The Thicket at State Legislatures

Four Regular Sessions and One Special Adjourn

by Karl Kurtz

The Virginia and Washington legislatures adjourned on Thursday last week, Indiana on Friday and South Dakota yesterday (Monday).  (Click on the map to see which states are in session and which are not.)  Here are links to session wrap-up stories:

• A budget dispute in the Virginia General Assembly caused the session to go five days over the scheduled adjournment date.  Plans are to come back for a special session to deal with unresolved transportation and capital outlay issues.  Here is a Richmond Times-Dispatch summary.
• "Legislative tally: 60 days, 335 bills" is the headline in The News-Tribune's summary of Washington's even-numbered year short session.
• Property tax reform dominated Indiana's legislative session this year, so much so that the Indianapolis Star refers to all the other legislation as "small stories."
• Here's a summary of the final day of South Dakota's session from the Argus-Leader.  As soon as there is an overall session summary available we will amend this post and add it.

In addition, the Louisiana Legislature adjourned its second special session called by new governor Bobby Jindal who "batted 1,000" on the business tax cuts and $1.1 billion in new spending that he wanted, according to The Times-Picayune.

California Legislative Analyst Liz Hill to Retire

by Karl Kurtz

The Sacramento Bee today reports "Longtime California legislative analyst announces retirement." 

Talk about legislative lions!  Elizabeth Hill, 58, began working in the Legislative Analyst's Office in 1976 and became its head in 1986.  She is the second-longest serving legislative fiscal officer in the country (behind Wisconsin's Bob Lang) and one of the most influential, innovative and respected staffers in the country.

Liz was given one of NCSL outstanding legislative staff achievement awards in 2006.  Here is the citation:

This award is given in recognition of Liz Hill's outstanding career of achievement and excellence in supporting the work of the California Legislature.

Liz has had a 30-year career in California state government. She joined the Legislative Analyst's Office in 1976, and after working in several policy areas became California's Legislative Analyst in 1986.  The analyst is elected by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, a 16 member bipartisan committee.

As legislative analyst, Liz serves as a nonpartisan fiscal advisor to both houses of the California Legislature and oversees the preparation of annual fiscal and policy analyses of the state budget and its various programs. Her office also has the responsibility for preparing impartial analyses for all initiatives and constitutional measures qualifying for the statewide ballot. The office currently has a staff of 49.

Liz has also been an active member of the Western Legislative Fiscal Officers' Association and the National Association of Legislative Fiscal Offices.  In 1997, she was recognized as a “Public Official of the Year” by Governing Magazine and she was a 2005 recipient of the National Public Service Award from the American Society for Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration.

We previously featured the work of her office in "California's Unique Legislative Analysis of the Governor's Budget."

A Senator who can Vote Twice?

by Karl Kurtz

New York's musical chairs situation in which Lt. Governor David Paterson will become governor and Senate Majority Leader and President Pro Tempore Joe Bruno will become acting lieutenant governor raises a curious question reported on by The New York Times blog, City Beat: "In a Senate Tie, Could Bruno Vote Twice?" 

In other words, could Senator Bruno vote once as a senator and then again, in the event of a tie, as the lieutenant governor who by constitution has a tie-breaking vote?  The issue is of considerable interest in New York because of the narrow 32-30 margin for the Republicans in the Senate.  This situation of the temporary Senate president also serving as lieutenant governor will persist through the elections of 2008, in which all New York senators are up for election, until the next gubernatorial election in 2010.  If the Senate were to be tied after the 2008 elections, this question would become critical and could determine which party holds the majority.

Not surprisingly, this issue is a matter of some dispute in New York.  According to the Times posting, Republicans say that the pro tem would have two votes, while the Democrats say no, he would not.  The experts are uncertain.

This has led inevitably to a question from New York to NCSL: What is the practice in other states on this matter?  The short answer is that Pennsylvania appears to be the only other state where it might be possible for a senator/acting lieutenant governor to vote twice.  For the long answer, read below the jump.

Legislative Adjournment Season Begins

by Karl Kurtz

NCSL's nifty new 50-state legislative session calendar map gives you a quick overview of which states are in session and which are not.  A glance at this map shows that legislative adjournment season is upon us as four states now have gone dark: New Mexico, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.  The Washington, Virginia, Indiana and South Dakota legislatures are all scheduled to adjourn sine die within the next week.

Last year, in our sine die series in The Thicket, we tried to write a short 3-4 paragraph summary of each state's session with links to newspaper stories.  The reason for writing our own wrapup is that those newspaper links sometimes disappear into inaccessible archives.  That task ate us up, though, as we weren't able to keep up with all 50 states.  This year we'll confine ourselves to periodically lumping together into a single post states that have recently adjourned and providing at least one link to a summary of the session.  If the links go away after a few weeks, there's nothing we can do about it.

• New Mexico was the first state to adjourn its legislature in 2008 on February 13.  The headline of an AP story,  "Legislature adjourns, governor plans special session," refers to the likelihood that Gov. Richardson will call a special session this summer to deal with health care issues that were unresolved in the regular session.
• The Utah Legislature adjourned on March 5.  See "On Legislature's last day, some bills beat clock, others did not" in The Salt Lake Tribune.  Long-time Senate Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich announced that he would not run for reelection after 40 years of service in the Utah Legislature.
• The Wyoming Legislature adjourned its 2008 budget-only session on March 6. See "Lawmakers grade budget session" in the Casper Star Tribune.
• Lincoln Walks at Midnight, the curiously named nonpartisan blog on West Virginia politics, posted Sifting through the 2008 session containing a series of links to end of session newspaper stories after the March 8 adjournment of the West Virginia Legislature.

Videos on State Politics

by Karl Kurtz

Looking for videos--documentary or fictional--about state and local politics?  Professor Carl Klarner of Indiana University compiled a list after posting an inquiry on an academic political science listserv about videos on state and local politics that would be useful in the classroom.  With his permission I am reproducing his list here, organized slightly differently, leaving out lots of suggestions he received about movies not directly related to state and local government and adding any links that I could find.  The comments on each video are either those received by Prof. Klarner or they come from online listings.

This list was produced by academics.  The Thicket readers are invited to add their own suggestions by writing a comment below or clicking on "contact us" and sending an e-mail.  For a similar lively discussion of movies that are set in (but not necessarily about state politics) state capitols, see "Lights, Camera...Capitols."

As usual with fictional portrayals of government and politics, an overwhelming (and dismaying) number of these films deal with government corruption.  Caveat emptor.

State Politics

• Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style--2004 television documentary. Asking what the politics are that launched George W. Bush to national office, award-winning filmmaker Paul Stekler takes his camera to Texas for a lively, behind-the-scenes look at a pair of 2002 elections — one for state representative in a district that includes Lyndon Johnson's hometown, and a polarizing race for governor.
• State Legislature--2007 documentary about the Idaho state legislature by Frederick Wiseman, 3 hrs., 37 min., like first-hand observation with editing.
• Bill's Run--a 2004 PBS documentary about a campaign for the state legislature in Kansas.
• Brotherhood--2006 Showtime TV series: Set in an Irish neighbourhood in Providence, the series reflects around two brothers on opposite sides of the law: one a gangster (Jason Isaacs) and the other a Rhode Island state legislator (Jason Clarke).

Felons: Are You Guilty of Moral Turpitude?

by Doug Farquhar

The New York Times had an interesting article, "In Alabama, a Fight to Regain Voting Rights Some Felons Never Lost," earlier this week about a curious quirk of the Alabama Constitution, which provides that only felons who have committed a "felony involving moral turpitude" are not eligible to vote.  A 2005 Alabama attorney-general's opinion says, "If...a person is convicted solely of a felony that does not involve moral turpitude, that person remains eligible to vote. If a person has been convicted of a felony that does not involve moral turpitude, that person remains eligible to vote…."  The story is about how this opinion is being used in Alabama today by activists who are trying to register such felons to vote.

Moral turpitude, as a legal concept, refers to conduct that would be immoral even if it were not illegal.  At the 1901 Constitutional Convention, the delegates felt that only felons who engaged in both illegal and immoral conduct should lose the right to vote.

The problem is that there is no definition of what kind of felony constitutes moral turpitude.  There appears to be general agreement, though, that a felony conviction for drug possession does not involve moral turpitude, meaning that the 3,000 current inmates convicted of felony drug charges should be eligible to vote.

According to The Sentencing Project, Maine and Vermont are the only two states that allow incarcerated felons to vote.  Forty-seven other states ban them from voting.  Alabama appears to be in a unique category of allowing some prisoners to vote but not others.

The issue of voting rights for felons, which is more often couched in terms of restoring the franchise for felons who have served their time, often divides Democrats and Republicans.  In 2003 the Alabama Legislature passed a bill that made it easier for former felons to regain their voting rights.  The New York Times story quotes the chair of the Alabama Republican party as saying, “As frank as I can be, we’re opposed to it because felons don’t tend to vote Republican.”

Doug Farquhar covers agriculture and trade policy and is NCSL's liaison with the Alabama Legislature.  Photo of Old Kilby Prison Tower, Montgomery, Alabama, courtesy of Flickr by kenny42952.

Look for Candidates who Respect the Legislature

When we first began our campaign to improve public understanding of legislatures (the Trust for Representative Democracy), we discovered that what we were saying about state legislatures was almost word for word what former Congressman Lee Hamilton was saying at the Center on Congress at Indiana University.  All you had to do was to substitute our "state legislature" for his "Congress," and you had identical messages.  That was the basis on which we started a valuable partnership with the Center on Congress and, subsequently, together with the Center for Civic Education, formed the Alliance for Representative Democracy.

Just to prove the case that the messages are the same, I have taken one of Lee Hamilton's recent Comments on Congress (with apologies, thanks and admiration) and amended it to read as if it were written by a current or former state legislator.  Want to see if the argument works for your own state?  Just insert your state's name wherever you see the word "state."  You can find the original version of Hamilton's commentary without the deletions and additions here.

Look for Candidates who Respect the Congress State Legislature

by Lee Hamilton (as amended by Karl Kurtz)

You might not have noticed, given the media’s fascination with the presidential campaign, but there are 435 U.S. House contests and 35 U.S. Senate 5,579 state legislative races [a nationwide total--see a state-by-state list of 2008 legislative seats up for election] taking place this year. These are important elections, for even more reasons than you might be hearing about. Indeed, unless I miss my guess, the candidates and press in those many contests are barely talking about one of the most important issues we face: the role of Congress the state legislature itself.

The litany of matters worrying Americans and absorbing the attention of congressional state legislative candidates is, of course, long and complex: the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the challenges posed by Iran, the state of American public education, climate change, a long-term energy policy, immigration…. Not surprisingly, many voters want to hear how Congress the state legislature can protect them from financial ruin or how candidates propose to keep America our state strong. They’re less interested in how Congress the legislature functions.

Yet unless Congress the state legislature learns how to reassert its constitutional responsibility to be the President’s governor's equal in policy-making, the progress voters yearn to see on all those issues will be much harder to come by. This is why, as you listen to the various House and Senate candidates campaigning for your vote, I hope you’ll pay attention not only to what they say about the economy or Iraq education, but also to how they talk about Congress the state legislature itself.

State Legislative Primary Elections in Texas and Ohio

by Tim Storey

Ohio and Texas held legislative primaries yesterday, and it appears that there were relatively few surprises. 

Unofficial results show that a handful of incumbent Texas legislators lost in their effort to return.  Those included Democratic Representatives Kevin Bailey, Juan Escobar, Borris Miles, and Paul Moreno.  On the Republican side, incumbent Representatives Corbin Van Arsdale, Pat Haggerty and Thomas Latham all lost.  One race that saw about 30,000 total votes cast is likely headed to a recount.  Incumbent GOP Representative Nathan Macias trailed by 38 votes after initial vote tallies.

It does not appear that any sitting Texas Senators lost primary elections yesterday. 

The big question is whether these incumbent losses will affect the heated battle for Speaker of the Texas House.  The Austin American Statesman has a great wrap-up that seems to conclude that Speaker Craddick is positioned to retain his leadership post. 

And one Democratic Texas legislator earned the right to be an underdog this fall.  State Representative Rick Noriega won the Democratic primary and will challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn.  The last time a Democrat won statewide in Texas was 1994. 

In Ohio, term limits fueled a wave of state legislators running for Congress, and several of them won primary bids on Tuesday.  In the Republican primary for U.S. House district 5, State Representative Bob Latta won big.  State Senator Steve Austria won the Republican primary in Congressional district 7 that is being vacated by retiring Congressman Dave Hobson.  In another open U.S. House seat, two legislators will face off in the fall to replace Ralph Regula (R).  Democratic State Senator John Boccieri will run against Republican State Senator Kirk Schuring for Ohio U.S. House district 16.

The next round of statewide legislative primaries are 47 days away on April 22nd in Pennsylvania. 

Ethics Reform Passes in Louisiana

By Jan Goehring

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal ran on a platform of ethics reform, arguing that a state with weak ethics laws discourages new business from locating there. Once elected, he established an ad hoc ethics task force that came up with a package of reforms that he presented to the Legislature in a special session in February. After considering hundreds of bills and resolutions, the Legislature passed sweeping reforms placing Louisiana among the top states in terms of strong ethics laws.

The new package of legislation requires, for example, personal financial disclosure for the vast majority of elected and appointed officials for the first time in Louisiana. It changed state contracting provisions and increased transparency in lobbying activity. The new legislation also requires annual ethics training for public servants and lobbyists. According to NCSL research, Louisiana will now be the only state that uses administrative law judges to preside over ethics hearings and rule on penalties. The ethics board will investigate the cases.

Richard Huddleston, Chief Clerk of the Oklahoma House

by Karl Kurtz

Richard Huddleston, Chief Clerk of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1976 to 1983, died last week.  Here is an obituary from The Oklahoman.  Caroline Dennis, director of committee staff for the Oklahoma Legislature and the one who called this story to our attention, said of Huddleston, "He was one of the people most responsible for developing the legislative staff in Oklahoma and modernizing the whole process here." A resolution passed by the Oklahoma Senate today, provides specifics on his role as an institution-builder:

WHEREAS, during his tenure, Richard L. Huddleston’s leadership guided the House of Representatives into the modern era, including such reforms as the first election of the House Speaker by the members of that body rather than by appointment of the Governor, the first reapportionment of legislative districts, the end of the regular practice of using the Committee of the Whole and the end of the annual practice of covering the House clock to extend the session beyond the time set for sine die adjournment; and
WHEREAS, as the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives, Richard L. Huddleston was responsible for designing the structure of the independent House staff and the hiring of the employees for that first staff, and he was personally responsible for encouraging and fostering the careers of many successful House employees who later became leaders in their professions, in politics, in public administration, in higher education and in private business....

Brian Weberg's use of the term "legislative lion" in the previous post to describe a veteran North Carolina staffer applies equally to Richard Huddleston.