The Thicket at State Legislatures

House Mouse, Senate Mouse, Candy Mouse, Wired Mouse

By Karl Kurtz

Anybody remember the book, "House Mouse, Senate Mouse," by Peter W. Barnes and Cheryl Shaw Barnes in which children learn about how Congress makes laws when the Squeaker of the House and the Senate Mouse-jority leader must pass a bill to establish a national cheese? Turns out that in Massachusetts, there really are Senate mice, as reported in this AP story in the Washington Post:

BOSTON — Massachusetts senators are being urged to end their practice of keeping candy in their desks after mice searching for the treats also chewed the senators’ microphone wires.

Senate President Therese Murray made the plea Thursday during a formal session.

The discovery was made during an upgrade of the camera system in the Senate to allow for better webcasting. Workers found that some of the senators’ microphone wires had been chewed by mice....

The Statehouse, built more than 200 years ago, has long been home to mice, and the animals can occasionally be seen scampering about, including in the press gallery.

Maybe the Massachusetts Senate mice were doing research before voting on a measure to create a state candy.

Long Lost Original Light Fixtures Found in Oklahoma Capitol

From the Oklahoma Senate Communications Division:

Nearly one hundred years after beautifully ornate light fixtures were installed in the Senate Chamber, 11 of the original 20 fixtures have been discovered in attic space above the sixth floor of the Capitol. The artifacts were discovered during the ongoing historic restoration of a large conference room on the fifth floor that had been divided up into small offices decades ago. In connection with the project, Senate Information Systems Director John Warren was moving computer cables above the fifth floor ceiling and happened to notice an opening to a long-forgotten part of the attic. That led to the discovery of the fixtures....

The discovery of the sconces comes just one year before the 100th anniversary of the groundbreaking for the Capitol, which was completed in 1917. Over the next several decades, numerous changes were made to the building, with little or no concern about the original architectural designs. Hallways, conference rooms and other spaces were turned into offices. Stained glass was hidden by lower ceilings installed to conceal air conditioning ducts and other modernizations. The original sconces were eventually replaced with fluorescent lighting.

In the late 1980’s, a major historic restoration project was undertaken during the administration of then-governor Henry Bellmon. A mini-grand staircase that had long been covered up and turned into offices, was uncovered and restored to help commemorate the centennial of the Land Run of 1889. Four years later Sen. Charles Ford led a project to restore the Senate Chamber.

“We looked and looked and looked when we restored the chamber in ’93, looking for these fixtures, or at least one of them,” said Ford. The search ended in disappointment....

New York Capitol Renovation: Early and Under Budget

The roof of the New York State Capitol under renovation in 2012. Bernstein Associates, Courtesy of New York State

By Kae Warnock

 

The New York state capitol had been under renovation for a decade when Governor Andrew M. Cuomo took office on Jan. 1, 2011. Scaffolding had obscured the exterior and cluttered the halls for so long that it seemed it would never end.

 

In his inaugural address, Governor Cuomo said:

"This Capitol has become a physical metaphor for the isolation and alienation of our people. In the name of heightened security, they have erected barriers and barricades all around this Capitol. To get into this Capitol is now like running an obstacle course and it shouldn’t be. People refer to the Capitol as a fort or as a bunker; it is anything but.

This is a beautiful monument to democracy, this building. This is the people’s meeting place and they should be invited in.

And today, my friends, we will reopen the Capitol, literally and figuratively. We will remove the barriers on State Street so the tour buses can return once again. We will be opening up the second floor, the Governor’s floor, so the members of the public will once again have access to their government."

Governor Cuomo’s executive order to remove the barriers and open the second floor was the first of many steps he took to reconnect the people of New York to their government and the majestic capitol in which it works. The capitol restoration project was slated to take 14 years (2000-2014), but Governor Cuomo announced when he took office that the project would be accelerated so that it could be completed 18 months early (fall 2012) and at least $2 million under budget.

A large portion of the restoration project involved replacing the terra cotta portions of the roof and repairs to the slate roof to correct a chronic leak that had started shortly after the building was completed in 1899. Additional exterior work included rebuilding a skylight that had once illuminated the Great Western Staircase.

Interior restoration included: renovation of the Hall of Governors on the second floor; removal of a 1940s renovation that had created additional office space in the Senate and Assembly staircases; complete restoration of those staircases including restoration of the laylights (A laylight is a lightbox between a skylight and the ceiling of a room.) that had originally provided natural light.

In addition to physical restoration, installation of museum-quality exhibits throughout the capitol and a smart phone accessible walking tour help visitors and school groups understand the history of the building.

In his inaugural address and in many interviews since, Governor Cuomo referred to the capitol restoration as a metaphor for public service and state government. He has compared the restoration of the skylight in the Great Western Staircase and the laylights in the Senate and Assembly staircases to the new transparency in New York’s state government; the accelerated completion of the project to state government getting things done faster and smarter; and finishing the capitol restoration $2.3 million under budget to the new efficiency of state government.

In a visual tour of the capitol in this past Sunday’s New York Times, Capitol Redux, readers are treated to the beauty of a historic landmark preserved.

 

Alaska Legislature Celebrates its Centennial, Creates Commission to Recognize First Territorial Legislature

The first Territorial House of Representatives (1913) met in the Elk's Lodge in downtown Juneau

By Morgan Cullen

Earlier this week the Alaska Legislature celebrated its 100^th anniversary.  To commemorate this historic occasion the legislature passed a concurrent resolution creating a seven-member “legislative centennial commission” earlier this year.  The commission was made up of current lawmakers who are tasked with the role of highlighting the significant and groundbreaking accomplishments of Alaska’s Legislature since 1913. 

Commission Chairman, Senator Gary Stevens said the role of the project “ is in every way intended to be an educational exercise, exploring the richness of our history in Alaska, and of the impact our Legislature has had on the making of that history.”

Senator Gary Stevens, Chair of the Alaska Legislative Centennial Commission

The First Territorial Legislature first met on March 3, 1913.  It consisted of eight senators and 16 representatives elected from across the territory.  They met at the Elks Lodge (now the Rockwell restaurant) in downtown Juneau until the current capitol was completed in 1931. 

While Alaska was one of the last states to be granted statehood (an honor it did not receive until 1959) its legislature was often far ahead of its time.  In fact, the very first act of the territorial legislature in 1913 gave women the right to vote, long before congress enacted the 19^th amendment in 1920.  A year later, the territorial legislature continued to shape policy at the national level by passing the Bone Dry Law, a forerunner to the Volstead Act, which implemented the 18^th Amendment and established prohibition.  And in 1945, it passed the Anti-Discrimination Act, which preceded the Civil Rights Act by nearly 20 years.

Charleston, S.C. Building is the Model for Parliamentary Buildings in the British System

By Karl Kurtz

Image from South Carolina State House History

The development of what was to become the standard configuration of a Parliament in the British parliamentary system occured not in London but, it appears, in the legislative building located in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, in the 1750s. 

That sentence caught my eye as I was leafing through an article, "Parliamentary World Heritage Sites," by James W. Macnutt, a former legislative counsel for the Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly, in The Parliamentarian (go to p. 122), the magazine of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

Who knew? We usually think of British parliamentary forms influencing the United States, not the other way around. The article goes on to explain:

[Charleston] was then the capital of one of the most sophisticated, educated and prosperous British colonies of the time.

What made the legislative building in Charleston so significant is that it employed all the principles of protocol and precedence that had their origins in ancient history as adapted and utilized by the Greeks anad the Romans. These principles were later applied in the 1850s rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in the Victorian Gothic designs created by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin.

Charleston County Courthouse

That legislative building in Charleston, originally built in 1753, turns out to be the Charleston County Courthouse today. It became the courthouse after the capital was moved to Columbia in 1796. The courthouse has been remodeled and expanded, including the addition of a third floor and the elimination of the original cupola. 

In his article Macnutt, an architectural historian, has a long list of characteristics of the old capitol in Charleston that formed the model for British parliamentary buildings. Among them are location in the urban center, neoclassical design, the second floor as the principal floor, accomodations for the governor and the legislature, and a "throne" for the presiding officer in the legislative chamber.

The Charleston building directly influenced the Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia legislative buildings in Charlottetown and Halifax. These two Canadian provincial legislatures are seeking recognition of their buildings by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as World Heritage Sites, and Macnutt's article states the case for this honor. The only legislative building currently on that august list is the Palace of Westminster in London.

Interestingly, articles about the old state house that I could find online said nothing about the influence on British parliamentary practice. But several pointed out that the architect of the Courthouse remodel, James Hoban, later designed the White House in Washington, D.C., and that one can find similarities between the two buildings.

What's the Fastest Growing State? North Dakota

By Karmen Hanson

It may come as a surprise to some that North Dakota is now the fastest growing state, according to the Census Bureau state population estimates. From July 2011 to July 2012, North Dakota grew by 2.1 percent, nearly three times as fast as the United States as a whole.  The state has also ramped up improvements at the Capitol that couldn’t be missed during a recent visit.

As the NCSL liaison for the great state of North Dakota, I have the privilege of traveling to Bismarck to meet with the legislators and staff of the 39th state.  The stereotype is that “nothing ever changes in North Dakota,” but my recent visit produced an interesting list of new developments.

• Recent oil and natural gas development is still booming in the Bakken Formation (also known as the Williston Basin) in northwestern North Dakota.  The boom has transformed this once quiet ranching and farming region into one with truck traffic jams, overstretched local resources and infrastructure.  Legislators understand the impact of the boom and plan to address key concerns during this legislative session.
• North Dakota is currently the only state with a budget surplus.  Much of this surplus is due to oil and gas industry tax revenues, in addition to historical judicious biennial spending and saving habits.  This year’s biennium-budget surplus is estimated to be around $1.6B. Yes, that’s billion with a b.
• During my visit, new legislative leaders were busy moving into offices and making committee assignments. Representatives Kenton Onstad and Corey Mock are the new House minority leader and assistant leader, respectively, while Senators Mac Schneider and Joan Heckaman occupy the same positions in the Senate. Senator Schneider and Representative Mock, both in their early 30s or late 20s, are among some of the younger legislative leaders in the country.  Representative Kylie Oversen, from a district that represents the University of North Dakota, is also one of the youngest women legislators in the country at 23.  The Republican majority leadership positions remain the same—Representatives Al Carlson and Don Vigesaa in the House, and Senators Rich Wardner and Jerry Klein in the Senate. 
• A new wall sign featuring the state seal now greets visitors at the Legislative Council Office.  A handful of offices and work spaces were created and painted, and some staff have new, beautiful, state-made office furniture from Rough Rider Industries—welcome  improvements from the decades-old furniture that had graced some offices.
• One of the new offices is occupied by a new fiscal analyst in the Legislative Council. That’s unusual because the average tenure of Council staff is more than 20 years.  Jason Steckler, formerly information technology manager, heads up a new administrative services division that oversees the IT and other admin-related duties of the Legislative Council. An expanded IT crew is also on hand to set up legislators with new laptops, tablets, and handle audio-visual improvements in committee rooms.
• Flat-screen monitors have been added to most committee rooms to allow hearings and legislative sessions to be broadcast online and archived.  A long-awaited new bill-tracking system is up and running, in addition to a redesigned website.

While I’m sure that there are even more changes to come in the Peace Garden state, I hope that the North Dakota Capitol Cafe continues to serve the best traditional treats in the country, including made from scratch knoephla, scotcheroos and popcorn bars. Some things are just too good to change.

"Under the Hammer" in Maine (and Moose, too)

By Karl Kurtz

A visit to the Maine State House on Monday this week to conduct a training program for committee chairs added another item to my collection of legislative localisms--colorful language, like "chubbing" in Texas or "hoghousing" in South Dakota, that is specific to the legislative process in only one state (or at most a few). Similar to the way other states expedite legislation by using consent calendars or approve motions "without objection," Maine legislators say that a bill is "under the hammer." Everyone uses the term and knows what it means. "Maine's Path of Legislation," a publication produced by the clerk of the House and the secretary of the Senate, describes the term as follows:

At any point, a legislator or the presiding officer may call for a vote on the current motion on the bill. When debate on a motion is over, a vote on the motion is in order. The vote may be a voice vote, or a vote "under the hammer," where approval is presumed unless an objection is raised before the presiding officer bangs the gavel.

No one seemed to know how and when the phrase first came into use.

As a postscript, when I visited the Wyoming Legislature last month, I wrote about the taxidermied bison that sits majestically in a hallway of the State Capitol. To which Maine Rep. Sharon Treat responded in a comment, "Bison are nice, but the Maine Capitol sports a moose." Well, two actually, as I can testify after taking a tour of the State House in Augusta and finding a bull and cow moose in one of four dioramas (behind glass) depicting animal life in Maine:

The dioramas were designed by Maine artist Klir Beck, who is described in a delightful 1948 article in the Lewiston Evening Journal as "the Leonardo da Vinci of the 20th century" because of his work in multiple media.

My Favorite Work of Capitol Art

By Karl Kurtz

Homesteaders, a mural in the Wyoming House of Representatives. Photo credit: Wikipedia

Writing about the New Mexico Capitol in "A Roundhouse of Art," Wendy Underhill says that the Capitol is "a rich repository of the state’s artistic culture and a piece of art itself." She's right, of course, that the Roundhouse in Santa Fe has a marvelous collection of art.

But on a visit to the Wyoming Capitol on Friday, I reflected on how one can say this about the art in so many state capitols. I admired the eight remarkable Allen Tupper True murals in the House and Senate chambers in Cheyenne.  These paintings led me to think about the beautiful murals by the same artist in the Colorado Capitol (True is almost certainly the only artist whose works are displayed in three different capitols--add the Missouri Capitol to his credits) and the amazing Thomas Hart Benton murals in the statehouse on the bluff overlooking the Missouri River in Jefferson City.

I'm not sure that taxidermy qualifies as art, but if it does, my favorite piece of state capitol art is the proud, majestic American bison with the baleful stare that stands on the first floor of the Cowboy State Capitol. I can't think of any other symbol in a statehouse that so captures the energy and spirit of its state. Whether it's art or symbol (or both), the bison is the first thing that pops into my mind when I think about the Capitol in Cheyenne.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Nominations are open for other great works of art--stuffed or otherwise--in state capitols. Click on the comments below to suggest your own favorites.

 

Capitols After Dark: A Haunting Prospect

 

The Oregon Pioneer statue sits atop the Oregon State Capitol / The Associated Press

 

By Mark Wolf

Why should we be surprised that state capitols are haunted? Grand old buildings whose histories overflow with tales of heartbreak, passion, dastardly and sometimes deadly deeds would seem the perfect repository for those caught between worlds -- and we don't just mean undecided voters.

Footsteps in the hall, a shiny figure of a man in a 1970s-style leisure suit (now THAT is scary) and other purported paranomal activity is recounted in a new video produced by Oregon Legislative Media.    

Nebraska lore has it that an invisible man can be heard sobbing atop the State Capitol Building in Lincoln. No proof that the sobbing correlates with a Cornhuskers football loss.                                     

Louisiana's Old State Capitol has long been suspected of harboring a number of very active ghosts, including this report of a Ghostbusters-style investigation:

Many tests and machines were used during the visit of the paranormal team including a recorder that records what it hears. As they were all sitting in the dark kitchen  they started to hear words coming out of the recorder. Sylvest states “ As we were sitting around listening, we started to hear something or someone  apologizing saying sorry over and over. We also heard words and phrases like homicide and hospital, sickness and injuries. During the battle of the war when the North captured Baton Rouge, the basement of the Capitol was used as a hospital and a prison for soldiers.”  

Crickets Invade Texas Capitol

by Morgan Cullen

When Jim Reed and I were in Austin, Texas last week to meet with legislators and staff in our roles as liaisons to the Texas Legislature for NCSL, we weren't the only visitors in the Capitol. A plague of crickets has invaded the statehouse. Over the past few weeks thousands of these unwanted guests have stormed the capitol complex, creating a buzz throughout the building and leaving members and staffers perplexed and irritated. Crickets have swarmed the Capitol in past summer months, but this year has been worse than most.

A combination of heavy rains and warm weather throughout central Texas have created a perfect nesting ground for cricket eggs and led to an abnormally large hatch this year. Over our three day trip to the Texas capitol we found crickets climbing on walls, crawling through hallways and hopping down staircases.

The capitol custodial crew has been vigilant about trying to get rid of them but their sheer numbers have made the task impossible. They simply continue to enter the building, hop around for a while and slowly begin dying off. The only thing more unpleasant than their presence is the smell they make when they begin to decompose. Kari Torres, a staffer for House Speaker Joe Straus, says that she keeps her feet elevated at her desk in fear that a cricket may start crawling up her leg. "The crickets are everywhere this year. I have found them in our printer and in my purse. One even fell from the ceiling and onto my desk. I can't wait for cricket season to end."

Fortunately, the cricket infestation should be over in a few more weeks. Some staffers see the crickets as just a minor nuisance, a small price to pay for the badly needed rain they got in the area. Folks in drought-stricken capitals across the rest of the country might be willing to welcome crickets if they came with some rain.

Photo credits: Kari Torres