Surprise New Texas House Speakerby Karl Kurtz The long-running story of conflict over the speakership of the Texas House appears to be resolved. Over the course of four days, Rep. Joe Straus, a Republican from San Antonio, put together a coalition of 72 Democrats... Changing How Citizens and Lawmakers Interactby Pam Greenberg The Internet has forever changed how citizens and lawmakers interact, says the Congressional Management Foundation's latest publication in its Communicating With Congress project. "Recommendations for Improving the Democratic Dialogue" presents interesting perspectives about managing communications between citizens... Brush Up While There's Still Timeby Meagan Dorsch Finding sources for alternative energy; successful programs to help people stop smoking; possible solutions for transportation revenue shortfalls and breaking the cycle of poverty. All of these issues were discussed at NCSL's Fall Forum in Atlanta, Georgia.... New Laws Ring in the New Yearby Meagan Dorsch On the eve of New Year's Eve, states are preparing to have an array of new laws go into effect on Jan. 1, 2009. Of the 46 states that met in regular session during 2008, legislatures across... Top 9 Issues of 2009by Meagan Dorsch For the second year in a row, NCSL has predicted state budgets will be the number one issue legislatures across the country will address in 2009. "State legislatures are facing the worst fiscal conditions we have seen... "Majority Technology Leader" to Head Hawaii Senate's Technology Initiatives by Pam Greenberg The Hawaii Senate has become the first legislative chamber to have a "Majority Technology Leader." Hawaii Senate President Colleen Hanabusa created the new leadership position for the 2009 Legislative Session, naming Senator David Ige (photo) to the... The Most Republican and Democratic Legislaturesby Karl KurtzAlan Greenblatt's well-done piece in Ballot Box last week, "Seeing Red in Oklahoma," taking NPR to task for calling Oklahoma "the most Republican state in the Union" suggests that we should publish the list of the most Republican... The Power of State High Courts to Remove GovernorsIllinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's action to request the state Supreme Court to declare Gov. Rod Blagojevich unfit for office raises the question of how many states have provisions that allow a state court to remove the governor. The answer,... New York Senate Leadership Deal Falls Throughby Karl KurtzThe New York Senate deal between Democratic leader Malcolm Smith and three dissident Democrats that we wrote about last week, appears to have collapsed. See "Senate majority drama endures." Both the dissident three and the other members of... Public Opinion Data from AEIHaven't gotten enough yet of election coverage, polls, stats and charts? The November-December issue of AEI's Political Report has lots of interesting graphs and charts on the election just past, current public opinion and a look ahead at 2010 U.S.... Lieutenant Governors Successful in Electionsby Karl KurtzIn our reporting on the 2008 elections, we've covered governors and state legislatures, but we haven't said much about lieutenant governors. Now, thanks to a newsletter from the National Lieutenant Governors Association, we can provide a few highlights.... Public Trust Suffers a Blowby Karl KurtzThe Thicket won't join the "Blago"-sphere today. Enough has already been written by others (the best and most prolific source on the Gov. Blagojevich story is The Capitol Fax Blog, as with all things Illinois politics). All we'll... Rethinking Opening Session Speechesby Gene Rose The opening day of a legislative session is a big production. With many legislatures beginning their 2009 sessions in January, thousands of legislative staff are working hard this month to get ready for the big day. It's... Who is Left in the Media?by Ed Smith Gene Rose's post on Friday pointing out the ongoing erosion of seasoned TV reporters is brought into even sharper relief with the news over the weekend that the Tribune Company is exploring the possibility of bankruptcy protection.... Anchors, and News Coverage, Awayby Gene Rose“Basically, you replace someone who knows City Hall with someone who can’t find it.” An article in Sunday's The New York Times ("A Generation of Local TV Anchors is Signing Off") revealed a growing trend in the country... California Case Highlights Broader Transparency Trendby Pam Greenberg Two open government advocacy groups filed suit Tuesday against the California Legislative Counsel's office, seeking access to the underlying database used to produce the Bill Information section of the California Legislative Information website. The groups filing suit... Look Out for an "April Nightmare"by Karl Kurtz States, which already have closed $40 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget gaps, face at least an additional $97 billion they must close over the next 18 to 24 months, according to a national report issued... New York Senate Democratic Leadership Resolvedby Karl Kurtz New York Senate Democrats won a 32-30 majority in the elections a month ago, but their ability to elect the leadership and manage the chamber has been in doubt because three members of the caucus held back... Kevin Harrington, Massachusetts Senate President, was First President of NCSLby Karl Kurtz Kevin Harrington, the president of the Massachusetts Senate, 1971-78, died last week at age 79. His obituary in the Boston Globe tells all about his contributions to Massachusetts state government but fails to mention that he was... Project Citizen Documentary an Audience FavoriteBy Jan Goehring The World We Want, a documentary profiling students from around the world who confront community issues, recently won the Audience Award at the AFI Fest. The students featured in the film are all participants in Project Citizen,... Measuring Body Mass Index at Schoolby Meagan Dorsch Roughly 12 million U.S. children and adolescents are obese. One proposed approach to addressing obesity is collecting a student's Body Mass Index (BMI) at school. Body mass index is a measure of whether a person's weight is... S.T.E.M. - The Key to Our Country's Future?by Meagan Dorsch In a global economy, many argue that America needs to emphasize STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in its schools. Several states are starting to focus on making STEM a priority in education across the country. In... Age Added to Nebraska's Safe Haven Lawby Meagan Dorsch During an emergency session today, Nebraska legislators modified the state's Safe Haven Law. According to the Unicameral Blog, the bill now limits Safe Haven provisions to infants up to 30 days old. The governor signed the bill... Mad Dawg has Left the Buildingby Gene Rose Mitch "Mad Dawg" McCartney, director of Nebraska's Unicameral Information Office, will leave his office for the final time today. He's packed up his mementos and is taking his 19 years of memories with him as he embarks... Does Democracy Deserve Better Marketing?by Gene Rose I'm always looking for support of my theory that state legislatures, and indeed all levels of government, need to do a better job of promoting the value of their institutions. To accomplish this, I suggest such crazy... More on the Legislative Tracking Bizby Karl KurtzAnyone who has already read and was interested in "CQ Moves into the Legislative Tracking Business" should go back to that post to read an update.Following Justice Frankfurter, I thought that legislative redistricting was the ultimate political thicket.... Leadership Changes in Term-limited Statesby Nancy Rhyme and Karl Kurtz'Tis the season for legislatures to select new leadership for the coming biennium. They're coming so fast and furious we're having a hard time keeping up. We'll start a roundup of leadership changes with term-limited... CQ Moves into the State Legislative Tracking Businessby Karl Kurtz Congressional Quarterly, Inc., the leading provider of information on the workings of Congress, recently announced that it is moving into the state legislative tracking business by purchasing TrendTrack, a web-based information service on state legislatures. TrendTrack's founder... Florida Advances Civic Educationby Jan Goehring The Florida Law Related Education Association reports, in a guest commentary on the Campaign to Promote Civic Education blog, that statewide efforts are promoting civic education. The work began several years ago when a delegation of policymakers... Fewer Attorneys, More Full-time Legislators in State Legislaturesby Morgan CullenNew data on legislator occupations show significant changes in the makeup of state legislatures.Over the past 30 years, attorney legislators have made up the largest occupational category of legislators in the country. In 1976, attorneys constituted nearly 25%...
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