Native American students are enrolled throughout the University of Maine system through a scholarship program that helps students from state or federally recognized tribes. The scholarship pays for tuition, fees, room and board. "I...

Birthing options.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Alabama is one of 10 states that prohibit midwives from attending to births outside a hospital without the presence of a nurse or doctor. The other states are Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, South Dakota...

Chestnut comeback.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The poor American chestnut tree has been practically wiped out by an invasive blight. New research, however, provides hope that a chestnut revival may be imminent. Scientists using traditional plant breeding techniques have produced a hybrid...

Women warriors.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... As many as 8,000 female veterans are homeless. And that number is expected to increase as more women return from the war in Iraq. "With the likelihood of more women veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with a need for housing, it's...

Old glory.(STATELINE)(United States flag)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Betsey Ross would no doubt approve. A new Minnesota law makes it a crime to sell imported U.S. flags in state stores. Violations are a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail. Across the country in Arizona, every...

Light bulb dangers.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Compact fluorescent light bulbs are great at reducing energy use but they contain toxic levels of mercury. California is looking at a bill that would increase the development and use of energy efficient lighting while reducing the toxicity of...

Trading authority.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Maryland, Rhode Island and Hawai'i have considered bills requiring the governor to seek legislative approval before agreeing to requests from the federal government that would bind the state's procurement policies to trade agreements. Some...

Hurricane defense.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... South Carolina residents will soon get relief from home insurance costs if they make their homes more resistant to hurricanes. The new law offers sales and income tax breaks to residents for improvements such as storm shutters. Homeowners can...

Typo tempest.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe has decided against calling a special legislative session to fix a typo in a new law that allows anyone, of any age, to marry as long as they have parental permission. The law was intended to establish 18 as the...

Headstone happenings.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Historic cemeteries are in desperate need of some costly restorations. The cemeteries face dwindling endowments, years of vandalism and neglect. To raise money, cemetery officials are getting creative by reaching out to the public with...

The gold in the gray: the economic benefits of attracting retired people have gotten states' attention.
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When someone says "Americans are aging" bad news usually follows--news about labor shortages, funding problems in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and state pension programs, inadequate savings for retirement,...

When a bridge falls down: America's roads and bridges need serious attention, but where's the money going to come from?
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The catastrophic collapse of the 1-35 bridge over the Mississippi River in August sent shockwaves that reverberated well beyond the immediate vicinity of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The deteriorating condition of the...

We made history in Boston.(National Conference of State Legislatures summit)(Conference news)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Come to Boston and make history. That was the mantra of NCSL's 2007 Legislative Summit. And attendees did both in grand fashion. More than 9,000 people--a record for an NCSL meeting--came to Boston to participate...

Food fight: making sure our food is safe is harder than it seems.
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This year was filled with large-scale food recalls: E. coli in spinach, salmonella in peanut butter, melamine in pet-food, anti-freeze in toothpaste. In today's global economy, how does a consumer know what is safe?...

How to bring blogging to life: by writing a blog, legislators can keep constituents informed in a new way.(TOOLS OF THE TRADE)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] An increasing number of legislators are finding that a blog is a great way to communicate with constituents. A blog--short for "Web log"--is a personal journal on the Web expressing thoughts, linking to news of...

Political speech rules: the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on campaign finance laws and will soon decide the role of political parties in choosing candidates.
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Supreme Court has finished just its second year under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and already it is clear a new majority will cast a skeptical eye on laws that regulate campaign money. "The 1st...

Securing dangerous rail shipments: new federal legislation may give states and cities the help they've been looking for to protect urban areas from potential terrorist attacks.
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The new homeland security bill, signed in August, may now resolve--at least in part--the debate that has raged for several years between government and the railroad industry over how to secure the riskiest rail...

As they see it.(National Conference of State Legislatures summit)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... QUOTES FROM NCSL'S "STRONG STATES, STRONG NATION," 2007 LEGISLATIVE SUMMIT "So different will this bill be from the original No Child Left Behind, that we're thinking of changing its name." --Speaker of the U.S. House Nancy Pelosi...