The Thicket at State Legislatures

President Addresses High School Graduation Rates

jgoehring — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:02:01 -0700

by Jon Kuhl President Obama offered a proposal during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night concerning the age at which high school students are allowed to drop out. But in doing so, he left an important question...

Study Finds Gender Gap in Political Ambition

jgoehring — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:58:21 -0700

by Katie Ziegler A new report from the Women and Politics Institute at American University examines a question that may be familiar to observers of state legislatures. Why aren’t there more women in public office? At the state legislative level,...

Online Gambling a Moneymaker for States?

Meagan Dorsch — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:34:25 -0700

By Alex Fitzsimmons Some states are considering doubling down or cashing in on a new Justice Department opinion regarding online gambling. According to the opinion, in-state Internet gambling does not violate federal law as long as it doesn't involve sports...

Legislative Leaders Attend Agriculture Summit

Meagan Dorsch — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:49:13 -0700

By Marcus Peterson & Tamra Spielvogel It came as no surprise to attendees of the Legislative Agriculture Chairs Summit that agriculture is one of the few sectors in the country running a positive trade balance. The annual summit is the...

New Leaders Take the Reins to Reign in 2012

TimStorey — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:49:01 -0700

by Tim Storey By the end of this week, 38 legislatures will be officially in session including several operating with new leaders. The most notable leadership changes are in the Mississippi House and the Virginia Senate where 2011 elections led...

Primary and Caucus Dates

Wendy Underhill — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:22:21 -0700

With two presidential nominating events complete (Iowa’s caucuses and New Hampshire’s primary), people are checking calendars to learn what’s next. The best place is NCSL’s new 2012 Presidential Primary Calendar, and its companion, a state-ordered table, 2012 State and Presidential...

TVW Introduces SCOUT

jgoehring — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:40:02 -0700

by Jan Goehring TVW, the Washington state public affairs network, is offering an innovative service to citizens who want to follow public policy issues and the legislative process. This new tool, called SCOUT, allows the public to easily keep track...

"To My Great Shame"

jgoehring — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:47:42 -0700

by Peggy Kerns Convicted felon Jack Abramoff stood before the Kentucky legislature and bared his soul, opening up about his years as a Washington lobbyist and his conviction for fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy. Though he has spoken at Harvard...

Award-Winning Calendar Hitting Legislative Mailboxes

The Thicket — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 07:22:00 -0700

by Katie Ziegler NCSL recently printed the eighth edition of our wall calendar showcasing the architectural beauty and diversity of the nation's state capitol buildings. The 2012 calendar features the Illinois, California and Minnesota capitol domes and is a handy...

Federal Court Rejects Texas Legislature's Claim of Legislative Privilege

The Thicket — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:34:14 -0700

by Karl Kurtz Earlier this week a federal district court judge in Washington, D.C. ordered the Texas Legislature to hand over documents that it had withheld in a dispute over redistricting maps. The Justice Department and plaintiffs sought access to...

2012 Legislative Sessions are Off and Running

The Thicket — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:15:56 -0700

by Angela Andrews Happy New Year! Or should I say, Happy New Session? The start of the year means that most state legislators are returning to work and convening their sessions. Legislatures in 46 states and six territories are meeting...

Supreme Court Takes on Federalism Cases: Big Impact on States

The Thicket — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:55:30 -0700

By Jon Kuhl The U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing three major cases that deal with federalism this term, cases that are expected to draw bright lines on where state and federal powers begin and end. Below are brief descriptions...

Controversy Over Public Access to the Capitol in Indiana

The Thicket — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:32:04 -0700

by Karl Kurtz Last week, the heads of the Indiana state department of administration, state police and state fire marshal jointly announced that access to the Statehouse will now be limited to 3,000 people, including the 1,700 legislators, staff, and...

Great Photo of Indiana Speaker

The Thicket — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:40:11 -0700

A story about state right to work laws on the front page of the business section of The New York Times today included this striking photo of Indiana Speaker Brian C. Bosma from the gallery overlooking the House chamber. The...

’Tis The Season: State Capitol Holiday Traditions

Meagan Dorsch — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:08:24 -0700

By NCSL's Public Affairs Staff NCSL has its own tradition of collecting photos from legislative staff across the country that feature the capitol building or legislative building decorated for the holiday season. You can watch the entire slideshow on NCSL's...

Changes in Top Legislative Staff Positions

The Thicket — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:00:11 -0700

The end of the calendar year has brought an unusual flurry of changes in top legislative staff positions. Unusual because staff changes most often occur after elections at the end of a biennium, not so much in the middle of...

The Texas Redistricting Case Explained

The Thicket — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:50:37 -0700

by Karl Kurtz We haven't written about the U.S. Supreme Court accepting the Texas redistricting case in large part because it has been in the national news. But I've read half a dozen stories about the challenge that were either...

New Report Says Term Limits Detrimental to Missouri Legislature

The Thicket — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:41:20 -0700

by Karl Kurtz A new report from the Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri concludes that term limits have had a negative effect on the independence and decision-making capability of the Missouri General Assembly....

Hollywood Comes to the Virginia Capitol

Meagan Dorsch — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:50:14 -0700

by Meagan Dorsch When I traveled to Richmond recently to conduct social media training for a group of legislative assistants at the Virginia Legislature, I didn't know that I would also be rubbing elbows with Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field,...

Meeting Public Scrutiny

The Thicket — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:03:34 -0700

by Bruce Feustel As a former state attorney general, Speaker Greg Stumbo of Kentucky has an unusual perspective of having moved from elected executive branch official to the legislature. "When I was the AG, everyone believed me, but as a...

Online Holiday Shopping a Loss for States

The Thicket — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:09:46 -0700

by Alex Fitzsimmons, NCSL Communications Intern As the holiday shopping season kicked off over Thanksgiving weekend, millions of people embraced the Black Friday tradition of storming their local shops in search of the best deals. But many other eager shoppers...

Washington's TVW Launches New Website

jgoehring — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:02:32 -0700

by Jan Goehring TVW, sometimes referred to as the Washington state C-SPAN, recently launched a new website at TVW.org to help viewers more easily access programming. TVW provides televised coverage of the state Legislature, Supreme Court, Executive Branch and key...

"A Jigsaw Puzzle Half-finished"

The Thicket — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:10:19 -0700

by Karl Kurtz In the wake of a threat by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to veto a redistricting plan drawn up by New York Assembly Democrats and Senate Republicans, the New York Times provides a nice historical footnote on how Governors...

What the Deficit Reduction Means for States

Meagan Dorsch — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:30:53 -0700

Disappointed by the congressional super committee's failure to reach a deficit reduction agreement, state legislators are working to understand what the automatic budget cuts mean for their states, and how best to prepare for the cuts. Of particular concern for...

State Pension Reform

Meagan Dorsch — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:22:34 -0700

Over the past two years, 40 legislatures have revised at least one state retirement plan. The changes range from increasing employee contribution requirements and age and service requirements for retirement to revising cost-of-living adjustments. The Thursday general session at NCSL's...

National Economist Shares Views with Lawmakers on Budget and Economy

Meagan Dorsch — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:50:17 -0700

Speaking to a packed room of state lawmakers and legislative staffers at NCSL’s 2011 Fall Forum, economist Dr. John Rutledge called for leaders to stop stoking fears and instead calm people down and bring them together to find solutions. “I...

Presidential Primaries and Legislative Action

Wendy Underhill — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:48:52 -0700

by Wendy Underhill Presidential preference primaries are “primarily” in the portfolio of political parties. That sentence draws attention twice: once because it rivals "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" as a tongue-twister, and again because it begs the...

Policies to Encourage Savings

Meagan Dorsch — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:00:00 -0700

By Meagan Dorsch Saving money for future emergencies can be difficult. Research shows that 25 percent of Americans have no savings. One way people can save is to commit part of their federal tax refund to a savings account or...

Two ** for the Virginia Senate?

The Thicket — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:22:31 -0700

by Karl Kurtz In a previous post, "Virginia Senate Tied*", I said that partisan control of the Virginia Senate should be listed with an asterisk to indicate that the chamber is tied between the two parties but under effective Republican...

Arizona Redistricting Saga

The Thicket — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:36:29 -0700

In a special session earlier this month, the Arizona Senate impeached the nonpartisan chair of the redistricting committee on the recommendation of Gov. Jan Brewer. Last week, the state Supreme Court overruled the dismissal of the chair saying that the...