State Legislatures articles from September 2006

State Legislatures archives from September 2006

The more you know ...(STATESTATS)(National Center for Educational Accountability's Data Quality Campaign)
September 1, 2006... Data-crunching is no longer just for geeky statisticians. In education, data-driven decision making is taking its rightful place among the important tools teachers, administrators and even legislators are using to improve student achievement....

People & politics.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(legislator elections)
September 1, 2006... New York Assembly Majority Leader Paul Tokasz will not seek re-election to a 10th term. The veteran lawmaker, first elected in 1988, was appointed majority leader by Speaker Sheldon Silver in 2001. He sponsored New York's "motor voter"...

Toll temptations.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(transportation funding)
September 1, 2006... With greater frequency, state lawmakers are looking at toll roads both public and private--as a potential source of revenue for needed transportation improvements. Significant growth in population, travel and freight movement have increased...

New interest in nuke power.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(electricity from nuclear plants)(Statistical table)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... With new federal incentives to build commercial nuclear reactors, states are looking at whether more nuclear power is the answer. The states that currently rely most heavily on nuclear power, with the percentage of electricity that comes...

Childhood immunizations.(TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Smallpox and polio are gone. Incidents of diphtheria, whooping cough and measles are rare. For that we can thank state immunization policies that require children to be vaccinated before they start school. But more and more states are facing an...

Young and yellow.(teenage drivers use stickers for identification)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Teenagers in West Hartford, Conn., will be the first in the state to be f given the opportunity to drive with a bright yellow bumper sticker on their cars identifying them as newly minted drivers. The voluntary program will encourage parents to...

Cigar-ette?(STATELINE)(federal regulations on tobacco companies )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Thirty-nine states and Guam are lobbying to change federal regulations that allow tobacco companies to classify certain products as little cigars rather than cigarettes. Taxes on cigars are significantly lower, and cigars don't have the same...

Flash before you sneeze.(STATELINE)(pseudoephedrine regulation in Hawaii)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... If you want to buy common cold medicines in Hawaii that contain pseudoephedrine (used to make crystal methamphetamine) you will have to show a photo ID and sign a logbook at the store, under a new law in that state. In addition, stores also...

Smoking allowances.(STATELINE)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Using incense and smudge sticks in religious ceremonies and lighting up in private clubs that don't have any paid employees do not violate the indoor smoking ban Washington voters approved last fall, the state attorney general's office says....

Major decision.(STATELINE)(public school reforms in Florida)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Florida has just passed a suite of public school reforms, including one that requires every high school student to choose a "major area of interest" and take four years of courses in the subject, starting with the kids who begin ninth grade in...

Surf's down.(STATELINE)(restricting state employees' Internet access to control child pornography)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... State officials in Indiana are restricting state employees' Internet access after some workers were fired or disciplined for viewing child pornography on their work computers. The state took the actions after the Indiana Office of Technology...

Vermont heats up.(STATELINE)(limits on the use of air conditioning)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Vermont set limits on the use of air conditioning in state buildings this summer to save energy. The policy requires that air conditioning be used only when the temperature reaches 80 degrees in state buildings. The change was meant to reduce...

Too young to not vote.(election law in Maine)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... For the first time, 17-year-olds in Maine were allowed to vote in the June primary, as long as they would turn 18 before the general election in November. Students from Portland High School, Erskine Academy and other schools lobbied legislators...

B.C or B.C.E.?(STATELINE)(regulations on historical date markers)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Some say it's an attempt to keep Kentucky education current with changes in educational institutions and college-entrance exams. Others argue it's political correctness run amok, a further attempt to get God out of public schools. The fight is...

DVD dirt.(regulations on playing erotic dvds in cars)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... No more playing dirty DVDs in cars if a bill in Delaware passes. Representative Deborah Hudson said she decided to file the measure last year after she and other legislators, while stopped at a traffic light, saw a pornographic film playing in...

Grocery giving.(STATELINE)(liability protection to grocery and convenience stores for donating food)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Missouri has recently expanded food donation opportunities to feed the needy with a measure that extends liability protection to grocery and convenience stores that donate food to charities that serve the needy. They can now donate food to food...

Fluffgate.(regulation on serving Marshmallow Fluff sandwiches in schools)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The beloved New England Fluffernutter sandwich has been the center of a sticky political debate in Massachusetts. The fuss over the peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff sandwiches began when Senator Jarrett Barrios said he planned to file an...

No party for the GOP? Clinton's mid-term election was bad news for Democrats who lost 500 legislative seats. Some prognosticators think Republicans could suffer that fate this year.(ELECTION 2006)(Republican Party (United States)(Cover story)
September 1, 2006... With fewer than 70 days to go before the 2006 elections, all signs point to major change possibly on a scale not seen since the last "tidal wave" election in 1994. Analysts then predicted that the Democratic base was too demoralized to get out...

Top pay for top teachers: getting and keeping top teachers may depends on how we pay them.
September 1, 2006... For as long as most can remember, teachers have been paid the same as their colleagues with the same education and experience, whether they are good or bad. Exceptional teachers who inspire students to learn and grow bring home the same pay...

Producing a punchy podcast: podcasting can be a creative, convenient way to get your message out.(TOOLS OF THE TRADE)
September 1, 2006... In January 1998, a Hollywood gift shop manager with a computer and an Internet connection posted a story to his website that would turn the world upside down. Matt Drudge had broken the story of President Clinton's affair with a White House...

Electric shock: energy costs have spiked since electric restructuring, and price controls set then are expiring. Customers and legislators now face the pain of market prices.
September 1, 2006... Maryland consumers got an electric shock recently, but it's not the kind of jolt one might imagine. What stood their hair on end was the potential for an increase in the price of electricity--a dramatic 72 percent more for 1.2 million customers...

Part D decisions: like other employers, many states are collecting a new federal subsidy for maintaining retiree drug coverage--but for many, that's not their "final answer.".
September 1, 2006... Although most of the attention surrounding Medicare Part D has focused on states' efforts to help low-income seniors make the transition to new drug coverage options, Part D has raised another issue for states. Just like other employers, state...

Dispensing with the indispensable: getting rid of our electronic gadgets is an environmental challenge.
September 1, 2006... They are everywhere. On our nightstands. In our purses and briefcases. They adorn our desks at work. They are the ever evolving gadgets of a modern life that keep us on time and in touch with our friends, family, co-workers and the world around...

Hug-a-thug pays off: drug courts aren't a panacea for drug addiction, but they have won hearts and opened pocketbooks in state legislatures.
September 1, 2006... Drug courts have joined the ranks of motherhood and apple pie as causes embraced by legislators, judging from votes on appropriations measures in a diverse array of states over the last several years. Lawmakers from New Jersey and...

New Supreme Court speaks: a pair of election law cases this year will have long-range effects.
September 1, 2006... The Supreme Court took up the issue of election law this year and gave state lawmakers broad leeway to redraw electoral districts--even for purely partisan purposes--but very little authority to restrict campaign funding. It was, you might say,...

As they see it.(Comic)(legislators)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... "Earmarks are a gateway drug on the road to spending addiction." --U.S. Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, to the Christian Science Monitor, on the practice in Congress of targeting spending to specific projects. "It's a testosterone...