POLITICS & LEADERSHIP
State governments more secretive since 9/11

GOVERNORS
Bush names Kempthorne to head Interior 

The week in session
Hot issues
Bird's eye view
Upcoming elections
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Once around

Electric utilities in 26 states are charging their customers fees to cover the companies' state and federal income taxes...and then pocketing the tax money instead of turning it over to the government.

Utilities evading income taxes

Many of the nation's electric utilities are charging their customers fees -- typically a nickel for every dollar's worth of electricity they use -- to cover the companies' state and federal income taxes and then pocketing the tax money instead of turning it over to the government.

According to an analysis of regulatory filings by the New York Times, electric utilities in 26 states have held on to money collected for income taxes. The practice is actually legal in most states. All of the fees utilities charge -- including fees to cover their corporate income taxes -- are generally set by state regulators. But in recent years, utilities have expanded into unregulated industries, such as energy trading, or have been acquired by companies that operate in other industries. And when those other business sectors lose money, the losses can be used to offset the income the utilities take in.

Sometimes the utilities can end up owing nothing in taxes, or even earning large tax refunds. For instance, Xcel Energy, a utility that operates in 10 Midwest and Western states, collected $723 million from its customers to cover taxes between 2002 and 2004, but the company received tax refunds from the government in those years totaling $351.4 million.

Ed Legge, a spokesman for the company said the refunds were the result of a failed energy trading business. And the company sees nothing wrong with keeping the tax fees it charged its customers. "Utility customers did not bear the risk of [the energy trading] business, and they should not benefit either," Legge said.

Paul L. Joskow, an economist at the MASSACHUSETTS Institute of Technology, basically supports Xcel's position, asserting that if the utility were a stand-alone business and had to file its own tax return, its customers would still pay the same rate for their electricity. "For the customer, the result is the same," he said.

Critics, however, say customers do lose when the government doesn't receive the tax fees they pay their utility providers. "Essentially, the utility ratepayers pay the tax twice, once through the utility bill and again through the lost revenue to government that means either higher taxes for them or less government services," says MINNESOTA Attorney General Mike Hatch, who is seeking to require Xcel to pay the government any tax fees it bills its customers.

Only a few states currently prohibit utilities from pocketing tax fees. OREGON and WEST VIRGINIA passed laws to that effect (although the OREGON law, enacted last year, is being challenged in court), while PENNSYLVANIA's Supreme Court barred utilities from billing their customers for "fictitious" expenses, such as taxes the companies don't pay the government.

Some suggest one simple way to ensure that utilities pay the taxes they collect from their customers would be to require them to file their own tax returns. But Robert Batinovich, a chairman of the CALIFORNIA Public Utilities Commission in the 1970s who was known for promoting innovative approaches to regulation, has posed an alternative solution: exempting utilities from the corporate income tax and imposing some other tax on them, like a sales tax. (NEW YORK TIMES)

-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK

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Bird's eye view

States ponder right to work

In recent weeks, lawmakers in INDIANA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, DELAWARE and KENTUCKY have rejected legislation that would have made them "right-to-work" states - where it is illegal to require employees at unionized workplaces to join the union as a condition of employment. Since the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, it has been up to individual states to determine whether they want to bar "union shop" requirements. This also includes the "agency" shop, which allows workers to refuse joining the union but still requires them to pay similar dues in order to keep their job. Supporters of right-to-work laws say these statutes protect workers' constitutional rights to free association and create a more efficient and competitive workforce. Opponents contend such laws allow non-union workers to benefit from gains earned by union collective bargaining and drive down wages and benefits. The accompanying map shows all 22 states that currently have right-to-work statutes. 
 

-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN

 
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Budget & taxes

QUICK CHANGE OF FORTUNE FOR IA TOUCHPLAY: Last Monday, IOWA's General Assembly began debating the future of the slot-like TouchPlay machines installed in taverns, grocery stores and other locations across the state. By the following day, both the House and Senate had voted overwhelmingly to ban the machines. It was an abrupt change of course for a state well accustomed to legal gambling after 20 years of riverboat casinos, racetracks and lotteries. 

It actually appeared early on that the machines were headed for regulation rather than elimination. But according to key lawmakers, public outcry over the rapid spread of the games led them instead to adopt the ban. "TouchPlay was in their face every single day -- restaurants and dry cleaners and Laundromats and convenience stores and grocery stores," said Sen. Mary Lundby (R), who supported the ban. 

Sen. Mark Zieman (R), who opposed it, said there were other factors involved, such as the 30 GOP county conventions that adopted resolutions calling for a ban over the weekend preceding the TouchPlay debate. Zieman also said he thought some Democrats voted for the ban because the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -- a key Democratic supporter -- favored it. But, ultimately, Zieman felt the ban was "media-driven," He said, "It stayed on the front page regularly enough that all of the sudden that ginned up some (public) animosity." 

Retailers and distributors that had invested millions in TouchPlay had tried to make the debate about "mom and pop" businesses and jobs but they were drowned out by voices like House Speaker Christopher Rants' (R), who said, "I do not want Iowa to look like a poor man's Las Vegas. I do not believe we should litter our storefronts and main streets with these gaudy machines. Is this the image we really want to portray?" 

If Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) signs SB 2330 when he returns from his trade mission to India on March 20, businesses would have 45 days to remove all of the TouchPlay devices. (DES MOINES REGISTER, QUAD-CITY TIMES)

STATES MAY HAVE TO KICK TOBACCO SETTLEMENT HABBIT: States may soon be receiving less money from big tobacco manufacturers if an adjustment to the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement currently under consideration goes through. The major tobacco companies have sought that adjustment on the basis of their loss of market share in 2003 to producers that were not included in the settlement. An independent auditor has already issued a preliminary decision indicating that the settlement was a significant factor in the companies' losses and a final decision will be rendered on March 24. That's cause for concern for states like UTAH, which opted to receive their share of the $206 billion settlement -- $836 million in UTAH's case -- in annual installments set to continue for the next 25 years. The Beehive State's annual payments provide funding for such things as the Children's Health Insurance Program, the Department of Health's Tobacco Prevention and Control Program and cancer research at the University of Utah. "We've become addicted to the tobacco money," said Richard Ellis, Gov. John Huntsman Jr.'s (R) budget director. The state's attorney general's office says the national adjustment for 2003 could be well over $1 billion. (DESERET MORNING NEWS [PROVO])

BUDGETS IN BRIEF: For the third time in the last five years, the VIRGINIA General Assembly has failed to pass a state budget by the session's scheduled adjournment date. The cause of the stalemate was, once again, philosophical differences between the House and Senate on the issue of taxes. Lawmakers will continue their budget deliberations in special session, beginning March 27 (VIRGINIAN-PILOT [NORFOLK]). * MISSISSIPPI Gov. Haley Barbour (R) vetoed the Legislature's second effort this session to raise the cigarette tax and lower the tax on groceries. SB 3084 would have raised the tax on cigarettes $1-per-pack over two years and reduced the grocery tax by half. Barbour stated in his veto message that the bill was "the latest attempt by the Legislature to change the state revenue stream in the middle of tremendous financial uncertainty in the wake of Hurricane Katrina" (CLARION LEDGER [JACKSON]). * The PENNSYLVANIA House passed legislation last week that would make major changes to the state's 20-month-old slot-machine gaming law, potentially halting the construction of a casino near Gettysburg and complicating Donald Trump's bid for a casino in Philadelphia. House leaders said that the bill, which underwent hours of debate and a flurry of amendments, was likely headed for negotiation with the Senate (ASSOCIATED PRESS, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER). * OKLAHOMA's House approved a major Medicaid reform bill last Monday that supporters say will improve care for hundreds of thousands of low-income recipients as well as increase reimbursement rates for healthcare providers. The bill is expected to undergo heavy amendment in the Senate (SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR).
 

 --  Compiled by KOREY CLARK

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Politics & leadership

STATE GOVERNMENTS MORE SECRETIVE SINCE 9/11: Government agencies are keeping more information from the public since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, according to an investigation by the Associated Press.

The AP investigation found that since the attacks, state legislatures have passed "more than 1,000 laws changing access to information, approving more than twice as many measures that restrict information as laws that open government books."

That finding and others prompted Hodding Carter, spokesman for the State Department during the Carter administration, to remark, "Americans should be treated as owners of their government and of their government's information, not as supplicants to whom you dole it out when you feel like it."

Spokesman for the Bush White House, Scott McClellan, countered that while "The president believes in open government, and that the presumption ought to be on providing citizens with as much information as possible about their government...when it comes to our nation's security, particularly during a time of war, it is important to protect highly classified sources and methods that help save lives."

A report by the Seattle Times two weeks ago, however, suggests that national security concerns may not be the only reason for the diminution of "sunshine" on government information. Looking over 10,000 cases decided by the King County, WASHINGTON Superior Court since 1990, the Times discovered that 420 civil suits had been sealed entirely, 97 percent of the time with little regard for rules governing the sealing of cases. Those sealed records, the newspaper stated, held "secrets of potential dangers in our medicine cabinets and refrigerators; of molesters in our day-care centers, schools and churches" and of other threats to the public. The Times' investigations editor James Neff said the judges were guided more by the principle "go along, get along, clear the docket" than by concern for the pubic interest. (USA TODAY)

BATTLE FOR 2011 REDISTRICTING ALREADY UNDER WAY: Call it the Tom Delay Effect. The two major national political parties are already gearing up for 2011, the next year that congressional districts will be redrawn, using 2010 census data. And following the somewhat tarnished lead of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TEXAS), the parties are focusing their attention on this year's state legislative races, hoping to secure majority control over the statehouses where many of those congressional boundaries will be determined.

But the national parties are going Delay one better -- at the very least. While the TEXAS Congressman helped his party take control of the state legislature in the 2002 election -- the first held after the 2000 census -- the national parties are starting to campaign not in 2010, but three election cycles before the next population count. Their reasoning is that since incumbents generally have an advantage in political races, the seats they win in 2006 they're more likely to hold on to four years later.

"We look at it as if the 2011 redistricting is starting right now...we cannot take this election cycle off," said Michael Davies, executive director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

And Davies' counterpart on the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee, Alex Johnson, said, "We are looking for places to win but also places we can put ourselves if not this time then in 2008 and 2010."

Both committees are concentrating their efforts this year on the states with legislative chambers that are closely divided between the two parties, including COLORADO, MAINE, OKLAHOMA, TENNESSEE and WASHINGTON (CQPOLITICS.COM)

NEW POWER BROKERS IN MA: Years ago, the biggest behind-the-scenes players in MASSACHUSETTS state politics were a group of Boston bank and insurance executives who met in secret to plot out their strategy. Nicknamed "the Vault," because their first meeting was held in a basement vault of the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Co., the group disbanded in 1997. 

But earlier this month, there was another hush-hush gathering of Boston power brokers -- including Peter Meade, the executive vice president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MASSACHUSETTS, and Jack Connors, the chairman of Partners HealthCare -- in a conference room at the John Hancock Tower. The subject of the meeting was a bill aimed at expanding health coverage in the state that was hovering near death in the legislature. The attendees came up with a plan to impose a $295-per-employee fee on businesses with more than 10 employees that didn't offer healthcare coverage. Forty-eight hours later, legislative leaders announced that the healthcare expansion measure -- with the levy on businesses attached -- had been revived. 

Jeffrey M. Berry, a professor of political science at Tufts University, said that episode "reflects the transformation of Boston's economy. The biggest players are not the banks and insurance companies, but the hospitals." 

The fact is that while MASSACHUSETTS' banks and insurance companies are now owned by corporations based outside the state, the private healthcare industry has become the state's top employer, providing about 367,000 jobs. Blue Cross and Partners are the biggest companies in that industry, and, with annual revenues of over $5 billion each, they're among the 10 largest companies in the state. 

"That's the fact of life in Boston. Gillette's gone, other businesses are gone. You look around, and who's left?" said Bill Vernon, president of the MASSACHUSETTS chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses. "In most places, the healthcare industry isn't this big," he said. "It's just a different dynamic here than it is in other parts of the country." (BOSTON GLOBE)

SINE DIE: WYOMING Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) and legislative leaders appear to be in agreement that the state's 2006 budget session was a success. In a brief address to lawmakers before they adjourned on March 11, the governor said the work done this session "will benefit the people of the state for generations to come." 

That work included suspending the sales tax on food for two years, increasing heating bill assistance for low-income families and sales tax relief for the elderly and disabled, and increasing funding for local governments. Lawmakers also approved more than $1 billion-per-year in funding for K-12 schools, which will probably push the state to first or second in the nation in per-capita spending on education. And thanks to the state's bountiful energy revenues, they were able to do so without increasing taxes. 

"It is a remarkable statement by the state of WYOMING that we would allocate such a significant share of the bounty that the state enjoys to the educational system," Freudenthal said. 

Senate President Grant Larson (R) also gave himself and his colleagues a pat on the back, stating, "I think we've had a remarkable session. We've done more for people in the state, we addressed the programs, we addressed the funding and saved enough money to get us by, I think, any crisis." House Speaker Pro Tem Colin Simpson (R) managed even higher praise with fewer words. "I think we've done some pretty incredible things in this session," he said. 

Even members of the Legislature's Democratic minority seemed to feel pretty good about the session. "I think there are lots of good positive things that came out and we were part of that process," said Sen. Ken Decaria (D). (CASPER STAR-TRIBUNE)

POLITICS IN BRIEF: The ARIZONA Senate passed legislation last week that would make voting by mail subject to the same identification requirements as voting in-person under Proposition 200, approved by voters in 2004. The bill would require all early voters to include with their ballot a legible copy of a government-issued photo ID card, such as a driver's license, or two forms of non-photo ID, like a utility bill or vehicle registration. The bill still needed to pass a final roll-call vote before moving to the House (ARIZONA DAILY STAR [TUCSON]). * Also in ARIZONA, three employees of the state Treasurer's Office have resigned and another simply hasn't shown up for work since the Attorney General's Office initiated an investigation of Treasurer David A. Petersen three weeks ago for theft, fraud and conflict of interest (ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES [PHOENIX]). * Former WISCONSIN Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen (R) was found guilty last Saturday of felony misconduct in office for allowing state employees to campaign for him on the state's dime. Jensen announced three days later that he will resign his seat before he is sentenced next month (CAPITAL TIMES [MADISON], WXOW TV-19). * With elections coming in November, MARYLAND's General Assembly has introduced more bills this session than it has in 20 years. Old Line State lawmakers fell 131 bills shy of the 2,938 introduced in 1986, which was also an election year (ANNAPOLIS CAPITAL). * Joe Walker, the Democratic challenger for KENTUCKY's 22nd Senate seat pulled out of the contest last week, citing a desire to spend more time with family. His decision means incumbent Sen. Tom Buford (R) will be uncontested in November. Democrats were understandably disappointed by the news, believing Walker, a county sheriff, would have given them a good chance at eroding the Republicans' 21-16 majority in the Senate (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER).
 

-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK

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BUSH NAMES KEMPTHORNE INTERIOR SECT: President George W. Bush last week named IDAHO Gov. Dirk Kempthorne (R) to succeed the resigned Gale Norton as head of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior. Kempthorne, a former U.S. Senator and Boise mayor before being elected twice as the Gem State governor, had already said he would not seek another term. 

Bush praised Kempthorne as someone who "understands that those who live closest to the land know how to manage it best" and the "right man to build on" the progress of his predecessor. Bush also lavished praise on Norton in her role as the first woman to lead the Interior Department, saying she had been instrumental in establishing the federal Healthy Forests Initiative aimed at thinning fire-endangered forests as well as helping to lead efforts to restore off-shore energy production after Hurricane Katrina.

But Norton's five-year tenure was also marked by controversy, including frequent clashes with environmental groups over her persistent efforts to open more Western lands to oil and gas drilling, including the Arctic Nation Wildlife Refuge in ALASKA. In recent months, it was learned her second-in-command, Steven Griles, had a close relationship with indicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and that another one-time Norton associate, Italia Federici, helped Abramoff gain access to Griles in exchange for contributions from Abramoff's Indian tribe clients. 

Providing he is confirmed -- most likely a rubber stamp given his previous role in the Senate and the GOP majority in that chamber -- Kempthorne will be expected to hit the ground running on a variety of pressing problems, including a backlog of building needs in the National Park system and concerns over the downtrodden state of health care on impoverished Indian Reservations. 

The Interior Department manages one of every five acres in the United States, including 388 areas in the national park system, 544 wildlife refuges and more than 260 million acres of multiple-use lands located primarily in 12 Western states. It also manages 824 dams and reservoirs, administers protections for endangered species and works with 562 federally recognized Indian tribes. (WASHINGTON POST, IDAHO STATESMAN [BOISE], ARIZONA REPUBLIC [PHOENIX])

DANIELS OKAY'S FOREIGN-OWNED TOLL ROAD: INDIANA Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) earned perhaps the biggest political victory of his career last week when Hoosier State lawmakers approved his plan to lease the INDIANA Toll Road to a foreign-owned company for almost $4 billion. The measure, House Bill 1008, grants the joint Australian-Spanish venture control of the Toll Road for the next 75 years. 

In exchange for paying the money upfront, the new operator gets to keep all tolls received over the life of the lease. The company is responsible for maintenance of the road, and the lease limits how much tolls can be raised every year. Starting in 2010, tolls can increase by the greater of 2 percent, inflation or the gross domestic product. The majority of the money will be used to build hundreds of state highway projects, including the Interstate 69 extension from Evansville to Indianapolis, the upgrade of U.S. 24 called Fort to Port and two Ohio River bridges in southern Indiana.

Daniels first introduced the idea of leasing the 157-mile Toll Road last fall as a way of bridging a $2.8 billion shortfall in state highway transportation funds. But the idea didn't go over well with many. Democrats opposed the measure, primarily because it will displace 580 state employees that currently work on the Toll Road. And, as with the recent effort by a United Arab Emirates-owned company to take over operations of several major U.S. shipping ports, there was strong sentiment against giving such control to a foreign-owned company. 

But Daniels spokesperson Jane Jankowski said that all but about 10 percent of the affected workers would be retained for nine months, and that those not retained would be given other state jobs at equivalent compensation. Jankowski said that deal would also apply to any current Toll Road worker choosing not to stay on after the nine-month period ends. Lawmakers also placed pension protections in the legislation authorizing the deal for those within two years of retirement.

"From a jobs standpoint this is a historic session," Daniels said. "I'm not certain there's any precedent for it. We are now about to become the leader in American transportation." (JOURNAL GAZETTE [FORT WAYNE]).

GREGOIRE STAYS WA GOV: Sixteen months after the November 2004 gubernatorial election, the WASHINGTON state Supreme Court officially confirmed Democrat Christine Gregoire as governor. That confirmation came as the court dismissed four separate lawsuits challenging her 133-vote win over Republican Dino Rossi. 

Justices dismissed one of the challenges because they said it was essentially identical to the GOP suit they had already considered and rejected. A second challenge claimed that the election was not "free," as required by the state constitution, because the Democratic Party posted the $730,000 deposit to pay for the hand recount of the votes that gave Gregoire her victory. That complaint also alleged that it was statistically invalid to use only the final count to determine the election instead of averaging the three counts, that state elections officials wrongly added ballots for inclusion in each recount and that those officials illegally enhanced improperly marked ballots so they could be read by counting machines. The court rejected those arguments, saying that all of the practices are valid under state law. 

A third suit maintained that the election should be thrown out because the difference in the vote totals for Rossi and Gregoire was within a statistical margin of error, while the final challenge came from a King County man who said that while Gregoire was attorney general before her election as governor, she conspired with other public officials to cover up the abuse of his autistic son in foster care to shield the state from a large damage claim. That, he said, violated a state law that bans vote-buying. The court said neither of the final suits met the legal requirements for challenging an election. (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER)

SCHWARZENEGGER'S BOND MEASURE FLOUNDERS: CALIFORNIA Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has placed his re-election hopes on gaining approval of a $49 billion bond measure aimed at funding the most ambitious infrastructure program in state history. But his efforts to get lawmakers to approve that measure in time for the June ballot were snuffed last week after an 11th hour negotiating session ended with the Assembly approving only a $4.1 billion plan to shore up aging levees and another $19.1 borrowing deal to build new schools. The Senate followed suit by refusing to consider either deal, with chamber leaders saying any further negotiations would have to focus on a measure for the November ballot instead. 

Adding insult to injury, the deal was essentially torpedoed by his fellow Republicans, who objected to the state incurring such deep debt to pay for the project. Because a two-thirds vote of the Legislature is required to place a proposition on the ballot, the Republican minorities in the Assembly and Senate have effective veto power. Now, given distinct differences between all sides on what an eventual package should address -- levees, schools, roads, dams or a combination thereof -- it is not a given that any infrastructure bond proposal will see the ballot this year. 

That would be a crushing blow to Schwarzenegger, who wanted the bond measure on the June ballot in order to avoid the challenge of having to campaign for the bond measure and his own re-election at the same time. But even if the latest proposal had been approved, it would have marked a significant change from Schwarzenegger's initial $222-billion plan, which would have required CALIFORNIA to borrow $68 billion, saddling the state with more than $3.7 billion in debt annually through 2025. Despite the setback, Schwarzenegger vowed to get the bond measure on the November ballot, telling reporters, "We are going to have this year the infrastructure done. That I can guarantee you." (LOS ANGELES TIMES, SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE)

CORZINE ESTABLISHES HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICE: NEW JERSEY Gov. Jon Corzine (D) signed an executive order establishing a Cabinet-level office to coordinate how the Garden State investigates and responds to terrorist attacks, public health crises and natural disasters. Corzine named Richard Cañas, a former director of the White House National Security Council under the Bush and Clinton administrations, to run the agency. The new Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness will also be responsible for making sure county and state law enforcement agencies work closely with their federal counterparts in the war on terrorism, something some officials said was not always the case under the state's former counter-terrorism director, Sidney Caspersen. (STAR-LEDGER [NEWARK])

GOVERNORS IN BRIEF: MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Mitt Romney (R) followed through on speculation he would propose legislation to exempt religious groups from a state anti-discrimination law that requires them to consider gay couples when placing children for adoption and foster care. The proposal came in response to a decision by Catholic Charities, the social services arm of the Boston Archdiocese, to end its adoption program because they said that placing children with same-sex couples would violate church doctrine (BOSTON GLOBE). * Governors Tim Kaine (D) of VIRGINIA, Phil Bredesen (D) of TENNESSEE, Jim Douglas (R) of VERMONT and Kenny Guinn (R) of NEVADA sojourned to Iraq last week to visit with local troops serving in the war zone. Their trip followed by weeks a similar visit from OKLAHOMA Gov. Brad Henry (D) and COLORADO Gov. Bill Owens (R). At least eight other governors have previously visited soldiers in Iraq since the war started (WASHINGTON POST, HOUSTON CHRONICLE). * NEW MEXICO Gov. Bill Richardson (D) and state officials have agreed to pay a CALIFORNIA consulting company $400,000 to study the feasibility of luring an NFL team to the state. Richardson is also planning a trip to Mexico to discuss with business and political leaders the possibility of a bi-national effort to bring a team to the region (SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN). * MINNESOTA Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) said that while he opposes abortion, he does not plan to pursue a ban similar to that recently passed in SOUTH DAKOTA. Pawlenty said he supports exceptions for rape, incest and saving the life of a pregnant woman (ASSOCIATED PRESS). 
 

-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN

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Here are some of the topics you will see covered in upcoming issues of the State Net Capitol Journal:  - Raising the minimum wage - Health care workers: The right to say no? - Public pensions  - Avian flu

BUSINESS: MAINE Gov. John Baldacci (D) signs legislation that prohibits MAINE-chartered banks that issue debit cards for home equity loans from assessing finance charges in addition to interest already agreed to in the loan (BOSTON GLOBE). * The INDIANA House and Senate endorse a proposal that would limit the ability of local governments to take private property through eminent domain and then turn it over to a private developer or entity for another purpose. It goes now to Gov. Mitch Daniels (R), who is expected to sign it into law (JOURNAL GAZETTE [FORT WAYNE]). * The KENTUCKY House passes HB 337, which would eliminate state telephone service pricing regulation for all customers except those who subscribe only to a basic phone line. It moves to the Senate (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER). * The MICHIGAN House endorses a measure that would increase the Wolverine State minimum wage by $1.80-per-hour. It moves to Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), who is expected to sign it (DETROIT FREE PRESS). * SOUTH DAKOTA Gov. Mike Rounds (R) vetoes HB 1055, legislation that would have required state government to help local businesses find customers, suppliers and investors in other countries. Rounds vetoed the measure because it only allocated $1 to fund the effort (ARGUS LEADER [SIOUX FALLS]). 

CRIME & PUNISHMENT: The GEORGIA Senate endorses SB 606, which would make it illegal to engage in disorderly or disruptive behavior at funerals. The measure would also prohibit any type of assembly or demonstration within 500 feet of a funeral one hour before, after or during the service. It moves to the House (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION). * A similar measure passes in the KENTUCKY Senate, which unanimously approves HB 333. That measure, which now returns to the House, would keep funeral protesters 300 feet away from services (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER). * Still in KENTUCKY, the Senate endorses SB 250, which would make nude stage dancing and semi-nude lap dancing a misdemeanor. It struts off to the House (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER). A KANSAS Senate committee endorses HB 2554, which would require anyone arrested on felony charges to submit a DNA sample. Those samples would be destroyed if the person is not convicted. It moves to the House (KANSAS CITY STAR). * The OKLAHOMA House okay's a measure that would authorize citizens to use deadly force to defend themselves when they believe they are in danger in any place they have a legal right to be, including their car, office, or in another person's home. It shoots off to the Senate (DAILY ARDMOREITE [ARDMORE]). 

EDUCATION: An ILLINOIS Senate committee passes legislation that would bar Prairie State high school dropouts under the age of 18 from driving. The measure would also apply to anyone with 18 or more unexcused absences. It moves to the full Senate (QUAD-CITY TIMES [DAVENPORT]). * The IOWA Senate endorses a proposal to bar local school districts from starting classes before Aug. 25. Current Hawkeye State law already mandates that schools open after Sept. 1, but in 2005, 358 of the state's 370 school districts received permission from state education officials to start the school year weeks earlier. Supporters say the early starts cut into the state's tourism trade and lead to heat-related illnesses among students. It moves to the Senate (QUAD-CITY TIMES [DAVENPORT]). * KANSAS education officials decree that Sunflower State students must obtain parental consent before being allowed to take sex education courses. KANSAS joins NEVADA, UTAH and ARIZONA as the only states with such a requirement (KANSAS CITY STAR). 

ENVIRONMENT: The INDIANA House approves HB 1110, which requires auto manufacturers that sell cars in the Hoosier State to develop a plan to remove mercury-containing switches from those automobiles before they are crushed for scrap. Small amounts of mercury, which is toxic to humans, are found in many convenience light switches in cars and trucks produced before 2003. It moves to the Senate (SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE). 

HEALTH & SCIENCE: The OKLAHOMA House approves HB 2842, a measure that would, among other things, bring doctor and hospital reimbursement rates for caring for Medicaid patients up to 100 percent of cost. The bill moves to the Senate (OKLAHOMAN [OKLAHOMA CITY]). * A MINNESOTA Senate committee approves SF 2674, a proposal to require companies with 10,000 or more employees to spend an amount equal to 8 percent of the wages they pay to their lower paid workers on health benefits, or pay the difference to a state fund. It heads to the House (MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE). 

HOMELAND SECURITY: The ARIZONA House rejects a proposal to financially penalize cities and counties whose police departments don't enforce federal immigration laws. The legislation would have denied cities that have "sanctuary" policies for illegal immigrants their share of state sales and income taxes. Lawmakers responded to complaints that the bill would amount to asking the state to assume control of local police agencies (ARIZONA DAILY STAR [TUCSON]). * WISCONSIN Gov. Jim Doyle (D) signs AB 69, legislation that requires people to show proof of legal residence before they can acquire a Badger State driver's license. The measure is designed to bring the state into compliance with the federal Real ID Act (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL).

SOCIAL POLICY: The OKLAHOMA House approves HB 2884, which would allow Sooner State pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions if they believe the medication will cause an abortion or help someone commit suicide. It moves to the Senate (OKLAHOMAN [OKLAHOMA CITY]). * A COLORADO Senate committee approves HB 1212, which would allow Centennial State pharmacies to dispense emergency contraception without a doctor's prescription. It goes before the full Senate (ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS [DENVER]). * The MISSOURI House approves legislation that bars state funding of contraceptives for low-income women and prohibits state-funded programs from referring those women to other programs. It moves to the Senate (KANSAS CITY STAR). * UTAH Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) signs legislation that will require girls under the age of 18 to get a parent's permission before obtaining an abortion. The old law required notification of at least one parent, but not permission (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER).

POTPOURRI: The OKLAHOMA Senate signed off on SB 1818, legislation that would supply Sooner State counties that want to display the Ten Commandments with public funds to help pay for defending themselves from lawsuits. The measure would not protect any other religious symbol or doctrine. It moves to the House (OKLAHOMAN [OKLAHOMA CITY]). * The KENTUCKY House endorses HB 289, which would ban Internet hunting, which allows computer users to aim and shoot a real gun at live animals. There are currently no such businesses operating in the Bluegrass State (COURIER-JOURNAL [LOUISVILLE). * The KANSAS Senate approves legislation that would allow qualified residents to carry concealed weapons. It shoots off to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), who vetoed a similar measure in 2004 (LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD). 
 

-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN

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Once around the statehouse lightly

LAWSUIT OF THE WEEK comes from CALIFORNIA, where an irate citizen sued the city of Lodi because a city-owned dump truck backed into his car. The suit was prompted by the fact that the city refused to honor a $3,600 claim for damages, even after the truck driver admitted that he was to blame. The city's rationale, reports the Associated Press? The driver of the truck -- and the owner of the car -- were the same person. When the claim was denied, the lawsuit was filed by the trucker's wife. 

BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION: Parents are forever worried that video games alter the behavior of their children, that too much time in front of a Game Cube or X-Box turns once-communicative boys and girls into gurgling zombies. Now comes word from OREGON that video games may modify behavior for the good. According to the Corvallis Gazette-Times, some inmates stuck in Beaver State prisons cause fewer problems if they are allowed to take on intergalactic bad guys in games such as "Star Ally." Inmates can buy a video game console (for $35) or a flat-screen TV for their cells after 18 months of good behavior. Anecdotal evidence points to a success story, given that nearly 2,500 inmates have done so. Although the prison population has expanded from 12,000 to 13,000 since 2003, incidents of misconduct among prisoners have declined over the same three-year period. Maybe that's because brawls no longer break out in the Day Room over which channel to watch on the common TV.

FLYING TIME: As expected, ALASKA Gov. Frank Murkowski was one of the most frequent flyers in the state's official jet. The guv logged 44 hours of air-time over the first three months of the year, or 23 percent of the jet's total use. But Murkowski wasn't close to the patron that reserved the most flight time. That would be the state Department of Public Safety, which contracted for 58 percent of the plane's use. As the Associated Press reports, the jet ferries prisoners from ALASKA to ARIZONA, where the state leases jail time.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH manifests itself in a variety of ways. Take, for instance, the situation in Coopertown, TENNESSEE, as reported by the Nashville Tennessean. Seems that a Nashville motorist received a $149.50 speeding ticket last month in Coopertown, which is know for its "strict enforcement" of speed limits. Although T. Allen Morgan was miffed, he dutifully mailed a check for the correct amount to the city clerk. But the mayor of Coopertown, Danny Crosby, refused the check because Morgan had written "for speed trap" on the subject line. Crosby ordered Morgan to issue a new check -- without editorial comment -- or appear in court. Morgan refused and was prepared to go before a judge when he was notified that the check had been accepted after all. Seems the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was looking into the city's refusal, considering it a violation of Volunteer law. By the way, Morgan had been clocked at 50 in a 35 MPH zone. 

TO WHAT DEGREE? At this moment, six states -- CALIFORNIA, VERMONT, VIRGINIA, WYOMING, MAINE and NEW YORK -- allow people to take a bar exam and to practice law without first having graduated from law school. Now, an ARIZONA legislator wants to add his state to the list. According to the Arizona Daily Star and Capitol Media Services, the lawmaker, Sen. Dean Martin, would allow aspiring attorneys to practice if they have passed the bar after apprenticing with a judge or licensed attorney or studying law through a correspondence course. Oh, and one other category of wannabes would be sanctioned: legislators and their staffs. Martin apparently figures that writing and voting on the law qualifies someone to practice it.
 

-- By A.G. BLOCK

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Editor: Rich Ehisen
Associate Editor: Korey Clark
Contributing Editor: A.G. Block
Editorial Advisor: Lou Cannon
Correspondents: Richard Cox (CA), Steve Karas (CA), 
Bruce McKeeman (CA), Linda Mendenhall (IL), 
Lauren King (MA) and Ben Livingood (PA)
Design: Richard Hansen, Heather Conway 

Copyright 2005 State Net
ISSN: 1521-8449