The Thicket at State Legislatures

The Mother of all Institutions

by Karl Kurtz

For more years than I wish to count, I have often concluded my speeches with an inspirational message about the role of legislatures in a democracy by showing this photo:

I first saw (and inexpertly photographed) this sign, which reads "Povo sem parlamento é povo escravo" in Portuguese, in front of the Rio Grande do Sul [state] Legislative Assembly building in Porto Alegre, Brazil nearly 20 years ago. Literally translated, it means "People without parliament are people in chains." For me it captures one of the key missions of legislatures all over the world: To protect the rights and freedoms of the people.

Now, courtesy of the unlikely source of a party leader in Pakistan, I have a new tag line to add to my repertoire: "Parliament is mother of all institutions." The president of Awami National Party (ANP), Asfandyar Wali Khan, recently made this statement to explain why his party would not take part in any efforts to remove the Pakistani government. He went on to say, "...[A]ll the state institutions derived strength from the parliament" and "...we all have to accept this reality that parliament was the base of state institutions."

I love the image of legislatures as the mother of all governmental institutions. It's a bit like saying that Congress is (or state legislatures are) the first branch of government because the legislative article is first in the U.S. Constitution and most state constitutions--but it's a more colorful and evocative phrase.

Find the quotes at agora-parl community (gated) or Pakistan Observer.

Legislative Scholar is State's Top Politico

by Karl Kurtz

Quick. Name an academic political scientist who has spent a career studying state legislatures but has also recently been named the most powerful person in his state's politics during the last year.

Does that seem like an unlikely combination? Try Rutgers University Prof. Alan Rosenthal who, in addition to writing numerous influential books on state legislatures, has served on two different occasions as the 11th, nonpartisan, tie-breaking member of New Jersey's state legislative redistricting commission. For his decision last year to back a plan favored by Democrats, in the face of fierce pressure from Gov. Chris Christie, Politicker NJ ranked Rosenthal #1 among New Jersey's 100 most powerful politicos, excluding elected officials, in 2011.

PolitickerNJ's citation said of Rosenthal: "This academic succeeded this year where every Democratic politico in the state failed; he checked the power of Gov. Chris Christie." Rosenthal's rationale was that he chose the plan that was more likely to allow either side to win control of the legislature and was "less disruptive" to incumbents.

When asked about the award, Rosenthal laughed and said, "It's pretty amazing because there were a bunch of people on the list below me who are genuinely powerful."

Photo credit: PolitickerNJ

President Addresses High School Graduation Rates

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 unanswered:  How do we pay for it?

“We also know that when students aren’t allowed to walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma. So tonight, I call on every state to require that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn eighteen.” – President Obama

The president may find partners in the states as he works to pursue this goal. Sharing information, providing technical assistance, and opening up further dialogue are all measures states would welcome.  Indeed, NCSL’s Task Force on School Dropout Prevention and Recovery found evidence suggesting that raising the maximum compulsory school age above 16 curtails dropout rates and produces other positive results.

Background:

• Compulsory school age requirements continue to be a hot topic for state lawmakers. In 2011, at least six states—Alaska, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Montana and Rhode Island—considered legislation to raise the “dropout” age to 18, although only Rhode Island did so. To date, 21 states and the District of Columbia require students to stay in school until the age of 18. Almost all include exceptions for mental illness and physical disability, or with parent permission.
• According to data from a May 2011 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report, the high school graduation rate for the 2008-09 school year was 75.5 percent.
• State and local governments pay for the vast majority of K-12 education, while the federal government contributes around 10 percent.

                     

 

 

Study Finds Gender Gap in Political Ambition

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, the ratio of female to male lawmakers has grown by fewer than five percentage points in the past two decades. Women were 20 percent of all legislators following the 1992 elections; today, several states have approximately one-third female legislators, but the national ratio is just 23.6 percent. This “slow growth” isn’t due to bias at the ballot box, as female candidates have been shown to be just as likely as male candidates to win their races. In Men Rule: The Continued Under-Representation of Women in U.S. Politics, Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox examine the important first step before any candidate can think about election day: the decision to run for office in the first place.

Lawless and Fox conclude that there is a substantial gender gap in political ambition: men were 16 percentage points more likely than women to have considered running for office, and this gap persists across demographic factors including political party, age, race, income, profession, and region of the country. Their data is drawn from the survey responses of nearly 4,000 men and women with the professional backgrounds that tend to yield candidates for public office: law, business, education, and political activism. The men and women had equivalent knowledge and experience, and yet, across all sectors, women were less likely to express interest in running for office. The authors conducted a similar survey in 2001, and there has been virtually no change in the political ambition gender gap in the intervening ten years.

Lawless and Fox identify seven factors that contribute to this gender gap:

1. Women are substantially more likely than men to perceive the electoral environment as highly competitive and biased against female candidates.
2. Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin’s candidacies aggravated women’s perceptions of gender bias in electoral politics.
3. Women are less likely than men to think they are qualified to run for office.
4. Female potential candidates are less competitive, less confident, and more risk averse than male potential candidates.
5. Women react more negatively than men to the necessities of campaigns.
6. Women are less likely than men to receive the suggestion to run for office–from anyone.
7. Women are still responsible for the majority of childcare and household tasks.

The report concludes, “many barriers to women’s interest in running for office can be overcome only with major cultural and political changes. But in the meantime, our results suggest that recruiting female candidates and disseminating information about the electoral environment and women’s successes can help narrow the gender gap and increase women’s numeric representation.” Several groups around the country are working to close the ambition gap by doing just that: actively recruiting female candidates and holding campaign trainings and mentoring forums. NCSL will be watching to see whether this increased attention to female candidates will result in an increase in women elected in November.

Online Gambling a Moneymaker for States?

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 betting.

Issued just before Christmas, the opinion paves the way for states to move forward with stalled plans to introduce a variety of online gambling ventures. According to Politico, Washington, D.C., intends to offer online poker and blackjack by April, while Illinois plans to sell lottery tickets and New Jersey hopes to become the “epicenter” of online gambling.

It also protects the rights of states that oppose the expansion of online gambling, such as Florida, whose attorney general issued an opinion last week advising against the approval of new slot machines in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

The only problem: Congress is considering federal legislation, claiming that states lack the resources to enforce Internet gambling laws. States counter that a federal law would impinge on their rights. NCSL believes Congress must preserve state authority to allow or prohibit Internet gambling. Any federal action should respect the rights of states that choose to prohibit Internet gambling.

In 2006, Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which prohibits financial transactions in support of illegal online gambling. But Congress never defined “illegal online gambling,” except to exclude Internet gambling conducted solely within the boundaries of a state or tribe. This exclusion serves as the legal basis for state sovereignty over online gambling.

According to the American Gaming Association (AGA), online gambling revenues from U.S. bettors exceeded $4 billion in 2010, but most of those revenues went to offshore operators. In a white paper issued last year, the AGA outlined measures to legalize and regulate online gambling in the United States. These measures would secure the jobs and tax revenue Internet gambling generates while controlling potential social risks with tight regulation.

Whether states choose to fold 'em or hold 'em when it comes to online gambling remains to be seen.

Alex Fitzsimmons is an intern in the public affairs division in NCSL's Washington D.C. office.

Legislative Leaders Attend Agriculture Summit

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 only national meeting dedicated to state and provincial committee, caucus or chamber leaders with an interest in agriculture and rural policy. Legislative leaders from 47 states and seven Canadian provinces attended.

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman opened the summit focusing on the importance agriculture has played in keeping his state’s unemployment rate at a low 4.1 percent. Legislators were also briefed by U.S. House and Senate Agriculture and Energy Committee staffers on the upcoming legislative landscape and reauthorization of the “2008 Farm Bill.” They met with U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, as well as other key USDA and White House staff, to discuss critical agriculture challenges facing rural communities. Other sessions discussed rural energy, animal welfare, invasive species, food safety, and farmland taxation.

The meeting provided state and provincial lawmakers with new tools to help cultivate thriving rural communities and keep agriculture profitable. The summit was co-hosted by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the Council of State Governments (CSG), and was held in Washington, D.C., January 6 – 8th.

New Leaders Take the Reins to Reign in 2012

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 to Republican takeovers and Republicans in the top roles.

(For a complete list of current legislative leaders click here.)

The Mississippi House elected its first Republican Speaker in 135 years on January 3 when Clinton, Mississippi attorney Philip Gunn was chosen unanimously by House members to be the new speaker following the November 2011 election in which Republicans won a 64-58 majority in the chamber. Speaker Gunn was first elected to the House in 2003. In addition to his legislative and legal work, he serves on the Board of Trustees for The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Representative Greg Snowden was chosen by the House to be the speaker pro tem.

In the Mississippi Senate, Republicans expanded their majority in the chamber to 31-21 last November, and voters chose Tate Reeves to be the lieutenant governor and head of the Senate. On opening day, Senator Terry Brown was selected by his peers to be the new President Pro Tem.

Last November's elections in Virginia led to a 20 D - 20 R tie in the Old Dominion Senate making for an interesting couple of months leading up the convening of the regular session last Wednesday. Republicans asserted that they would control the chamber because the Republican lieutenant governor would break tie votes in the chamber. Democrats filed suit in state court claiming that the Constitution did not allow the GOP to organize as the majority with the lieutenant governor as a tie-breaker. The court declined to intervene although the case is still pending. When the Virginia Senate convened last week, there was a prolonged, and respectful, debate culminating with Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling casting a decisive tie-breaking vote for the GOP to run the chamber. Republican Senator Thomas Norment will serve as the Majority Leader with Senator Richard Saslaw leading the Democrats.

Primary and Caucus Dates

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 Primary and Caucus Dates. We like to think these are the most accurate lists anywhere--and the easiest to understand.

My colleague, Jennie Bowser, created the lists and checked them against a multitude of official sources.  She says, “this year, it was more complicated than ever to assemble this data.”   Here are a few of the complications:  

• State legislatures decide the dates of primaries (except in the states where parties do);
• Political parties decide the dates of caucuses (except in the states where the legislature does);
• The two major parties don’t always use the same dates in a given state;
• More states changed their dates this year than in any of the last three presidential cycles (and Texas’ date could still change); and,
• Some primaries are “beauty contests” only, designed to bring attention to a state but not to choose delegates to the national conventions where presidential nominees are officially selected.

To understand all the vagaries in presidential nominating events, the National Association of Secretaries of State has just released a comprehensive report,  NASS 2012 Presidential Primaries Guide.  It can be downloaded from the NASS homepage.  In it, you’ll learn the state-by-state details on how the date is chosen, how the primary is funded, who can vote in the primary, and where to find official results.

TVW Introduces SCOUT

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 of issues. SCOUT will track video and bill information and automatically send it to those who open a free account.

According to TVW, SCOUT offers:

• Access to tracking all TVW video and legislative documentation (bills, bill reports, amendments, etc.).
• The ability to save video, legislative documents or highlighted video clips in a personal account library.
• Options to share video, documents or highlighted video clips via e-mail, social media like Facebook and Twitter, or create formal reports.

"To My Great Shame"

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 and on hundreds of television and radio programs, this was his first time speaking to a state legislative body.

“I thought of myself as a strategic adviser, not a lobbyist,” he said.  “I believed I was doing what everyone else was doing–only I was doing it better,” Abramoff added. “I always thought−if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.” He attributed this arrogance to thinking he was above the law.  “I lost sight of the line in the sand and of right and wrong,” he said. “To my great shame.”

From his prison cell, Abramoff decided that he had a base of knowledge that he should not waste. To try to rectify his crimes, his new mission is to educate lawmakers and the public about how the system should be reformed. 

Abramoff spoke at the annual ethics training sponsored by the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission. Previous speakers included respected names such as Norman Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute, and Rushworth Kidder, Institute for Global Ethics.  This year, the commission reached beyond “safe” speakers and brought in Abramoff.  His speaking fee of $5,000 is the price the commission normally pays.  In Abramoff’s case, his fee goes toward his $44 million debt in court-ordered restitution to Indian tribes and other clients.  He also is promoting his book, Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From American’s Most Notorious Lobbyist. 

Initially, the appearance of Abramoff was controversial among many Kentucky legislators. After hearing his speech, some changed their minds.  Legislators from both sides of the aisle thought Abramoff had significant things to say, according to the Courier-Journal.  Speaker Greg Stumbo said the talk will help lawmakers discern what is proper in their relationships with lobbyists.  Rep. Mike Harmon said he had some reservations initially, but believes Abramoff made some good points and was worth the speaking fee.