The Thicket at State Legislatures

More on Statehouse Domes

by Karl Kurtz

After posting "How did the Dome Become the Symbol of Government?", I received a number of comments and corrections via email.  Rather than put those into the comments section of the original post, I decided to write a new one, in part so that I can include photos.

The first correction came from Anne Dunn of the Louisiana House of Representatives staff in response to my claim that there are seven capitols that don't have either exterior or interior domes.  She said, "Louisiana's state capitol does not have a dome -- Huey Long wanted a skyscraper.  The one that NCSL so often depicts [in the Eric Oxendorf collection] is from the old state capitol.  Here's Huey's capitol--the current one."

This got me to thinking: if Oxendorf used the old Louisiana state capitol for his photo collection, then did he do the same in any other states?  So I emailed this question to Eric, who responded that both the Florida and Louisiana photos in his collection are of old capitols, explaining:

The old State House of Louisiana has a dome of stained glass.  the new State House is a skyscraper of Art Deco design with stone from all 48 states integrated into the building.  The old Florida State House is more of a grand staircase ala Southern mansion style, with surrounding windows in the dome and a stained glass oculus.  It was replaced with a "Skyscraper Complex" in the 50's-70's. [See photo of Florida's new Capitol at right.]

So the corrected list of nine statehouses without either exterior or interior domes is Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota.

In fact, I should have included a reference to Oxendorf's book, Domes of America, with text by William Seale, in my original post.  The only reason I didn't was that I couldn't find a copy in the office at the time.  Here are Seale's opening sentences in the book:

To Americans the dome is the architectural symbol of democracy.  Rising over the prairies or from the hearts of cities, it announces the presence of a government as clearly as a steeple proclaims a church.

Energy, Eminent Domain, Health Care Highlight Connecticut Session

by Jeanne Mejeur

Connecticut's 2007 Legislature adjourned in June, after a contentious session, particularly over budget and tax issues.  The General Assembly addressed a number of major issues and budget matters during the 2007 legislative session.

A key goal of the majority Democrats was to pass a progressive income tax on wealthy residents and to adopt an Earned Income Tax Credit to benefit working families, but neither proposal made it through the legislature.  The only tax increase was a higher rate on cigarettes.  The General Assembly passed a $36 billion budget that included increased funding for health care and education.

The General Assembly enacted major provisions on electricity and energy efficiency.  A key component was a $70 million dollar appropriation to restore an energy conservation fund, but the measure was vetoed by Governor Jodi Rell.  Other provisions establish "green building" requirements for state buildings, establish oil and gas conservation programs, and create an Energy Efficiency Partnership to reduce demand for electricity and promote the expansion of renewable energy sources.

Eminent Domain was again a major issue for the second year in a row.  A Connecticut city was the subject of the US Supreme Court decision in the 2005 Kelo case, where the Court approved takings of private property for commercial redevelopment projects, as a means of generating tax revenue.  Traditionally, eminent domain is used to take private property for purely public purposes, such as highways or public buildings, but the Kelo case broadened the definition of public purpose to include economic development.  Many states have since enacted laws to redefine public purpose, to restrict the use of eminent domain to traditional purposes.  The Connecticut General Assembly passed a number of reforms during the session, aimed at clarifying eminent domain procedures and providing greater protections for home owners.

The General Assembly also enacted measures to expand access to health care, increase use of medical technology and encourage preventative health care.  The laws included establishment of two new entities that will focus on alternative ways to provide primary health care services, explore financing mechanisms, contain health care costs and improve the quality of health care.

The legislature joined a number of other state that regulate protests at funerals, in response to a religious group that is staging protests at funerals of Iraq war soldiers across the nation, in protest of gay rights.  Violation of the law would be a misdemeanor offense.

Two major Leadership changes took place this session in both the House and Senate.  Long-time House Minority Leader Representative Bob Ward resigned his seat in the House to focus on business interests.  Representative Larry Cafero is the new leader for the House Republicans.  Senate Minority Leader Louis C. DeLuca resigned his leadership post but retained his seat in the Senate.  Senator John McKinney is the new Republican leader in the Senate.

Unfortunately, the newspaper stories that support this summary have been archived and are available only to subscribers.  The Hartford Courant's Connecticut Politics Page is a useful source on the legislature.

[Jeanne Mejeur is NCSL's liaison with the Connecticut Legislature.  Photo of Connecticut dome by Eric Oxendorf.]

Special Session Required to Complete Montana State Budget

by Sara Vitaska

The Montana Legislature apportioned the state's $1 billion surplus, but it took Gov. Brian Schweitzer calling policymakers back to Helena for a special session to approve a state budget, tax cuts and a school funding plan. The 2007 session became the first regular Montana Legislature in history to adjourn without adopting a budget for the coming biennium.  According to the Missoulian newspaper, the 2007 Montana Legislature was the most contentious in years. 

The 90-day legislative session started and ended embroiled in partisan politics. The 2006 statehouse elections left Democrats with a narrow 26-24 lead over Republicans in the Senate, while Republications in the House had a 50-49 vote margin over Democrats, with one Constitution Party member who typically voted with Republicans. The Senate partisan composition had been tied until former a Republication legislator switched parties after the November election.

Education, human services, corrections, alternative energy, and tax relief for homeowners topped the 2007 biennium agenda. Several of the Governor's "Square Deal" initiatives came to fruition as the legislature passed $140 million for public schools over the next two years; $400 one-time property tax rebates for homeowners; a $100 million infusion into the state's prison system for new facilities and programs; and significant one-time contributions to the state retirement system.

According to a Lee Newspaper poll, Montana voters flunked the Legislature's job performance, while at the same time, strongly supported some of the session's major accomplishments. The poll found that 67 percent of voters gave the divided Legislature a negative job-approval grade. At the same time, 55 percent of voters said Gov. Schweitzer's $400-per-household property tax refund was sufficient. The poll also found that 63 percent of voters approved of the Legislature's spending almost three-fourths of the projected $1 billion surplus on public schools, prisons, human services, state colleges and construction. Twenty-six percent indicated more of the surplus should have been returned to the taxpayers. In addition, 53 percent approved of the decision to provide money to schools districts who wish to offer voluntary full-day kindergarten.

History was made this session when Missoula's Carol Williams was elected as the first female Senate majority leader in Montana history. During the special session, Republican leaders elected Rep. Dennis Himmelgerger to replace Rep. Mike Lange who was asked to resign as House majority leader following his disparaging remarks about the Governor and other Democrats during the regular session.

[Sara Vitaska is NCSL's liaison with the Montana Legislature.] 

How did the Dome Become the Symbol of Government?

by Karl Kurtz

Standing in the rotunda of the California Capitol looking up at its spectacular dome with a group of people last week, someone asked me the question, How did the dome become the symbol of government?  I couldn't answer the question, so I muttered something vague about the beauty of domes and how they fit the grandeur of most capitol buildings.

When I returned to my office, I looked up "domes, meaning of" in Charles Goodsell's The American Statehouse.  Goodsell is a professor at Virginia Tech's Center for Public Administration and Policy. His book examines the interaction of architecture and politics in American state government. 

Goodsell explains that Thomas Jefferson was enamored of domes and urged that the U.S. Capitol have a dome and that Charles Bulfinch designed the first capitol domes for the Massachusetts State House and the national capitol in Washington.  Bulfinch's national capitol dome was later replaced with a more elaborate one by Thomas U. Walter in the mid-19th century, modeled after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

Then he reflects on three levels of meaning of domes:

The...instrumental level of meaning is the dome's attention-getting ability from afar.  In some capitols, this feature is augmented by gilding the [exterior].  The...status-marking level is the dome's identification of the building as a government capitol.  In the United States, the association is remarkably universal.  As for the...cosmological [level], one thought that comes to mind is the dome's anthropomorphic resemblance to a giant head of authority seen on the distant horizon, covered perhaps by an antiquated helmet.  E. Baldwin Smith, the leading scholar on domes, indeed points out that one of the ancient cosmological meanings of the dome is that of celestial helmet.  Moreover, as we know, the Latin root of "capitol" is "head." (p. 25)

Goodsell continues with this awesome description of capitol buildings:

...[T]he statehouse articulates the final and inescapable authority of government, and does so in a manner that to many citizens must seem overwhelming.  It is a big building, conspicuously located, laid out with ordered symmetry, festooned with columns and grand porches, entered through heavy doors, and topped by a high dome shaped like a giant head of authority.  Within, the building's highlight is a large sacred space positioned at the physical center of state government.  The rotunda is lavishly decorated with historical murals, heroic statues, exhortative inscriptions, a brilliant celestial vault, and a hanging egg of creation. (p. 34)

So take your choice of dome metaphors: attention-getter, celestial helmet, giant head of authority, celestial vault or hanging egg of creation.  All I know is that I've never seen one I didn't like.

Goodsell's comment that the symbol of the dome as government capitol is "remarkably universal" in the U.S. inspires a trivia question.  There are seven state capitols that don't have either external or internal domes.  Can you name them?  [Answer below the jump.]

Everett Dirksen Cartoon Collection Now Available--With Lesson Plans

by Karl Kurtz

The Dirksen Congressional Center has recently published 300 cartoons of the memorable (am I showing my age?) U.S. Senate minority leader from Illinois, Everett Dirksen, on the Web, complete with lesson plans that help young people understand and interpret political cartoons.  Here's what the Center says about the collection:

Editorial cartoonists loved Everett Dirksen (1896-1969)—his position of influence as Minority Leader in the Senate (1959-69), his way with words, and, of course, his distinctive appearance. Over the years, Senator Dirksen’s staff compiled a scrapbook containing more than 300 editorial cartoons. Topics covered include Vietnam, civil rights, Republican Party politics, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, reapportionment, Taft-Hartley 14(b), school prayer, Dirksen’s recording career, Senate procedures, congressional pay, presidential appointments, and Dirksen’s legacy. Naturally, cartoonists also used these topics to depict Dirksen’s relationship with President Lyndon Johnson, with his Democratic colleagues in the Senate, and with the Supreme Court. In addition, cartoonists sent Dirksen between 50 and 60 original sketches on equally diverse topics.

Among the scores of cartoonists represented in the collection are Herblock, Gib Crockett, Hugo, Bill Mauldin, Gene Basset, Pat Oliphant, Al Capp, Wayne Stayskal, Jim Berry, Guernsey LePelley, Tom Engelhardt, Paul Conrad, and Jim Berryman. [David Levine’s sketch of Senator Dirksen on the senator’s birthday, January 4, 1966, appears at left.]

Value of Cartoons for Educational Purposes

Massachusetts Sets Back to School Participation Record

The results are in. More than 1,200 legislators from all across the country spoke with students and let them know that their ideas count through the America's Legislators Back to School Program. Every legislator in Massachusetts visited a classroom this year. In the eight years of the program, this is the first time that an entire legislature has participated in one year. All of the senators in Connecticut also joined in. Utah, always very involved in the program, had 80 percent participation this year.

Listed below are the top states for legislator participation in the Back to School program.

State	Percentage of Legislature Participating
Massachusetts	100%
Utah	80%
California	52%
Hawaii	51%
Nebraska	51%
Arizona	50%
Mississippi	48%
Alaska	42%
New Jersey	42%
Virginia	40%
New Mexico	38%
Rhode Island	33%
Oklahoma	32%
Iowa	28%
Louisiana	27%
South Dakota	24%
Kentucky	24%
Indiana	24%

Imagine a Legislature with 11,000 Members

by Karl Kurtz

With a population of about 1.2 million (2000 census) and 400 members in its House of Representatives, New Hampshire has the smallest legislative districts in the country.  Recognizing that New Hampshire has many multi-member districts that make some constituencies larger, on average Granite State legislators represent 3,100 legislators.

California, which has only 40 members in its Senate and 80 in the Assembly, is at the opposite extreme:  Golden State senators have districts that average 847,000 people and Assembly members 424,000 constituents.

Struck by this extreme difference between the two states, Donald Manning, chief of staff to Speaker Terie Norelli in New Hampshire, calculated how many legislators the California Assembly would have if it followed the New Hampshire small district model.  The answer: 10,926! 

How would you like to be the party whip charged with counting votes in that legislature?

I took Donald's methodology of dividing the average size of New Hampshire House districts into total population one step further and calculated the size of the U.S. House.  The result is 91,842 members.

If you want to have some fun, take your state's population, divide it by 3,100, and you will get the size of your state's house of representatives according to the New Hampshire model.  For a much more serious discussion of the size of legislatures and legislative districts, see "What's the Right Size for a Legislature?"  You can find the size of each state's legislative districts here.

Gas Pipeline, Crime Package, Ethics Highlight Alaska Session

by Bob Boerner

The 25th Alaska Legislature wrapped up its first session on time on May 16, having addressed a wide variety of important legislative priority issues.

The biggest item on the agenda was Governor Sarah Palin's AGIA - the Alaska Gas Line Inducement Act, which the Legislature passed substantially as the administration requested.   The AGIA sets out guidelines for companies wishing to compete for the right to build a gas line in the State of Alaska.

The Legislature passed an omnibus anti-crime bill, which tightens up on state laws relating to sexual offenders, incarcerated criminals, traffickers in prostitution, and other areas of the law, closing loopholes and protecting innocent victims.  And, it passed ethics legislation that addresses many of the critical issues of the legislative and administrative branches.

The Legislature was not able to reach agreement on several issues including education funding and the formula that distributes state funds to school districts and classrooms throughout the state; revenue sharing with local communities; and the funded liability accruing to the public employees' and teachers' retirement systems.

Perhaps the most newsworthy story in 2007 was the federal investigation into bribery and corruption in the Legislature.  The U.S. Department of Justice recently revealed VECO Corporation, an oil pipeline service and construction company, was offering state legislators bribes to influence decisions worth tens of billions of dollars.

Two top executives of VECO Corporation have pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges and three state lawmakers they are accused of bribing are awaiting trial. Other elected officials have yet to face charges, though the U.S. Department of Justice says they participated in the schemes. A fourth state legislator faces separate federal bribery allegations.

[Bob Boerner is NCSL's liaison to the Alaska Legislature.]

Classroom Challenge leads to new Youth Council

by Jan Goehring

"It started as a challenge from me to the students when I was visiting their class back in September as part of the National Conference of State Legislatures Back to school Program," says Louisiana Senator Gerald Theunissen. He asked the eighth grade students from Hathaway High School in Jennings, LA to come up with a bill that would be important to the young people of the state. The result was senate bill 46 to create a Legislative Youth Advisory Council. The bill passed overwhelmingly.

The students helped write the bill and learned first-hand about building support for their legislation. Before session started they, together with Senator Theunissen, visited the capitol and met with Governor Kathleen Blanco who strongly supported the idea. They also spoke with Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, Senator Sharon Weston Broome, vice-chair of the the Senate Education Committee and Louisiana Public Broadcasting President Beth Courtney who serves on the Louisiana Commission on Civic Education. All supported the bill. The students helped with the bill as it made its way through the Legislative process.

The Legislative Youth Advisory Council will advise the Legislature on youth policy matters and proposed legislation. Membership on the council will include students in grades 9 - 12 with at least a 2.5 grade point average. The council will also hold at least one public hearing each year on issues of importance to youth and participate in an annual seminar about leadership, government and the legislatures. The Commission on Civic Education will oversee their work.

"This council will give young people a way to voice their opinions about matters important to them," says Taylor Granger, one of the students involved with the bill. "If we make the effort to learn about our government and policy making now, we will make better decisions later," he adds.

Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Washington also have established youth advisory councils.

Minnesota Finishes on Time

by Meagan Dorsch

Minnesota’s 2007 legislature wrapped up in late May without having to go into special session.  It's "the first time since 1999 that the Legislature finished its work on time in a budget year," DFL (Democratic Farmer-Labor party) Representative David Bly posted on his blog.

However, Session Weekly, a nonpartisan publication by the Minnesota House of Representatives, called this session "a cliff-hanger until the end."

With one day to go, Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed the entire tax bill put together by the DFL-controlled legislature.  He objected to the bill's requirement to build inflation into the budget forecast--which he says would put "government growth on autopilot."  His veto also cancelled several other major items, including property tax refunds, local aid increases and subsidies for the expansion of the Mall of America.

The omnibus tax bill veto was perhaps the most dramatic in a series of vetoes, including one that killed a proposal to provide property tax relief by increasing income taxes.  Vetoes also nipped at budget bills. 

In addition to finding a budget compromise, lawmakers enacted a renewable energy policy, aimed at combating global warming.  Not everyone was happy with laws restricting the use of ATV's throughout the state.

Other major bills passed included health insurance for children and $800 million dollars in K-12 school funding over the next two years.