Stateline Headlines

Foreign Law Bans: Political Statement or Unconstitutional?

State lawmakers are focused on keeping U.S. courts away from the influence of foreign law. But does banning all foreign law go too far?

Best of #StateReads: California Parks Director Resigns After Budget Revelations

This week’s extraordinary journalism about state government, tagged to #StateReads on Twitter.

Rising revenues spur tax cuts, spending

From Massachusetts to Hawaii, signs abound that the immense pressure placed on state budgets by the fiscal crisis early this decade has eased, opening the door for a wave of fresh tax cuts and new spending.

Mumps outbreak tests pandemic plans

State officials in the Midwest are using an outbreak of mumps to test emergency health plans. The real-life exercise is critical for health officials, who have struggled to ready their systems for a possible flu pandemic in the near future.

New Year ushers in new laws

At least 31 states will enforce new laws that take effect New Year's Day. So as you ring in the New Year, expect some facet of life to change, ranging from where you can smoke in Illinois to how much it costs to enter a strip club in Texas.

Labor Shortages Lead Businesses to Support Help for Undocumented Workers

Business groups, especially in agriculture, are pushing several state measures to aid immigrant laborers who are in the country illegally. But many of those efforts are treading on uncertain legal ground.

Gubernatorial Candidates, Alabama-Kentucky

A comprehensive list of gubernatorial candidates in Alabama through Kentucky.

'Choose Life' Car Tags Spark Debate

Legislators in seven states Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Carolina have authorized specialty license plates bearing the slogan "Choose Life," an action that has sparked controversy and several lawsuits. Though supporters say "Choose Life" is not a political message and is intended to promote adoption, the plates have been challenged by abortion rights groups whove gone to court to try to block them.

Where Labor is Weak, State Workers Face Huge Cutbacks

As the nation debates collective bargaining in Wisconsin, public workers in Alabama, Texas and many other states are fighting over massive pay cuts, huge increases in health premiums and basic civil service protections.

Women Could Win Big On Nov. 5

Voters in nine states will determine on Nov. 5 whether 2002 will live up to its billing as "the year of the woman governor."

Report: Women govs get high marks

Women running for governor still have to work harder than men, but once elected, voters think female governors are better at getting things done and solving problems than their male counterparts, new research released Nov. 29 shows.

Alaska's Governor Shakes Up Gas Pipeline Team

TRANSITION WATCH: Alaska's Sean Parnell dismisses cabinet members working on a massive infrastructure project, Ohio's incoming House Speaker calls for Medicaid cuts, and other news of the historic shift in power in the states.

Attorneys General Prepare to Defend Controversial Laws

State attorneys general are about to head to court to defend controversial state laws. Are they required to defend laws that might not survive legal scrutiny?

Issue To Watch: Immigration

Long-bottled-up bills that address state policies on whether to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students could become law this year, because of changes in party control of legislative chambers and changes in federal policy.

Governors Stress School Spending

Governors in Arizona and Kansas both recommendend new education spending in their 2004 state of the state speeches

Technology Helps States Boost Efficiency

More and more states are using electronic tools ranging from web portals to interagency data sharing to make delivery of government services all a taxpayer could hope for, according to two recent studies on the use of digital technologies.

Manners Still Matter In Statehouses

Legislative customs vary from state to state, but when it comes to decorum on the statehouse floor, blazers are in, and cell phones are out.

Arizona Fame Propels Kobach's Kansas Hopes

The most exciting statewide race in Kansas this November may be the campaign for secretary of state. The interest in the normally obscure contest comes largely because of the candidacy of Kris Kobach, a TV-friendly law professor who helped craft Arizona's controversial immigration law this spring.

Secretaries of State Weigh in on Election Reform

To avoid a repeat of the voting problems that plagued Florida and other states in the 2000 presidential election, top state election officials want statewide uniformity in voting equipment, poll worker training and ballots. A state-by-state guide to improving elections was adopted by the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) at the group's annual meeting in mid-July.

Issue To Watch: School Testing

A number of states are pushing to up the stakes on reading tests for younger students and assign letter grades to schools.

Best of #StateReads: Ex-Parks Official Had Criminal Past

This week’s extraordinary journalism about state government, tagged to #StateReads on Twitter.

States Mull Borrowing to Bolster Pension Plans

A handful of cash-strapped states plan to borrow to put money into their state employee pension systems, an idea that analysts say is a gamble that might not pay off. New Jersey first tried the approach in 1997, but California, Illinois, Kansas, Wisconsin and West Virginia might be next.

Lt. Govs More Than Spare Tires, Study Shows

When a lieutenant governor shakes hands with the boss, a couple of fingers check the governors pulse -- because, as an old joke goes, no pulse equals a promotion. The joke stems from conventional wisdom, which holds that, like the U.S. vice president, the main duty of whoever occupies the number two state job is to take over if the state's numero uno dies or becomes disabled. But a new study by a Georgia political science professor argues that conventional wisdom is wrong.

April Cruellest Month For State Budgets

April is the cruellest month, T.S. Eliot lamented in his epic 1922 poem, The Waste Land. State lawmakers might be inclined to agree after tallying up April income tax collections.

Eco-Terrorists Targeted By Get Tough State Laws

Boise Cascade Inc. recently dedicated its newest timber and wood products office in Monmouth, Ore. The imposing building is a steel-capped, cinderblock fortress. That's because the original log-cabin office was burned to the ground on Christmas Day, 1999, by a fringe environmentalist group called the Earth Liberation Front (ELF).

Indian Gaming Revenues Spark New Sovereignty Fight

Native American tribes and state governments are fighting over back casino payments in New Mexico. Kansas Gov. Bill Graves is going to court to keep two Oklahoma tribes from opening casinos in his state. California's Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional last fall's Proposition 5, which allowed Indian gambling. These are just a few of the flashpoints in an increasingly bitter dispute over burgeoning revenues from Indian casinos. For more information, click on

Weekly Wrap: Doing the Math on State Jobs

State and local governments are not gaining employees recently; officials worry about revenue loss from tax breaks; Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell discovers 40 pounds of fat to cut.

Weekly Wrap: Tax Panels Focus on States' Long Term Fiscal Health

States are creating commissions to examine the future financing of government. A new Census report highlights foreclosure rates, median housing values in states.

Q&A With Outgoing Colorado Pension Chief: ‘The 401(k) Experiment Is a Failure’

After more than two decades heading public employee pension systems in Colorado and Kansas, Meredith Williams says Americans are woefully underprepared for retirement.

At Least 26 States Spend Less on Prisons

The recession is taking a dramatic toll on what had been one of the fastest-growing areas of state government spending: prisons. A new survey says corrections budgets are down in at least 26 states, with prison officials laying off workers or reducing their pay, eliminating vocational and other programs for inmates and granting some prisoners early release.

New Governors Spell Change - Road Sign by Road Sign

The transition to a new governor is about more than handing over the reins of power or even the keys to the executive mansion. Sometimes its about pesky issues, such as what to do with 4,000 boxes of salt-water taffy that carry the name of New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, who left office unexpectedly this year. Nine states face such delicate dilemmas as they adjust to new governors taking office.

Online Tax Filing An Option In Many States

For millions of Americans, the April 15 deadline for filing tax returns used to mean a last minute rush to the post office. Now, for many taxpayers, it increasingly means logging on to a PC, surfing to a tax preparation Web site and hitting the send button.

Lawmakers Want to Pump Kids Up

Florida's school children next fall will be part of a trend reversal in which state lawmakers are starting to bring back physical education classes to combat childhood obesity.

Budget Cuts Hitting Poor in Unusual Ways

SOCIAL POLICY BEAT: As more legislatures finish their budgets, programs that help the poor in Kansas and Florida are among those getting scaled back or eliminated altogether.

Lawmakers Set New Ages for Marriage

Legislators in Georgia and Kansas changed their marriage laws this spring to prevent teens from marrying so young. But raising the legal age for marriage for teens too young to vote or even drive proved challenging as lawmakers wrestled with possible effects on abortion rates, welfare rolls, citizens' privacy and the nature of marriage itself.

Lawmakers Not Keen on 'Model' Public Health Law

State legislators have rejected a "model public health law" crafted by researchers at Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Universities with help from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Weekly Wrap: Govs Seek to Prop Up Budget Reserve Funds

Depleted rainy day funds prompt review; Toyota's temporary sales suspension could impact state revenue; Ohio loses an iconic employer; and new studies released on recession, state stimulus web sites.

Governors Preview Their 2012 Priorities

TODAY'S TAKE: From a constitutional amendment to expand gambling in Kentucky to creation of a health insurance exchange in Idaho, some governors are not waiting until 2012 to declare their agendas.

Crime Lab Backlogs Extend Beyond DNA

State and federal lawmakers are trying to reduce backlogs in unanalyzed DNA evidence even as more common forms of forensic data are being neglected, crime lab directors say.

States Wager on Racetrack Slots

States are betting that adding slots to racetracks will help get them through a faltering economy and dwindling cash reserves

Planned Parenthood Fight Shifts to States

TODAY'S TAKE: Governor Mitch Daniels will decide within the next week whether Indiana will become the first state to cut off all government funding for Planned Parenthood. Kansas could approve a similar measure soon.

Abortion Laws Blocked in Indiana, Kansas and South Dakota

SOCIAL POLICY BEAT: States enacted a record number of restrictions on abortion this year, but some of the most-closely watched new laws are on hold until the courts determine if they are legal.

As Layoffs Mount, Governors Seek Support on Wind Tax Credit

With election season politics behind them, several governors are reapplying pressure on Congress to extend a tax credit whose looming expiration is stirring angst within the wind industry.

Dam Inspectors Fear the Deluge

Each year, more dams in the United States show signs of disrepair. Meanwhile, the money to fix them grows harder to find.

Tourism Incentives Get Tri-State Tryout

Maryland hopes to reel in visitors with a million-dollar fish. Iowa and South Dakota hope free gas vouchers will attract more tourists. It's all part of the annual summer scramble to pump travel dollars into state economies.

Judicial joust

House Republican leaders propose 1.5 percent cut to higher education for each of next two fiscal years

Brownback leaves the state as Legislature remains deadlocked

Brownback texts Oklahoma governor to offer help

GOP legislators wide-ranging in views as tax talks continue

Kansas lawmakers pass bill on gun lobbying

Kansas tax and budget negotiations nudge forward

Don’t mess with school standards in Kansas

KU makes sudden change in Statehouse presence

Legislature makes no progress; Brownback leaves state to tout tax cuts

Higher education spending key issue in Kansas budget talks

Kansas lawmakers’ talks on taxes at standstill

Kansas lawmakers still deadlocked on tax, budget issues

Republican split in Mo. Senate kills transportation sales tax

Kansas chief justice says senator’s proposal on judicial selection is political coercion

Senate approves bill banning use of tax dollars to advocate for gun control

Legislative negotiations break down amid Republican in-fighting

Attempt to revive fire districts bill fails

Common Core provision muddies Kansas budget talks

Bigger push on Kansas judiciary selection coming

In Kansas, it’s lawmakers versus the courts

Logan elected chair, Wilk elected vice chair of Kansas Board of Regents

Budget provision would block state funding for Common Core standards

Kansas lawmakers agree to issue biodefense lab bonds

Education spending, state worker pay cap hold up Kansas budget negotiations

Top Kansas House Democrat: Staffer faces discipline over tweets

Bill eases land-use rules near historic sites

End the secrecy in criminal cases in Kansas

New judicial-selection plan fails

Higher education officials say concealed carry on campus probably inevitable in the future

Possible Kansas tax compromise in the works

State Board hears opposition to Common Core Standards

Conservatives at odds over budget, taxes as wrap-up session drags on

Court and legislators spar over Kansas judicial selection

Kansas education official defends use of racial slur

KU may get money it didn’t ask for, but not what it wanted

Brownback, GOP leaders defend private talks on tax plan, budget

Brownback: Private GOP tax talks ‘going well’

State education board may seek attorney general’s opinion on ‘innovative districts’ law

New plan for Kansas judiciary selection emerges

Kansas advocacy group files lawsuit to force AG to release information about tobacco funds

Kansas legislators part of recent national trend by states to change how judges selected

Many criminal records closed in Kansas

Analysis: Stalling is key part of strategy as Kansas Senate's leader pushes House on sales tax

Kansas lawmakers return for session's 80th day

Kansas Action for Children files lawsuit against Attorney General Derek Schmidt over settlement records

Kansas Republicans face tough spending and tax issues, and elections, for 2014

Republican freshman lawmakers in Kansas House undergo re-election briefing

Republicans push through proposal blocking the desires of advocates for the developmentally disabled

After hesitating, Kansas House panel OKs bonds for national biodefense lab

Lawmakers: KanCare for developmentally disabled or $4 million cut

Kan. Senate leader sees session going past 80 days

Budget focus

Kansas House, Senate far apart on tax issue as legislative wrap-up starts

Ralliers want to preserve current system of providing long-term services to those with disabilities