The Thicket at State Legislatures

State Legislation Opposing Certain Health Reform

by Meagan Dorsch

States have complicated shared power relationship with the federal government in regulating various aspects of the health insurance market and in enacting health reforms.

In this edition of The Buzz, we sit down with Dick Cauchi, program director for NCSL's health program. Dick explains the actions that some states have taken to block certain health care reform.

These are actions that could put states in a binding position, aiming to block mandates that could come from future health care legislation either in their own state or from the federal government. Dick also takes the time to talk about what it could mean for health care down the road in these states and the unique situation in Arizona with its pending constitutional amendment.

Of course some states have been players in health reform since 2003, long before congressional actions on this issue.  

Listen to our podcast (8:06) and turn to NCSL for additional resources on state health reform and federal health reform.

The Fiscal Outlook for Higher Education

by Brenda Bautsch

2009 was a tough year for states in terms of funding higher education, and 2010 does not look any better.

The recession has made fiscal conditions worse in the states, and while the federal stimulus funds have helped, states know that those funds will end soon. According to Joni Finney, Vice President on the National Center of Public Policy on Higher Education and a professor at practice at the University of Pennsylvania, most states do not have a plan for funding higher education in the long term.

In this edition of the Buzz, we sit down with Professor Finney to talk about hope for the future. Finney says it is going to take leadership to make sure that states have a plan to fund higher education in the long term. She also says thinking outside of the box might help states find a solution in these unprecedented times.

Listen to this podcast and our other podcasts on college completion rates with David Longanecker and federal policies and programs with the Deputy Under Secretary of Education.

What Federal Policies and Programs Can Help States Improve College Completion?

by Brenda Bautsch

President Barack Obama recently announced his goal of having the United States become number one in the world in terms of the number of adults with postsecondary degrees. This is a spot the United States once held, but in today's global economy, has slipped away.

The topic of college completion was the focus of the 6th annual Higher Education Institute in Denver, Colorado. The meeting was held by the National Conference of State Legislatures and allowed legislators from across the country the opportunity to come and share what their state is doing in terms of boosting higher education graduation rates.

Bob Shireman, Deputy Under Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education, spoke to lawmakers about what the federal government is doing today, and what it plans to do in the future, to improve college access and success for everyone.

In this podcast, I was able to sit down with Deputy Under Secretary Shireman and talk to him about federal government action to secure loans and grants for college students and some upcoming reform that could make a postsecondary education more affordable. Shireman also talks about the higher education bill that Congress is working on, and how it could bolster college success.

Listen to this podcast (4:53) and our previous podcast on college completion rates with David Longanecker.

 

College Completion Rates: Room for Improvement

by Brenda Bautsch

When you compare higher education completion rates in the United States to the rest of the world, we fall behind. But that hasn't always been the case.

The National Conference of State Legislatures recently held the 6th annual Higher Education Institute in Denver, Colorado. Improving college completion was the focus of the two day meeting with legislators from across the country.

David Longanecker, president of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, attended the meeting and provided some great insight into what states can do to graduate more students from college.

In this edition of the Buzz, I sat down with Mr. Longanecker to get his perspective on how the United States can once again lead the world in the number of adults with college degrees. He says it's a goal we cannot accomplish by relying just on high school graduates—we must also focus on adult education. Longanecker also talks about performance-based funding and why he thinks this might help legislatures and states boost the number of students who finish college.

Listen to the podcast (4:41) and let us know if your state is making higher education a priority.

News reporting changes, and yet stays the same

by Michelle Blackston

In this edition of NCSL's The Buzz, it's time to highlight another statehouse reporter I caught up with at the 2009 Capitol Beat Reporter conference.

Peter Wong is the capitol bureau chief of the Oregon Statesman Journal. In this interview, he talks about the changing nature of statehouse reporting and shares some of the tools he uses for cultivating stories.

While much of the hype surrounds social media and online social networks, Wong said he's not there yet. He finds much of the online debate in blogs to be more about politics than policy. But Wong will be the first to admit that he still reads blogs to say attune to the debate.

From there, the information in blogs might lead Wong to pursue his own story with on-the-ground research and in-person interviews. There is much to be said for one-on-one interactions and hand-shake meetings, Wong says in this interview with me during the reporter's conference. 

Listen to the Buzz and don't forget to check out the numerous political blogs highlighted on The Thicket.

How are Students and Teachers Doing in the Classroom?

by Yilan Shen

The National Conference of State Legislatures recently held a half-day meeting where legislators and legislative staff heard from several experts in the field of teacher and student assessments. Assessing how students are progressing in their studies and how teachers are performing are essential in meeting and refining goals of public education.

Gene Wilhoit, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, kicked off the meeting. Wilhoit described the shift to standard-based assessments away from normative and comparative. Wilhoit(1:51) spoke about the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) and the need for common standards amongst states.

Given the change in needs and shift in recent times, Wilhoit thinks states will have several issues to address in the next few years in terms of assessments (6:08). Wilhoit began the conversation around common standards by talking about the process and nature of standards that have made assessing student achievement difficult without having a common measure (1:20), a conversation that continued with the other speakers.

The Buzz: From the Statehouse Press Corps

 By Michelle Blackston

(This is the first in a series of interviews with statehouse reporters and editors)

By all accounts, the news media is experiencing a dramatic upheaval. And statehouses have not been spared. According to a recent article in the American Journalism Review there are only 355 full-time newspaper reporters at the nation's state capitols, a 32 percent drop from six years ago.

I recently attended the national Capitolbeat conference for statehouse reporters. Since many of them are seeing first hand their state bureaus diminishing in size and capacity, I wanted to find out about the changing nature of their jobs and the coverage of statehouses across the country. As more on-line news organizations including bloggers are covering state legislatures, I wanted to know how social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are affecting news coverage.   

In this edition of the The Buzz, I chat with the Political Editor of the Dallas Morning News Ryan Rusak to learn more about the coverage from Austin. Click here to listen now!

Same-Sex Marriage. Where do states stand?

by Meagan Dorsch

This has been a big year for the topic of same-sex marriage in state legislatures across the country.

Six states have legalized same-sex marriages, but in at least one state, the law could be challenged.

In this edition of The Buzz, we sit down with NCSL's Christine Nelson to get an update on state legislative activity, learn what the next step could be for California and what smaller steps have been taken at the federal level.

We also discuss public opinion polls on same-sex marriage and what those numbers could mean to lawmakers.

Has this issued peaked in state legislatures? Listen to our podcast (8:43) to find out.

The Buzz: States Hit a 'Home Run'

by Michelle Blackston

NCSL and states scored a major victory when President Barack Obama released guidelines regarding federal agencies and departments establishing new rules and regulations. The president, in his memo to agency executives, said federal agencies must avoid preempting state laws without a sound legal basis to do so.

In this podcast, Senior Federal Affairs Counsel Michael Bird in the Washington, D.C., office discusses the enormity of this memo and what it means moving forward not only for states, but also for the federal agencies that set regulations. The issue of federal preemption of state laws has been a top 10 policy issue for NCSL and is a big win for states. Listen to our podcast (5:23) and click on "Dateline Washington" at www.ncsl.org for the latest State-Federal news from NCSL.

Death Penalty is Still an Issue for State Legislatures

by Meagan Dorsch

New Mexico has become the most recent state to abolish its death penalty. This brings the total number of states with the death penalty to 35. New Mexico is the second state to abolish capital punishment since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976; New Jersey did so in December, 2007.

A little more than a year ago, we sat down with NCSL's Sarah Hammond, to discuss the activity surrounding the death penalty at the federal level. While there was a narrowing of the death penalty in recent years at the federal level, the majority of activity this year was seen in the states. Eight states total introduced measures to abolish the death penalty during the 2009 legislative session.

Listen to our podcast (8:49) to learn some of the factors states might be considering when proposing legislation to abolish the death penalty, what happens if a states does change their law on capital punishment and why the federal government has said they have taken some of their leads on this issue from states.