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4 state government news may 2000

featuresfeatures

health

Eden in old age 10A handful of states are encouraging a new approach to long-terminstitutional care.

by Lisa Griffin

federalism

The big budget battle 14U.S. budget proposals could shortchange states.

by Kristin E. Cormier

criminal justice

The chair, the bench and the gavel 16The death penalty is under scrutiny.

by John J. Mountjoy

health

Leaving welfare, not health care 20Medicaid can continue after cash assistance ends.

by Deborah Stein

skill session

Like father, like son 23A communications expert critiques presidential campaign communications.

by Arch Lustberg

environment

Green guardians 24States are doing most of the environmental regulating.

by R. Steven Brown

education

Habla Español? 28There’s a trickle of bilingual teachers for a flood of non-English-speakingstudents.

by Sarah Whitmire

may 2000 volume 43, number 5

on the coverPets and other innovations

improve nursing-home life. Photocourtesy of the Christian Church

Homes of Kentucky, Inc..

managing editorElaine Stuart

associate editorMichael J. Scott

graphic design coordinatorSkip Olson

production systems administratorConnie P. LaVake

contributorsHeather Heath-Bakondy

Kristin CormierEd Janairo

Cindy J. LackeyKaren Marshall

Malissa McAlisterJohn MountjoyFred J. Vickers

Laura Williams

advertisingKristi Ratliff

(859) 244-8118

reprint permissionsSusan Haney

(859) 244-8246

publication sales(800) 800-1910

[email protected]

fax(859) 244-8001

[email protected]

internetwww.csg.org

A Publication of The Council of State GovernmentsA Publication of The Council of State Governments

G O V E R N M E N T N E W S

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the council of state governments 5

departmentsdepartments

6 statesnews■ internet report out■ A call to extend the ban on Internet taxes raises controversy.■ gun locks■ Maryland and Massachusetts mandate safer guns.■ big tobacco relief■ A handful of states pass financial protection for the industry.■ prescription aid■ A state plan would subsidize prescriptions for the elderly.

30 policy pageTennessee pioneers local cooperation.

by Albert Harberson

31 conference calendarMeetings and conference activities of CSG, affiliates and other associationsare listed.

by Amy Lindon

32 excellence in actionCSG activities and events, and those of affiliates, are highlighted.

35 inquiry linePet breeding, biennial budgets and the Bible are topics of interest.

by Chester Hicks

36 political protocolA change in control of legislative chambers can be civilized.

by Alan Rosenthal

38 trendsLegislatures are changing because of technology.

by Keon S. Chi

Executive CommitteechairDeputy Minority Leader Rep. Tom Ryder, Ill.

presidentGov. Paul Patton, Ky.

chair-electSenate President Pro Tempore Manny M. Aragon, N.M.

president-electGov. Dirk Kempthorne, Idaho

vice chairSen. John Chichester, Va.

vice presidentGov. Parris Glendening, Md.

executive committeeSen. Pres. Brady Adams, Ore. • Rep. David Adkins, Kan. •Assemblywoman Elaine White Alquist, Calif. • Rep. RamonaBarnes, Alaska • Rep. Gail Beam, N.M. • Sen. Pres. LaneBeattie, Utah • Sen. John O. Bennett, N.J. • Treas. MarshallBennett, Miss. • Carl Bianchi, Director, Legislative Services,Idaho • Rep. Dan Blue, N.C. • Rep. Dan Bosley, Mass. •Michele Brown, Commissioner, Dept. of EnvironmentConservation, Alaska • Sen. David Cain, Texas • Rep.Deborah Capano, Del. • Rep. Charlie Capps, Miss. • Gov. MelCarnahan, Mo. • Rep. Robert Clayton, Mo. • Rep. JohnConnors, Iowa • Sen. Jim Costa, Calif. • Rep. Paul Crowley,R.I. • Sen. Bob Cupp, Ohio • Rep. Bob Damron, Ky. • SpeakerJo Ann Davidson, Ohio • Gov. Howard Dean, Vt. • Sen. BillDoyle, Vt. • Sen. Hugh Farley, N.Y. • Speaker Tim Ford, Miss.• Rep. Sally Fox, Vt. • John Gillig, Counsel to the Speaker, Ky.• Sen. Maryellen Goodwin, R.I. • Ellen Gordon, Administrator,Emergency Management Division, Iowa • Sen. Toni NathanielHarp, Conn. • Treas. David Heineman, Neb. • Sen. DouglasHenry, Tenn. • Lt. Gov. Steve Henry, Ky. • AssemblymanLynn Hettrick, Nev. • Treas. Jim Hill, Ore. • Rep. Kip Holden,La. • Sen. John Hottinger, Minn. • Gov. Mike Huckabee, Ark. •Judge Bob Hunter, N.C. • Sen. Tim Jennings, N.M. • Sec. ofState Bill Jones, Calif. • Lilia Judson, Executive Director,Division of State Court Administration, Ind. • Gov. AngusKing Jr., Maine • Speaker Douglas Kristensen, Neb. • Sen. SueLandske, Ind. • Gov. Michael Leavitt, Utah • Rep. VictorLescovitz, Pa. • Rep. Paul Mannweiler, Ind. • Sen. Vice Pres.Pro Tem John J. Marchi, NY. • Sen. Kenneth McClintock, P.R.• Rep. Ed McKechnie, Kan. • Stan McKinney, Director, Div. ofEmergency Preparedness, S.C. • Chief Justice Robert A.Miller, S.D. • Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe, Minn. •William Montgomery, Director, Division of Research, LegislativeCouncil, Del. • Sec. of State Ralph Munro, Wash. • SpeakerThomas B. Murphy, Ga. • Sen. David Nething, N.D. • Rep.Marcus Oshiro, Hawaii • Gov. George Pataki, N.Y. • RonaldPenny, Director, Office of State Personnel, N.C. • SpeakerChuck Perricone, Mich. • Sen. Pres. Ray Powers, Colo. • VirgilPuskarich, Executive Director, Local Government Commission,Penn. • Mary Regel, Administrator, Division of InternationalDevelopment, Wis. • Heather Rein, Committee Administrator,Minn. • Speaker Jody Richards, Ky. • Gov. Pedro Rosselló,P.R. • Paula K. Roy, Executive Director, Health CareCommission, Del. • Sen. Brian Rude, Wis. • Gov. George H.Ryan, Ill. • Sen. John Sandy, Idaho • Rep. Ray Short, Utah •Attorney General Carla Stovall, Kan. • Rep. Jessie Stratton,Conn. • Richard Thomas, Director, Real Property ManagementGroup, N.Y. • Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, Wis. • Sen. Pres.Earl Ray Tomblin, W.Va. • Sen. Donne Trotter, Ill. • RayWahl, Juvenile Court Administrator, Utah • Lt. Gov. OleneWalker, Utah • Gail Wekenborg, Division of InformationServices, Mo. • Jeff Wells, Counsel, Dept. of Labor andEmployment, Colo. • Sen. Jeff Wentworth, Texas •Assemblyman Robert C. Wertz, N.Y.

STATE GOVERNMENT NEWS, ISSN 0039-0119, May 2000,Vol. 43, No. 5 — Published 10 times annually with combined issues inJune/July and Nov./Dec. by The Council of State Governments, 2760Research Park Drive, Lexington, KY 40511-8410. Opinions expressed inthis magazine do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Council ofState Governments nor the views of the editorial staff. Readers’comments are welcome. Subscription rates — In the U.S., $39 per year.Other addresses, $45 per year, surface mail. Single issues are available at$6 per copy. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to State GovernmentNews, Sales Department, P.O. Box 11910, Lexington, KY 40578-1910.

Advertising — Black and white, two-color and full-color advertisingavailable. For complete circulation and advertising information, contactthe advertising department at (859) 244-8118. Mailing lists are availablefor rent upon approval of a sample mailing.

Copyright 2000 by The Council of State Governments. Periodicals postagepaid at Lexington, Ky., and at additional mailing offices.

council offices

Daniel M. Sprague, Executive Director

headquarters2760 Research Park Drive

P.O. Box 11910Lexington, KY 40578-1910

(859) 244-8000

washingtonJim Brown, General Counsel & Director

Hall of the States444 N. Capitol St., N.W., Suite 401

Washington, DC 20001(202) 624-5460

easternAlan V. Sokolow, Director

5 World Trade Center, Suite 9241New York, NY 10048

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midwesternMichael H. McCabe, Director

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southernColleen Cousineau, Director3355 Lenox Road, Suite 1050

Atlanta, GA 30326(404) 266-1271

westernKent Briggs, Director

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(415) 974-6422Denver, CO: (303) 572-5454

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Internet report releasedhe special commission that spent a year studying

Internet tax issues announced March 30 that it hadapproved its final report, which was due to Congress byApril 21. Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III chaired theAdvisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, whichwas appointed by Congress. The commission’s report wasapproved by a 10-8 vote of its members in a conferencecall. The report calls for repealing the 3 percent federalexcise tax on telecommunications services, banning stateor local taxes on Internet access fees, and extending thecurrent Internet taxation moratorium.

Other state and local government commissioners,including Utah Gov. Michael O. Leavitt and WashingtonGov. Gary Locke, protested that the report’s proposalswould immediately reduce state and local tax revenues bymore than $20 billion a year and were unfair to non-Internet retailers.

aryland Gov. ParrisGlendening April 3 hailedpassage of a bill, SB 211, torequire trigger locks on allhandguns sold in the state,beginning in October.Glendening predicted otherstates would soon follow.“It says we will not be heldhostage by special interestsor reckless, out-of-touchideologues, or bythose whothink itought tobe easierto fire a gunthan open a bottle ofaspirin,” he said.

The Maryland billrequires guns sold in thestate to have built-in locksby 2003, and external locksuntil then. It also requiresballistic fingerprinting ofguns and safety courses fornew handgun owners.

Also on April 3, Massa-chusetts Attorney GeneralTom Reilly announced thathis office would enforce thenation’s most comprehensiveconsumer-protection safetyrequirements on gun manu-facturers and dealers. Theregulations effectively ban

Gun locks mandatedMM cheap “Saturday Night

Specials” and requireall handguns sold inMassachusetts to includechildproofing measures,tamper-proof serial num-bers and safety warnings.The industry had unsuc-cessfully worked to kill theregulations, which wereoriginally issued — but

never implemented— in 1997.

In March,Massachu-setts-basedSmith &

Wesson agreed to installlocking devices and othersafeguards on all newhandguns and pistolswithin two years in returnfor being dropped from aplanned lawsuit by theClinton administration. Byearly April, 65 cities andcounties had pledged tomake the company theirpreferred source for policehandguns. Attorneysgeneral from six statesannounced an antitrustinvestigation to determine ifthe gun industry hadconspired against Smith &Wesson after the agreement.

TT

group of Massachu-setts legislators in Aprilannounced support for aplan to provide prescrip-tion drug insurance for allelderly people. The plan,devised by a privatefoundation chaired byTeresa Heinz,calls for thestate tosubsidizeinsurancefor all860,000Massa-chusettsresidents over 65. The statenow spends $72 million ayear to provide prescrip-tion coverage to 34,000low-income elders. Thenew plan calls for a statecontribution of $69 millionnext fiscal year, rising to

Senior drug benefitsproposed

$113 million in three years.Sen. Mark Montigny,

chair of the Senate Waysand Means Committee, saidhe expects the proposal topass this year. The plancalls for seniors with

incomes under$12,749 to payno premiumsor deductiblesfor coverage,

while thosewithincomes

over$25,000

would pay up to $69 amonth for coverage andhave deductibles of up to$450 annually. Heinz, whois married to U.S. Sen. JohnKerry, D-Mass., plans tooffer the plan in severalother states.

AA

Florida state judge stopped in its tracks the state’s1999 law establishing statewide vouchers to pay forchildren to attend private schools. Circuit Judge L. RalphSmith Jr. March 14 concluded the law violated the stateconstitutional mandate for a free education through asystem of public schools. He allowed 53 students inPensacola to continue to receive vouchers until the end ofthe school year. The program, advocated by Gov. Jeb Bush,provides vouchers of up to $3,389 annually for students toleave public schools ruled as failures by the state. The statewill appeal the decision.

Florida voucher law stoppedAA

Find the latest state news on CSG’s Web site — www.csg.org


he Kentucky General Assembly joined Indiana andSouth Dakota this year in passing legislation calling forposting of the Ten Commandments in public places. Thecontentious debate in Kentucky was marked by a legislatorasking a colleague, who is Jewish, whether she believed inJesus.

t least 115 candidates out of 374 candidates for theMaine Legislature have agreed to participate in the newMaine Clean Election Act system. The candidates firstsubmitted the required number of $5 personal checks from

voters in theirdistricts — 50 forHouse candidates and150 for the Senate. Inexchange for agreeingnot to accept futuredonations, thecandidates thenreceive publicfinancing for theircampaigns. Maine’s1996 law was upheldin federal court and is

the first of a handful of such laws to take effect. Of the 115“clean money” candidates, 32 percent are incumbents.Individual contributions to privately funded candidates,however, cannot exceed $250.

Democratic Connecticut lawmakers in early Aprilagreed to back legislation to allow public financing ofstatewide campaigns and voluntary election spendinglimits. Republican legislators and GOP Gov. John G.Rowland said they were not in on the discussions.

Public campaign funds

Ten Commandments

orth Carolina April 5passed a law seeking toprotect tobacco companiesin the state from a class-action lawsuit by three sicksmokers in Florida onbehalf of 500,000 others.Gov. Jim Hunt signed a lawplacing a $25 million limiton court-required bonds byNorth Carolina-basedcompanies. The jury couldaward plaintiffs punitivedamages totaling tens ofbillions of dollars in thecase. Florida law requires abond of 115 percent of theamount awarded uponappeal. The law seeks tolower the bond the tobacco

Tobacco lawsuit reliefcompanies would have topost. Similar laws passedrecently in Georgia, Ken-tucky and Virginia, accord-ing to news reports.

Florida Attorney GeneralRobert A. Butterworth inMarch offered legislationthat also seeks to reduce thefinancial threat to cigarettemakers. The bill woulddelay the awarding ofpunitive damages in anyFlorida lawsuit until allcompensatory damages areresolved. The bill, if passedand upheld, would delay theawarding of damages in theclass-action suit by sicksmokers.

AA

Tax cuts continueNN SS tates are expected to cut about $5.2 billion in taxes this

year, which is below 1999’s total $7 billion in cuts, accord-ing to an April 5 story in The Christian Science Monitor.

Colorado lawmakers were considering limiting perma-nent tax cuts to $200 million in April, even though theHouse already had passed more than $250 million in cuts,according to The Denver Post.

Minnesota House leaders in April proposed putting off adecision on allocating a $1.8 billion projected surplusamong tax cuts and spending proposals.

Maryland, flush with funds, adopted a $19.5 billionbudget, representing a 10 percent hike in spending, April4. Legislators had yet to decide on repealing the inherit-ance tax, however.

TT

innesota senatorsapproved a measure toprovide paid leave ofabsence for new parents inMarch. The proposal wouldprovide $1million for apilot projectopen on avolunteerbasis toemploy-ers.Minnesotanowrequiresemployers of 21or more people toprovide up to six weeks ofunpaid parental leave. JimKoppel, executive director

Paid parental leavesof the Children’s DefenseFund of Minnesota, said 20percent of state firmssurveyed said they wouldoffer paid leaves if the state

helped subsidizethem. Sen. Jerry

Janezich,sponsor of thebill, said itwouldincreaseproductivityand would be

good forbabies. More

than 70 percent ofMinnesota mothers

work, according to theCensus Bureau.

MM


he Iowa House passed a bill, HF 2542, in March tomake sure slave laborers in the Holocaust won’t have topay state taxes on any future reparations. Federal lawalready exempts such settlements from taxes. Those whowere forced to work as slaves in Nazi labor camps are inline to receive settlements from German corporations andunpaid insurance policies. Other states have passed lawsaimed at assisting Holocaust victims.

Nazi victims may get a break

Marching on Columbia

TT

uper Tuesday on March14 gave Democratic VicePresident Al Gore ofTennessee and RepublicanTexas Gov. George W. Bushmathematical locks ontheir parties’ presidentialnominations.

Gore and Bush clinchedtheir nominations withwins in party primaries inFlorida, Louisiana, Missis-sippi, Oklahoma, Tennes-see and Texas. The raceseffectively ended a weekearlier following primariesin 16 states March 7.Democratic former U.S.senator Bill Bradley of NewJersey and GOP Sen. John

Early victoriesMcCain of Arizona eachcalled off their campaigns.

The 2000 presidentialprimary season is the mostcompressed ever. Presiden-tial primaries and caucusesare scheduled in 23 statesand territories for Demo-crats and in 21 states forRepublicans through June 6.

Despite the mediacoverage, one in fiveAmericans remains unawareof the two likely nominees,according to a March 17-19Gallup poll. Moreover, lessthan half of people identi-fied as independents couldname either one of the likelypresidential candidates.

SS

FFour popular state college coaches joined part of a120-mile, five-day march from Charleston to Columbiaprotesting the flying of the Confederate flag over thestatehouse. University of South Carolina coach Lou Holtzand Clemson University coach Tommy Bowden partici-pated along with the two schools’ basketball coaches,Eddie Fogler and Larry Shyatt. The Legislature raised theflag in 1962 and solely has the power to lower it. Charles-ton Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. organized the march. Gov.Jim Hodges and former Gov. David Beasley joined themarch. Any bill to remove the flag must pass the Senate orHouse by May 1 to resolve the issue before the scheduledJune 1 adjournment.

ew Mexico House SpeakerRaymond Sanchez adjourned thespecial session April 4 aftergetting Gov. Gary Johnson’s wordhe would sign the new $3.5billion state budget. Johnsoncalled the session after vetoingtwo spending plans passed bylawmakers in their regular 30-day session, which ended Feb. 17.

New Mexico wraps it upNN

state judge struckdown a Washington lawthat made itillegal to sendmisleadingunsolicitedcommercial e-mail over theInternet. Thecourt held thelaw againstso-called“spam” e-mailviolated thecommerce

Spam law squashedclause of the U.S. Constitu-tion. Meanwhile a federal

bill, HR 3113,to block suchunsolicited e-mail ismaking itsway throughCongress. Ahandful ofother stateshave enactedlaws againstunwantedmass e-mails.

AA

issouri Rep. RitaDays filed foranother term inMarch even thoughshe is term limited.She did so as thefirst step in achallenge againstterm limits. A 1992constitutionalamendment limitedrepresentatives tofour two-yearterms. Days took office in

Term limits challenged1993. She was one of a

record 608 peopleto file for state,federal or localoffice in Missouri.House SpeakerSteve Gaw filed forthe Democraticnomination forsecretary of state.Gaw, first elected in1992, becamespeaker in 1996

and is term limited.

MM

Missouri Rep.Rita Days

New Mexico HouseSpeaker RaymondSanchez


MM

AA

Rescuing newborns

Don’t ship the Great LakesCanada-U.S. commis-

sion released recommenda-tions that would severelyrestrict the exportof Great Lakeswater. TheInterna-tionalJoint Commission,after a year ofresearch and publichearings, releasedits final report March15. The United States andCanada called for thereport after an Ontariofirm, the Nova Group,announced plans in 1998to export up to 10 millionliters (2.6 million gallons)of water from Lake Supe-rior over five years and

ship it to the Far East. Thereport calls for waterexporters to ensure noenvironmental damage,demonstrate there are no

practical alternativesand prove there

would beno net

loss ofwater in the

lakes.Moreover, Tom

Baldini, chair of the U.S.section of the IJC said, “Ourinvestigation shows thattrade law obligationsincluding NAFTA do notprevent Canada and theUnited States from takingmeasures to protect ourwater resources.”

assachusetts cannot guarantee the quality and safetyof bottled water sold in the state, according to a stateSenate investigation.

Sen. Cheryl A. Jacques, chair of the state Senate PostAudit and Oversight Committee, said, “Most peopleassume that buying water in a bottle ensures better qualityand purity. This review found that bottled water maysimply be treated tap water or could come from under-neath a parking lot.”

The committee reviewed the bottled water industry incooperation with the state Department of Public Healthand members of the industry. While one in three homes inMassachusetts uses bottled water, state oversight haslanguished. The committee cited instances in whichelderly residents drank bottled water contaminated bycoliform bacteria, a spring used by bottlers exceededfederal standards for trichloroethylene twice in a year, anda Boston man bottled for sale water from a well in hisbasement.

The committee called for stronger state oversight toensure bottled water meets strict quality standards. Itsproposals included more staffing for oversight, annualinspections of bottlers as required by law already, enforce-ment of labeling requirements, and random marketsampling to ensure water is properly licensed and labeled.

The committee’s report is online at www.state.ma.us/legis/bills/st02135.htm or call Angus McQuilken at (617)722-1555, ext. 1553.

Cool, clear water?

he chief of staff of the New Mexico Public RegulationCommission spotted an error in the March issue of StateGovernment News. Jack Valencia, listed as a Hispanicleader on page 14, is not a public regulation commissioneras he was defeated for the office.

CorrectionTT

MMore states in 2000sessions are considering orhave adoptedlaws toprotectabandonedbabies.Delawarelawmakersin Marchweredebating abill to allowparents todrop offunwantednewborns at hospitalemergency rooms withoutfacing abandonmentcharges. As of early April,

entucky Gov. Paul Patton signed into law his earlychildhood development initiative April 4. The measure,

among other things, will expandchild-care subsidies, increase trainingfor child-care workers and allowhealth professionals to visit newparents at home. At press time, theLegislature was ironing out fundingof the program along with the rest ofthe budget.

Childhood measures passKK

the Oklahoma Senate andHouse had passed similar

versions ofbills to exemptparents fromprosecution ifthey leave anewbornsafely with amedicalprovider.Similar billswere consid-ered bylegislatures inAlabama,

California, Colorado,Georgia, Kentucky andMinnesota, according tonews reports.

Kentucky Gov.Paul Patton


Eden inold age

healthhealth

A new approach

makes life “doggone

purrrfect” for

residents in long-term

care.

BY LISA GRIFFIN

usie Parks calls goodbye to hercats as she leaves her room toattend a resident activity at the

Christian Health Center in Louisville,Ky. The 99-year-old would not socializewhen she moved into the long-term carehome 18 months ago, but Grady, Callieand Mitzi, roving, whiskered ambassa-dors of the Eden Alternative™, have be-come a profound motivation in her life.

“When Mrs. Parks first arrived, shewas very depressed, she cried all thetime, and she wouldn’t leave herroom,” said Jackie Laskee, activitiesdirector. “Since the cats came into herlife, though, she’s found a new reason

for living. There’s someone — or Ishould say three someones — to loveand care for.”

The cats are part of the home’s inte-gration of the Eden Alternative™, anapproach to long-term care that focuseson care rather than treatment to cre-ate a place where people come to livenot just wait to die. At least a half-dozen states across the country arehelping fund and promote the EdenAlternative™.

Not just fur and feathers

The Eden Alternative™ is the brain-child of Dr. William Thomas, a New

_______________Lisa Griffin is communications and public

relations director, the Christian ChurchHomes of Kentucky, Inc.


Michigan Gov.John Engler

York physician and former nursinghome medical director. The conceptmakes plants, gardens, animals and chil-dren integral parts of life at a long-termcare home, and it allows the institution-alized elderly to combat their three great-est enemies, as identified by Thomas:loneliness, helplessness and boredom.

The Eden Alternative™, which is be-ing implemented in about 200 facilitiesnationwide, puts decision-making intothe hands of residents and the front-lineemployees who care for them. It offerselders an opportunity to give to othersand feel needed, not just take and feeluseless.

“We are using 1950s and 1960s orga-nizational structures and methods thatwere no good then, are no good now andhave to change,” Thomas said. “I’vetalked to a lot of people about this, and Ididn’t find one person who stood up andsaid, ‘Yeah! Don’t you love the systemthe way it is? Isn’t it great?’ ”

Besides being the right thing, Thomasestimates that implementing the EdenAlternative™ in long-term care facilitiesacross the country could save $1.25 bil-lion in annual government health-careexpenditures.

Growinggovernmentsupport

Missouri Lt. Gov.Roger Wilson, the state’sofficial advocate for se-nior citizens, has been astrong believer in theEden Alternative™ sincethe early 1990s. Wilson’sadvocacy efforts helpedMissouri become the firststate to endorse the pro-gram’s philosophy state-wide, and the move hasinspired several long-term care facilities to em-brace the process.

“The concept is strik-ingly simple,” Wilsonsaid. “The goal is to provide a warmenvironment where our seniors havean active, ongoing interrelation withlife.”

In addition to the health and happi-ness of the residents, Wilson said pro-moting relationships among childrenand the elderly could help establishpatterns for children to stay involved

as adults. With agrowing shortageof people to filldirect-care posi-tions and thebulk of the babyboomers headedtoward their twi-light years, foster-ing such positiveconnections be-tween genera-tions also makesgood businesssense.

U.S. Sen. Char-les Grassley, R-Iowa, chair ofthe Senate Spe-cial Committeeon Aging, favorsusing federal civilmonetary penal-ties to fund start-

up grants for Medicaid-certified nurs-ing homes nationwide. “Dr. Thomashas found a way of not just workingharder, but smarter,” Grassley said.“The Eden Alternative™ is one of thestrongest models for successful nurs-ing home care.”

Some states have heeded the callto help nursinghomes implementthe model, which isestimated to costabout $300 per bedand is phased in overa two-year period.North Carolina andSouth Carolina haveestablished coali-tions in support ofthe Eden Alternative™ comprised ofpeople from the public and private sec-tors. Both states have designated fed-eral monies to provide grants to nursinghomes to implement the program.

Michigan also is promoting the ap-proach in its long-term care homes.Gov. John Engler and the state Legis-lature have directed grant money to theeffort, and 69 nursing homes will use$1.3 million to begin or continue theprocess in 2000.

Michigan was the first state to plana statewide effort and develop a state-

Dr. William Thomas, founder of the Eden Alternative™,spoke with young visitors at the Christian HealthCenter in Louisville.

Pets help make a nursing home a home.


level coalition, known as BEAM orBringing the Eden Alternative™ toMichigan, to carry out the plans. Thecoalition began through the joint ef-forts of the Michigan Office of Servicesto the Aging, the Michigan Long-TermCare Ombudsman Program and the

Michigan Depart-ment of Consumerand Industry Ser-vices.

Coalition mem-bers include peoplefrom the regulatoryagency, long-termcare industry, ad-vocates, academiaand others. Nursing

homes can participate in regional best-practice groups, where homes shareinformation and provide local supportfor each other’s efforts.

“BEAM represents the perfectmodel for cutting through turf issuesand moving quickly toward a positiveoutcome,” said Lynn Alexander, direc-tor of the Michigan Office of Servicesto the Aging. “In two short years, wehave moved from launching BEAM tocreating tangible results.”

State support is key

Tennessee soon will award 10 grantsof $5,000 each from money collected

through civil fines on nursing homes.“We need to change the mind-set

and help make institutions more car-ing,” Rep. John Arriola said. “We musthelp nursing-home management seethat the program works, but that it maytake some time to see the results.”

Arriola also stressed that top admin-istrators must wholeheartedly buy intothe approach for it to succeed. He said,“The program empowersfront-line employees, andthey are the ones whocarry out the plan. If ad-ministration isn’t enthu-siastic about Eden, thenstaff won’t be either.”

Thomas echoed thesentiment. “For the EdenAlternative™ to reach itsfull potential, it’s es-sential that the homes’leadership is willing tochange old habits andpatterns of manage-ment,” he said. “That’sprobably the most im-portant point that peopleneed to understand.”

New Jersey is empha-sizing the need for nurs-ing-home staff to takeownership of the envi-ronments they createunder the approach. Gov.

Christine Whitman announced that 10nursing homes would share $200,000in grant money to cover two-year start-up costs for programs that focus onthe education and empowerment ofemployees.

“Eden Alternative™ homes put thefocus of care on life, rather than ondisease and disability,” Whitman said.“This is the next step forward in im-proving the quality of life and care fornursing home residents.”

Promising research results

Research on the effects of the EdenAlternative™ is under way at South-west Texas State University’s Institutefor Quality Improvement in Long-Term Health Care. The institute willpublish a report by the end of 2000 ona two-year study, which collected datafrom six nursing homes. Sandy Ran-som, director of the institute, said someof the significant findings of the dataanalysis include a 33 percent reductionin “as needed” medications, such asanti-depressants and anti-anxietyprescriptions. Moreover, there was a60 percent decline in the presence of

Missouri Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson advocates for elders.

Tennessee Rep.John Arriola

Pets can help banish loneliness.


Thomas speaks toWestern legislators

When members of CSG-WEST’sCommittee on Aging met at TheCouncil of State Governments’national spring meeting in Napa,Calif., the founder of the EdenAlternative™, Dr. William H. Tho-mas, was the featured speaker.Thomas told Western lawmakersthat the philosophy behind theEden Alternative™ is to makelong-term care facilities operatemore like homes than hospitals.

Putting the needs of eldersabove bureaucratic priorities is keyto offering an environment thattries to eliminate loneliness, help-lessness and boredom, Thomas said.Doing so usually means makingpets, kids and gardens part of thelong-term care landscape. But achanged environment is just onemanifestation of a culture whereresidents and caregivers are givenmore power.

Thomas and the Eden Alterna-tive™ have been written up innewspapers and professional jour-nals from The Washington Post toThe Wall Street Journal to the An-nals of Long Term Care. He hasspoken to members of Congress,the American Society on Aging,the Joint Commission Accredita-tion Health Organization, the Na-tional Geriatric Nurses Associa-tion, the Alzheimer’s Associationand numerous other groups.

California AssemblywomanElaine Alquist chairs the CSG-WEST Committee on Aging andthe California Assembly’s Agingand Long-Term Care Committee.Idaho Sen. Jack Riggs is vice chairof the CSG-WEST Committee onAging.

pressure sores, a 53 percent reductionin the use of safety restraints, and a44 percent decrease in employee

yawns as Callie and Mitzi extend theirfront paws for a long stretch and prepareto jump to the floor. They know their com-panion will return, but for now they havemore residents to visit and more lives tochange.

ResourcesResourcesVisit the Web site for the Eden

Alternative™ at www.edenalt.com; e-mail at [email protected],or 742 Turnpike Road, Sherburne,NY 13460, (607) 674-5232, or fax(607) 674-6723.

Other sources include:Sandy Ransom, director, Insti-

tute for Quality Improvement,Southwest Texas University,(512) 245-8234

Dr. Mary Coleman, vice chairof Clinical Affairs, Family andCommunity Medicine Depart-ment, University of Louisville,(502) 852-1996

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley,Iowa, (202) 224-3744

Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson, Mis-souri, (573) 751-4727

Rep. John Arriola, Tennessee,(615) 741-1852

Susan Dean, Michigan Office ofServices to the Aging, (517) 373-4065.

Nursing homes are changing.

absenteeism.The Christian

Church Homesof Kentucky, Inc.,which owns andmanages fivelong-term carehomes, or “Chris-tian Health Cen-ters,” is conduct-ing a study withthe assistance ofstaff from TheUniversity ofLouisville’s Fam-ily and Commu-nity MedicineDepartment. The study will comparedata collected on residents from its“Edenized” home in Louisville, Ky.,and its control facility in Corbin, Ky.The study will compare the EdenAlternative’s ™ effect on issues suchas nutritional status, muscle strength,the performance of activities of dailyliving (such as bathing and dressing),levels of cognitive impairment andcommunication skills. The residents’levels of depression, loneliness andgeneral well being also will be evalu-ated.

Dr. Mary Coleman, vice chair ofclinical affairs for the Department ofFamily and Community Medicine, saidshe expects to see positive results fromthe study, but she cautioned that themortality rate of study participantsmight affect the availability of long-term data. She expects the results ofthe initial study will be published byAugust.

“One only hopes that the statisticalresearch will validate what is evidentin the faces of the residents and in thewords of their stories about how theirlives have been changed for the better,”Coleman said.

The cats Grady, Callie and Mitzi re-position themselves on the bed as SusieParks rises to join friends for dinner inThe Christian Health Center’s diningroom. As she leaves the room, Susie tellsthe cats she will return soon. Grady


he U.S. House and Senate areacting on the fiscal 2001 bud-get and despite many proposed

increases, state officials will need towatch the federal government carefullyto prevent cuts in federal funds tostates.

The Clinton administration submit-ted its budget in February. The Housepassed a $1.8 trillion budget planMarch 24 and the Senate April 7adopted a similar plan, setting the stagefor a quick compromise.

President Clinton also has proposeda $1.8 trillion budget, which includesan overall increase of 2.5 percent overthe fiscal 2000 budget. The increase isan attempt to address the constraintsput in place by the Balanced BudgetAgreement of 1997, which institutedcaps on spending. Clinton’s increasewould allow the federal government to

States could come up

short in a number of

areas under President

Clinton’s proposed

fiscal 2001 budget.

BY KRISTIN E. CORMIER

_______________Kristin E. Cormier is policy and legislationdirector, The Council of State Governments,

Washington, D.C., office.

The bigbudgetbattle

federalismfederalism

grow at the rate of inflation.The administration estimates a non-

Social Security, on-budget surplus of$746 billion over the next 10 years, anda combined on and off-budget surplusof $184 billion over 10 years. Admin-istration estimates are more conserva-tive than those of the CongressionalBudget Office, which estimates an on-budget surplus of $839 billion over 10years, and a fiscal 2001 surplus of $11billion on-budget and $166 billion off-budget, totaling $177 billion.

With such flush estimates, thepresident’s budget requests significantincreases for many areas and proposesnew programs. President Clinton andCongress must decide how much tospend on Medicaid, Social Security anddebt reduction before finalizing thebudget.

Congress supported tax cuts and a

President Clinton said his budget proposal would help eliminate the nationaldebt. Photo by Angeline Gazdag, White House photo


modest spending increase, while thepresident takes a different approach.His budget aims to eliminate the na-tional debt by 2013, cut taxes by $351billion over 10 years and shore upMedicaid and Social Security from in-solvency in this century. Additionally,the president wants to add prescriptiondrug benefits for Medicare, which alsowill be debated by Congress this year.

Areas of the budget of special inter-est to states follow:

Environment

State revolving funds — Clinton woulddecrease the Clean Water Act’s staterevolving loan fund by $550 million.He would increase the state revolvingloan fund for drinking water by $5million.

Health

Family care program — The presi-dent’s budget would create a new pro-gram for states to receive an enhancedmatch to include parents in the samehealth programs as their children un-der the State Children’s Health Insur-ance Program and Medicaid.

Medicaid administrative cost alloca-tion — Clinton would direct the secre-tary of Health and Human Services toreduce each state’s Medicaid grantaward. Under his plan, the reductionwould be the amount of administra-tive costs charged to Aid to Familieswith Dependent Children in eachstate’s Temporary Assistance forNeedy Families base year that couldhave be legitimately charged to Medic-aid. The proposal would allow statesto use funds from the TANF blockgrant to cover the adjustment.

Human Services

Temporary Assistance for NeedyFamilies — The president’s budgetwould decrease TANF funds by $250million in fiscal 2001. The proposalwould provide $16.4 million for theprogram, but includes a legislative pro-

posal that would reduce TANF supple-mental grants by $240 million in 2001,to the 1998 level for eligible states. Thepresident’s proposal would cut an ad-ditional $10 million because 12 stateswere unable to meet the two-parentwork participation requirements.

Social Services Block Grant — Clintonwould increase the SSBG (Title XX)by $75 million, but he would earmark$25 million of the money for homesfor unmarried teen parents and theirchildren.

Child support — The president in-cludes funding for a new state optionto pass through child support and col-lection to families and to disregardthose funds when determining assis-tance levels for TANF families.

Transportation

The Transportation Equity Act for the21st Century — The president’s bud-get proposes $54.9 billion for federaltransportation programs, an increaseof 7 percent over fiscal 2000. The in-crease is possible because of an esti-mated $3 billion surplus generated bygas tax revenues. Clinton would allo-cate $740 million of this surplus onactivities inconsistent with TEA-21formulas, such as applying the fund-ing to inter-city passenger rail servicedevelopment.

Aviation — The president’s budgetwould provide the Federal AviationAdministration $10.6 billion, a 14 per-cent increase. The Airport Improve-ment Program, which is the mainsource of funding for constructiongrants for airport improvements,would increase from $1.89 billion to$1.93 billion. The budget assumes newuser fees to offset the increases. Thebudget provides funding from the Avia-tion Trust Fund and provides no gen-eral funding for the FAA.

Tax provisions

Child care and dependent care taxcredit — The president would increasethe credit for middle income families

and make the credits refundable begin-ning in 2003.

Earned Income Tax Credit — Clintoncalls for a 10-year, $23.6 billion expan-sion of the EITC to increase the creditfor families of three or more childrenby $500, to slow down the phase-outfor families with two or more children,and to provide tax-penalty relief formarried couples.

Tobacco — The president wouldmove up the scheduled 5-cent-per-packincrease of the federal excise tax.Clinton would have the tax take effecton Oct. 1, 2000, instead of Jan. 1, 2001.He also is calling to increase the fed-eral excise tax by another 25 cents perpack. The president also wants to finetobacco companies $3,000 for everysmoker under age 18 if youth smok-ing has not been cut in half by 2004.Increases in federal excise taxes ontobacco and penalties could reducepayments to states under the MasterSettlement Agreement.

This spring, Congress also will con-sider legislation to change the annualbudget process to a two-year cycle. TheSenate will consider S. 92. The Housewill consider H.R. 396, co-sponsoredby about 250 members.

Clinton supported such legislationin the presentation of the annual budget.

The bills could generate bipartisandebate. A biannual process could allowCongress to focus more on authoriz-ing legislation and other legislation,rather than spending much of its leg-islative days on appropriation bills.

ResourcesThe Washington, D.C., office of

CSG monitors developments atthe federal level and evaluatestheir impacts on state legislationand policies. Learn more about theoffice on the CSG Web site, www.csg.org. The administration’s bud-get is online, www.whitehouse.gov/WH/new/00Budget/ or www.whitehouse.gov/OMB.


As national debate grows over

the use of death penalties,

more states are considering

legislation to amend their

capital punishment statutes.

BY JOHN J. MOUNTJOY

_______________John J. Mountjoy is Western regional coordinator, The

Council of State Governments.

criminal justicecriminal justice

The chair,the bench

andthe gavel


apital punishment. The deathpenalty. A death sentence. Farfrom the sensational plot of a

John Grisham novel, all conjure upimages of brutal crime and anguish forthe victims and their families, for thelegal process and for the perpetratorwho sits on death row.

Arguments for and against the deathpenalty in America have existed aslong as the country itself. The UnitedStates, the most modern, progressivecountry in the world, is one of few in-dustrial nations with the death penalty.Thirty-eight states maintain a deathpenalty statute. In addition, the federalgovernment maintains a death penalty,as does America’s military.

Based on 1998 figures, Americaranks third in the total number of exe-cutions with 64, behind China (1,068)and the Congo (100).

Death in the states

The death penalty has not beenwithout its challenges. In the 1972 caseof Furman vs. Georgia (408 U.S. 238),the U.S. Supreme Court held thatGeorgia’s death penalty statute couldresult in arbitrary sentencing and wastherefore “cruel and unusual,” violat-ing the Eighth Amendment. As a re-sult, the court invalidated all 40 of theexisting state death penalty statutes,thereby imposing a moratorium oncapital punishment.

The moratorium, however, did notlast. With its decision, the court openedthe door to states to rewrite their capi-tal punishment laws to eliminate theproblems cited in Furman. Florida wasthe first state to pass new legislationand was copied quickly by severalother states. These new statutes wereapproved in 1976 by the SupremeCourt in Gregg vs. Georgia (428 U.S.153), Jurek vs. Texas (428 U.S. 262) andProffitt vs. Florida (428 U.S. 242).

The court held that the new death

penalty statutes in Florida, Georgiaand Texas were constitutional, thusreinstating the death penalty in thosestates and in subsequent states thatcopied the language and approach.Since the reinstatement of the deathpenalty, 624 people have been executedin America’s states as of March 2000.

The politics of capitalpunishment

The death penalty, while always ahot political issue, has attracted newattention as to whether it is imposedfairly. Beginning with Illinois Gov.George Ryan’s approval of an execu-tion moratorium earlier this year,states have seen an increase in publicand political support for similar actionsat the state and federal levels.

A death penalty advocate, Ryan saidhe instituted the moratorium becausehe had lost faith in the system. “UntilI can be sure that everyone sentencedto death in Illinois is truly guilty, untilI can be sure with moral certainty thatno innocent man or woman is facinga lethal injection, no one will meet thatfate,” Ryan said in his declaration. “Wemust ensure the public safety of ourcitizens but, in doing so, we mustensure that the ends of justice areserved.”

Ryan’s moratorium comes as Illinoishas exonerated more people (13) ondeath row than it has executed (12)since 1977.

Ryan’s announcement and actionon the death penalty have put a face tothe call for another national morato-rium. Maryland Gov. Parris Glenden-ing and Indiana Gov. Frank O’Bannonboth have proposed a review of theirstates’ death penalty laws to ensurethat they are applied fairly and no in-nocent person is executed. Even thefederal government has begun to rattlethe proverbial sword as PresidentClinton, a former governor himself,


has asked the nation’s governors to re-examine their states’ death penaltylaws.

The move both for and against thedeath penalty is widespread this year,as many state legislative sessions arecoping with a large number of deathpenalty bills. A study of bills intro-duced as of early March indicated that27 states have combined to introduce113 capital punishment bills in 2000sessions. Furthermore, the discussionis likely to continue, and those stateswith extended oryearlong sessionscan expect somebill — pro or con —to be introduced.

Examples of suchbills already intro-duced in 2000 in-clude: Kentucky’sHB 514, whichwould abolish thedeath penalty infavor of life impris-onment, and HB311, which wouldprevent the execu-tion of juveniles;Nebraska’s LB 1118,which would abol-ish the death pen-alty; and Alabama’sHB 578, whichwould impose athree-year moratorium on executionspending a study.

Similarly, Missouri’s SB 838 seeksa two-year moratorium for a study, andNew Hampshire’s HB 1548 seeks torepeal all laws that enforce the deathpenalty. And a look at the volume ofbills in a state such as Alabama, withmore than 10 bills pertaining to thedeath penalty already introduced, in-dicates that the argument is far fromover.

As of early April, Alabama Sen.Hank Sanders said too many senatorssupported the death penalty to pass hisproposal for a halt to executions pend-ing a fairness study. Sen. Lowell Barronsaid in a news report that “an over-

whelming majority in the Legislatureand the state do support the death pen-alty for heinous crimes.”

Execution issues

Within the capital punishment ar-gument are many other issues, eachwith its own complexities, advocatesand detractors. Should juveniles betried as adults and if so, should theybe subjected to the same punishment,even the death penalty? Is the death

penalty applied equitably among racesand gender? Is it more or less expen-sive to put criminals to death than tohold them in prison for life? Does thedeath penalty serve as an effective de-terrent to crime? Does public opinionhave the power to enforce a morato-rium on the death penalty? Can thedeath penalty be supported morally?

Juveniles

Currently, there are more than 70death row inmates who have been sen-tenced as juveniles. All 70 of them aremale and have been convicted and sen-tenced for murder. Two-thirds of theirvictims were white and more than half

were female. They themselves are pre-dominantly minority — typically a 17-year-old black or Hispanic whose vic-tim was a white adult.

Race/gender

Tufts University Professor HugoBedau, author of “The Case Againstthe Death Penalty,” wrote that “sincethe revival of the death penalty in themid-1970s, about half of those on deathrow at any give time have been black.”

He added, “An ex-haustive statisti-cal study of racialdiscrimination incapital cases inGeorgia, for ex-ample, showed thatthe average odds ofreceiving a deathsentence among allindicted cases were4.3 times higher incases with whitevictims.”

Legislation cur-rently in Ohiowould allow statis-tics like these to begiven to a jury dur-ing a capital pun-ishment trial. In arecent article inStateline Midwest,

Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgom-ery said, “I have no problem at all inincluding [racial statistics] in the nextdeath penalty report . . . but I don’tthink that kind of information shouldbe introduced in court. Once you getinto the courtroom, it should be justthe facts of that particular case.”

Since reinstitution of the death pen-alty in a majority of states since 1976,about 36 percent of those executedhave been black, while about 56 per-cent were white according to the DeathPenalty Information Center. Likewise,of people currently on death row, 42.5percent are black and about 47 percentare white.

In addition, gender also seems to be

States with the Death Penalty

States with 2000 legislationrelating to Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment in the United States

Source: CSG Survey 2000


a predetermining factor in death rowsentencing and executions. Accordingto information from the Death PenaltyInformation Center, since 1632 only559 women have been executed inwhat now is the United States. Thiscomprises less than 3 percent of thetotal number of executions (19,200)here since 1608. In fact, only fourwomen have been executed in thestates since 1976. Currently, womenaccount for only 1.44 percent of thedeath row population.

Costs

Some would argue that the deathpenalty is a more “economical” methodof carrying out justice since it costs farless in terms of dollars to execute aprisoner than it does to maintain themin prison for life. A Duke Universitystudy conducted in 1993 found thedeath penalty costs $2.16 million moreper execution than does a typical lifeimprisonment, however.

In Texas, according to a survey doneby the Dallas Morning News in 1992,a death penalty case costs an averageof $2.3 million, roughly three timesmore than the cost of imprisoningsomeone for 40 years. There are sev-eral reasons the costs are so high, suchas legal fees for appeals, pay for judgescourt reporters and public defenders,and overtime pay for prison employees.

Most of the costs revolve around le-gal fees. According to a February 1999article in the Columbus Dispatch, whileOhio paid millions of dollars in legalfees and additional salaries for a capi-tal case and subsequent execution, thedrugs used in a lethal injection execu-tion cost Ohio only $88.42.

Deterrence

Most critical is whether the deathpenalty is an effective deterrent tocrime. Statistics show that in stateswith the death penalty, homicide ratesare higher than in those states with-out a death penalty, which begs thequestion: Which is the cause and

which is the result?A 1994 study of deterrence focused

on death penalty states and the mur-der rate of police officers. The research-ers found that police officers were notafforded additional protection nor con-sideration in death penalty states thanin those without.

Bedau of Tufts said, that whilecapital punishment may serve as aneffective deterrent to some, for thepunishment to be effective, it must beconsistently and promptly employed.

When asked whether they favor thedeath penalty, 66 percent said they do.However, when confronted with alter-natives such as life imprisonmentwithout the possibility of parole, thatnumber drops but is still above 50percent.

Morality

Perhaps the greatest argument sur-rounding capital punishment is that ofmorality. Death sentence advocates say“an eye for an eye” is the only moralway to implement justice. Detractorsclaim that a truly moral society can-not execute its criminals.

Kentucky Rep. Bob Heleringer, pri-mary sponsor of Kentucky’s HB 514,a bill seeking to abolish the death pen-alty all together within the state, said,“I’m morally opposed to the death pen-alty because it simply is wrong for astate to be able to execute a prisoner.I’ve heard all the arguments that it maybe unconstitutional, that it may becruel and unusual. The fact still re-mains that even if it were the most cutand dried action the state legally did,the taking of a life would still be mor-ally wrong.”

However, while the governors ofIllinois, Indiana and Maryland con-template and enact death penaltymoratoriums, Nebraska Gov. MikeJohanns vetoed legislation last yearcalling for a two-year moratorium onexecutions in his state, saying that itwould be just one more roadblock tobringing closure to families of murdervictims.

With the legislative year far frombeing over and the presidential cam-paign beginning to heat up, capitalpunishment is likely to remain a hotissue for some time. If that’s the case,it’s likely that political and public in-terest will clash: public opinion isswaying toward a moratorium on ex-ecutions until procedures and sentenc-ing can be made more foolproof. Po-litically, opposition to capital punish-ment is often seen as a death sentencein and of itself.

Capital Punishmentin the United StatesCapital Punishmentin the United StatesExecutions since 1976

Black ................................. 35%

White ................................ 56%

Other .................................. 9%

Current death row inmates

Black ................................. 42%

White ................................ 47%

Other ................................ 11%

Male .................................. 99%

Female ................................ 1%

Note: Percentages rounded.Source: The Death Row Information

Center, January 2000

Public opinion

A February 2000 Gallup poll indi-cated that sentiment and support inAmerica for the death penalty is at itslowest point in 19 years. Those whosupport the death penalty typically aremale, white, older, from the South, lesseducated and Republican.

In the same poll, when asked if thedeath penalty was imposed too muchor not enough in today’s society, 60percent said not enough, down from64 percent the year before. When askedwhether they thought an innocent per-son had been sentenced to death in thelast 20 years, 91 percent answered yes,up from 82 percent the previous year.


did everything I was supposed to do — I found a job and turnedin all the paperwork to continue my medical benefits — and Istill lost Medicaid coverage for me and my two children,” said

Saundra Haddix-Hamilton, a former welfare recipient in Washingtonstate. Haddix- Hamilton had to make multiple contacts with state agen-cies to get her benefits reinstated.

As welfare caseloads dramatically decline, a less desirable side effectis gaining attention nationwide. Parents who leave welfare frequentlyfind that they and their children often lose critical health benefits inthe process, despite provisions in the law that should ensure continu-

Seeking ways to ensure

health coverage for kids and

parents, state leaders and

advocates work together to

improve access to Medicaid.

BY DEBORAH STEIN

_______________Deborah Stein is devolution project director with the

National Association of Child Advocates, a nationwidenetwork of child-advocacy organizations, which

represents 63 organizations in 47 states. For moreinformation, call (202) 289-0777 or visit on their Web

site at www.childadvocacy.org.

healthhealth

Leavingwelfare,

not healthcare


Many children have lost their health benefits.

ing coverage. Estimates of the declinein Medicaid that can be attributed tothis problem vary, but it is generallyagreed that the numbers are large and,in some states, continuing to grow.

Historically, people receiv-ing cash assistance auto-matically received Medicaid.As many families leave thecash rolls or attempt to applyfor Medicaid without apply-ing for cash, numerous, com-plex problems have beendocumented. Outdated com-puter systems, applicationforms that do not account forchanges in the law, and inadequate em-ployee training and supervision arejust some of the reasons often cited forthe decline in enrollment of eligiblefamilies. Families who leave welfareoften believe they are no longer eligiblefor Medicaid, and fail to ask for healthbenefits. Caseworkers, focusing on get-ting people in jobs, often fail to com-municate the importance and availabil-ity of Medicaid to parents leaving cashassistance.

Cooperating on solutions

The experiences of Pennsylvaniaand Washington show how statepolicy-makers can work with advocacygroups on this national problem. Childadvocates, legal-services organizationsand other coalitions in these two statesrecently worked with state policy-mak-ers to rectify some of the problemscaused by the historic linkage betweencash assistance and Medicaid. In bothstates, advocates were able to bring theexperiences of parents such as Haddix-Hamilton to the attention of state gov-ernment officials and to work withthem to analyze data that indicatedthat these experiences were common.After reviewing the individual casesand examining the trends, both statesworked with advocates to develop cor-rective action plans.

“When we passed welfare reform,we certainly didn’t intend for familiesto lose their health coverage when they

went back to work,” said Rep. EileenCody, co-chair of the House HealthCare Committee in the WashingtonLegislature. “Health coverage is a keysupport that families entering the work

force need in order to suc-ceed, and we need to makesure they have it. Wronglycutting off thousands of fami-lies was a big mistake ourstate made, but we are happyto see that the Department ofSocial and Health Services isnow fixing the problem.”

In both states there is morework to do to ensure that

families receive Medicaid. State policy-makers such as Cody and advocates arecontinuing to monitor family experi-ences, track data and explore short-and long-term solutions to the prob-lem.

Pennsylvania takes action

In Pennsylvania, three advocacygroups worked together to identifysome of the problems that resulted infamilies losing Medicaid cov-erage as they left welfare.They were Community LegalServices, Pennsylvania HealthLaw Project and the Philadel-phia Citizens for Childrenand Youth, which is a mem-ber of the National Associa-tion of Child Advocates. Stateadministrators of agenciesinvolved examined the issuewith the group and agreed toseveral corrective measures,including:

• restoration of Medicaidbenefits to 24,000 kids and 8,000 par-ents;

• computer changes to reduce errors;• procedural changes to prevent fu-

ture losses of coverage;• a paid television ad campaign to

inform families they can keep healthbenefits when they leave welfare;

• a contract with a telephone coun-seling firm to call families who did notreturn necessary paperwork to con-

tinue Medicaid benefits; and• a system for double checking cases

of families leaving welfare to make surethat Medicaid-coverage decisions areevaluated separately.

Sherri Z. Heller, who holds a doc-torate in measurement and programevaluation and serves as deputy secre-tary for the Office of Income Mainte-nance, Pennsylvania Department ofPublic Welfare, said the state learnedthree important lessons in its attemptto ensure that families leaving cash as-sistance maintain their medical coverage.

“First, public officials and community-based advocates need to keep realitytesting each other, rather than gettingtrapped by their initial hypothesesabout why families do what they do,”Heller said. “Second, caseworkers needto talk to clients from the very begin-ning about how to plan for the transi-tion from welfare to work, includingthe importance of supplementing theirearnings with public benefits forawhile, while they build a work his-tory. Waiting till the job placementcomes is too late. Third, we have to deal

with the stigma attached to welfare-related programs; it’s smart to supple-ment the earnings of hard-workingparents with Medicaid and food stampbenefits — it’s no sign of sloth ordependence.”

Washington restores benefits

In Washington state, an advocacypartnership among NACA member —

Rep. Eileen Cody


The Children’s Alliance, ColumbiaLegal Services, and the Welfare RightsOrganizing Coalition, also identified asignificant problem of declining Med-icaid enrollment. State administratorsagreed to:

• change the state’s computer sys-tem to stop it from automati-cally terminating families’health coverage;

• reinstate as many as100,000 adults and childrenwho were improperly termi-nated from health coverage;

• reimburse families whowere improperly terminatedfor their past medical bills;

• educate families aboutthe availability of Medicaid even whencash benefits stop and the differencesbetween cash assistance and Medicaidand continue a family’s Medicaid un-

WE’RECHANGINGOUR AREA

CODE.The area code for Lexing-

ton, Ky., home to CSG’s na-tional office is changing to859. The change took effectApril 1. While both the old606 area code and the newcode will work until Oct. 1,after that only 859 will reachLexington numbers.

To reach our Lexingtonoffices dial:

(859) 244-8000,fax (859) 244-8001.

less specifically asked to stop;• stop repeated requests by the state

for information previously provided byfamilies; and

• stop requests for information andverification not necessary for Medic-aid eligibility.

Since then, the state has al-located $500,000 for a pub-lic outreach campaign. Asthis article went to press inearly April, budget proposalsin both houses includedfunding to track the numberof families who have been in-formed of their right to con-tinue receiving Medicaid andfood stamps, in an effort to

ensure that eligible families can makean informed choice.

Tom Bedell, assistant secretary ofthe Washington Medical Assistance

Administration, said, “We have con-cluded that virtually all clients ask tocontinue medical benefits once theyunderstand the differences betweenmedical and TANF cash programs.”

As these two examples show, statepolicy-makers can work with childadvocates and legal-services groups intheir communities to keep more eli-gible families on Medicaid. Such a so-lution makes sense when the numbersof the uninsured are rapidly rising, andwhen states are devoting millions ofdollars to find and enroll children intothe new State Child Health InsuranceProgram and Medicaid. Fixing theMedicaid-enrollment process so thateligible kids retain coverage is a cost-effective way of helping ensure thatkids receive the health care coveragethey need.

Washington and Pennsylvania restored health benefits to many families.

Sherri Z. Heller


All this takes us back to the grand-daddy of all memorable negative buzz-word statements “I am not a crook.”

Both father and son suffer from thesame foot-in-mouth disease. Each isconstantly doing a new version of theDan Quayle “potatoe” routine and “it’sa terrible thing to lose one’s mind” try-ing to remember the United NegroCollege Fund’s “A mind is a terriblething to waste.”

Both father and son become iratewith persistent questioners. Both mis-take loudness for animation.

And both father and son constantlyproduce the two prominent verticallines — one over each eyebrow end —

An expert in meeting the media looks at communications traps on the campaigntrail for a leading contender in the presidential race.

BY ARCH LUSTBERG

ack in the days when he wasvice-president running forpresident, George Bush went on

“60 Minutes.” Diane Sawyer’s firstquestion was: “Mr. Vice President,what about the ‘wimp’ factor?” Bushanswered with a great story, which hethen ended with, “If that’s being awimp then George Bush is a wimp.“Then he told a second story. And heproceeded to tag that with “and if that’sbeing a wimp then George Bush isguilty of being a wimp.” She said“wimp” and he repeated it four times.To this day, Bush is remembered as awimp. The stories he told were won-derful but no one remembers them.

Son George W. falls into the sametrap. He’s busy denying. He tells us he’snot a bigot. In his letter to CardinalO’Connor he said: “I reject racial seg-regation . . . I reject religious intoler-ance . . . I should have been more clearin disassociating myself from anti-Catholic sentiments and racial preju-dice.” He has since repeated “I am notanti-Catholic” over and over.

_______________Arch Lustberg is a speech coach who trainsofficials to meet the media. He can be reached

at Arch Lustberg Communications, Inc.,1899 L St., N.W., Suite 1010, Washington,

D.C., 20036, (202) 833-4343. He hasperformed training sessions for state

officials at Council of State Governmentsmeetings, including Toll Fellows, BILLD

and the national annual meeting. Hiscommunication video tape series is for sale

on CSG’s online store, www.csg.org.

resulting in the closed face. It doesn’tmatter whether they’re concentrating,or worried. They look angry. The com-bination of shouting and frowningrarely wins.

The closed face lost to Bill Clintonin ’92.

Will it lose to Al Gore in ’00?

skill sessionskill session

Like father, like sonArch Lustberg and Texas Gov. GeorgeW. Bush compare their “closed faces.”

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remarkable, and largely unnoticed, change in envir-onmental protection has occurred over the past five to 10 years.Across the nation, the primary environmental protection agen-

cies are state offices.Compared with the federal government, states run most environ-

mental programs, provide the lion’s share of the funding and staff,and take the lead in enforcement, information gathering and policy-making, according to data compiled by the Environmental Council ofthe States with help from other state-based organizations. ECOS isthe national nonprofit, nonpartisan association of state and territo-rial environmental commissioners, based in Washington, D.C.

States in charge

Congress allows states to administer most federal environmentalprograms by petitioning the Environmental Protection Agency. Agovernor files a petition after the legislature has passed authorizinglegislation that must be at least as stringent as the federal standardand after the state has shown that it has adequate resources.

The role of state governments

in environmental protection

has increased dramatically

over the last 10 years.

BY R. STEVEN BROWN

_______________R. Steven Brown is deputy director of ECOS and former

director of CSG’s Center for Environment and Safety.ECOS was founded in 1993 at The Council of State

Governments’ Annual Meeting.

environmentenvironment

Greenguardians


An ECOS study in1998 looked at 22major federal envi-ronmental programsand found EPA haddelegated about 74percent of the majorprograms to states. In comparison,EPA had delegated less than 40 per-cent of the 22 environmental programsto states in 1993. By 1998, the EPAhad delegated 757 of 1,166 possible fed-eral environmental programs to statesand U.S. territories, a nearly 75 per-cent increase from five years prior. Therapid increase in delegation over thefive years came primarily in the well-head-protection program of the SafeDrinking Water Act, which grew from8 to 36 states, and the New SourceReview program of the Clean Air Act,up from 15 to 42 states.

State officials are willing to take overthe programs for the benefits of statecontrol.

“The foremost reason Delawaredecides to operate a federal environ-mental program is that we want con-trol over our own fate,” said NickDiPasquale, secretary of Delaware’sDepartment of Natural Resources andEnvironmental Control. “The regu-lated community prefers to work withonly one regulator, not two, and webelieve that out state is most sensitiveto the unique situation here, as well ashaving the most intimate knowledgeof the environment and the operationsin it. We also want to be responsive toour citizens, and not just hand a prob-lem off to the federal government.”

Dennis H. Treacy, director ofVirginia’s Department of Environmen-tal Quality echoed many of thosethoughts. “Delegated programs help toprovide consistency between the pro-grams established at the federal leveland those that the state have under-taken on their own,” Treacy said. “Forexample, in Virginia we have moreextensive solid-waste statutes andregulations than those authorized bythe Resource Conservation and Recov-

ery Act.” By seeking delegation of non-hazardous solid waste, Virginia en-sured the federal and state programsfunctioned in unison.

The ECOS study showed the num-ber of states with delegated programsunder each of the following acts.

Clean Air Act ...................... 42 states

Clean Water Act .................. 34 states

Waste (Resource Conservationand Recovery Act) .......... 37 states

Drinking Water ................... 39 states

Pesticides (Federal Insecticide,Fungicide, RodenticideAct) ................................. 39 states

Putting money where theirmouth is

Along with the increase in delegatedprograms, state environmental spend-ing has outpacedfederal spending. Apicture of the sourceof environmentalprotection fundsemerged from TheCouncil of State Gov-ernments’ researchon each state’s to-tal environmentalspending for 1986through 1996, andwith EPA and U.S.Office of Manage-ment and Budgetdata on funds sup-plied to the states tothe present.

In 1986, statesspent about $5.2 bil-lion on environmen-tal protection and natural resources, aswas first reported by CSG in The Re-source Guide to State Environmental

Protection. ECOS cal-culates that the EPAprovided just morethan $3 billion of the1986 total, almost 58percent. But by fiscal1996, a very different

story had emerged. According to thefifth edition of CSG’s resource guide,states spent about $12.5 billion, withthe EPA providing about $2.5 billion,or about 20 percent.

From 1986 to 1996, states’ spend-ing on the environment increasedabout 140 percent, while total EPAfunding to the states decreased about17 percent. Most of the decline was dueto reductions in water infrastructure-support programs. In 1996 the statesspent $12.5 billion on environment/natural resources, twice as much as theentire EPA budget of $6.5 billion.

Currently, the Clinton administra-tion proposes to increase by 21 percentfor fiscal 2001 state programs (or cat-egorical grants), but also proposes tocut funding by more than 30 percentto state revolving-loan funds used forwater and wastewater treatment. If

Congress adopts the budget as pro-posed, state funding will remain aboutthe same as last year. Despite the de-

In 1996 the states spent nearly twice as much($12.5 billion) on environment/natural resources

as the entire EPA budget ($6.5 billion).

A N.H. Department of Environmental Services septic systeminspector reviews design plans while inspecting a newsystem for permit approval.


cline in federal fund-ing over time, statesremain committed.

“I believe our Leg-islature sees environ-mental protection asan investment in thestate, Delaware’s DiPasquale said. “Re-cently, a new pharmaceutical com-pany, Astra Zeneca, located in Dela-ware in part because of our quality oflife and the quality of our natural re-sources, both of which depend onstrong environmental commitments.”

Treacy of Virginia said, “We under-stand the commitment required to

maintain the quality of life the citizensdeserve and have come to expect inVirginia, and we need to assure ourresidents and businesses that we willbe able to meet this commitment. Thisis why states dedicate so much of theirown funding for environmental pro-grams — we have to be certain we’llhave a dependable and sufficientsource of funds to carry out our pro-grams. We also want the flexibility toutilize the funds to meet our priorityneeds.”

States also have increased the sizeof their environmental staffs in recentyears. In 1986, state agencies expendedabout 38,000 work-years, an effort that

increased by 60 percent to 61,000 workyears by 1996.

Taking the lead

States also take the lead in enforce-ment, information and policy-makingfor environmental programs.

States are the primary enforcers ofenvironmentallaw for dele-gated programsas well as forstate environ-mental laws.Over the past10 years, thestates consis-tently have con-ducted about 75percent of theenforcementactions taken,with the EPAdoing the rest.In recent years,the state work-load has risento 80 percentof the actions.

Even this does not show the full pic-ture because the EPA and many statesdo not track compliance assistance ef-forts by states. This means that statesand the EPA may not count some ofthe most important enforcement ac-tions by states. ECOS plans researchthis summer on counting of enforce-ment actions.

In addition, each state agency gath-ers, compiles, houses and analyzes agreat deal of environmental informa-tion. When a state is delegated a pro-gram, it usually agrees to forward keyinformation to one or more of 13 na-tional environmental databases theEPA maintains. According to a 1999

report by ECOS andthe EPA, most datacame from states.

Air data — >99percent of the EPA’sdata comes fromstates

Water data — ~91 percent of theEPA’s data comes from states

Hazardous waste data — >92 per-cent of the EPA’s data comes fromstates

State environmental agencies col-lected and compiled about 94 percentof all the environmental quality datain the EPA’s national databases.

States also collect additional envi-ronmental quality data that is not con-tained in national databases. Some ofthis data is collected for delegatedprograms, but usually is not forwardedto the EPA because the EPA does notrequire it (for example, water qualityreports from minor point sources).

“During the 10-year period from 1986 to 1996,states spending on the environment increased140 percent, while EPA funding to the states

decreased about 17 percent.”

A N.H. Department of EnvironmentalServices wastewater treatmentengineer takes a sample of cleaneffluent at the end of a wastewatertreatment plant’s process.

Homeowners are welcome to bring water samples to the labfor testing. In fact, the lab handles more than 5,000 suchsamples each year in New Hampshire.


ResourcesThe Environmental Council of

the States, the national nonprofit,nonpartisan association of stateand territorial environmentalcommissioners, is located at 444N. Capitol St., N.W., Suite 445,Washington, D.C. 20001, (202)624-3660, or visit its Web site atwww.sso.org/ecos/or by clicking“Environment’ at CSG’s Web site,www.csg.org.

The Council of State Govern-ments’ Environmental PolicyGroup, part of CSG’s Center forLeadership, Innovation and Policy,conducts state environmental andnatural resources policy research,training and leadership. The ResourceGuide to State Environmental Man-agement, 5th edition, 70 pages, 1998,$49, is available at CSG’s onlinestore at www.csg.org.

“…it has become clear that the delegation ofenvironmental programs to the state has

increased dramatically in the past five years.”

This data potentiallycould exceed the en-vironmental data re-ported to the EPA.

States implementmost environmentalprotection programs,so they often see innovative solutionsfor environmental problems first.Since 1994, ECOS has published hun-dreds of innovative programs on arange of environmental protection.

Some of these state ideas have beennationally recognized by innovationawards programs such as those of TheCouncil of State Governments and theJohn F. Kennedy School of Govern-ment at Harvard University. ECOSmembers consistently have rated thiskind of peer-sharing as one of theorganization’s most important ben-efits.

“States are better positioned to dealwith many environmental issues notaddressed at the federal level, includ-ing land-use management,” DiPasqualesaid. “Delaware has a cabinet-levelcommittee that looks at land-use man-agement and directs state support forgrowth away from overcrowded areas.”

Some state leaders have thoughtabout where such innovation might

lead. “We would like to see environ-mental protection programs evolve sothat the role of the federal agencies willbe to determine the standards necessaryto assure the protection and sustaina-

bility of all of ournatural resources,”Treacy says. “Thiswould be accom-plished by marshal-ling the considerablescientific and techni-cal resources avail-able at the federallevel. Of course thestates, and all otherstakeholders, wouldneed to be full par-ticipants in the pro-cess of establishingthese standards.

“The states’ roleshould be to developand then implementthe environmental

management actions necessary to meetand maintain the agreed upon stan-dards. At times these actions may re-quire a multistate effort like the Chesa-peake Bay Program. Other situationsmay call for an activity in a river basinwithin one state or perhaps we mightneed to make changes at single facilitylocated in one of our communities. Ineach circumstance, we believe the bestchance for success will occur when weallow those closest to the problem to beinvolved in developing the solution.”

However creative and inventive stateagency solutions can be, from time totime legislative solutions are more ap-propriate. States have not shied awayfrom implementation of new environ-mental laws. According to the NationalConference of State Legislatures, states

New Hampshire, like other states, takes a lead role inenvironmental protection.

passed more than 700environmental bills in1997 alone. At leasthalf of those dealt withnondelegated environ-mental programs suchas pollution preven-

tion and solid-waste management.

In good hands

States have proven to be seriousabout their responsibilities as stewardsof the environment, and have morethan fulfilled the expectations of the1972 Congress that drafted some of theoriginal legislation envisioning thestate role in the federal environmen-tal protection system. In fact, almost30 years later, states are leaders in en-vironmental protection. Whether theyardstick is delegation, fiscal, enforce-ment, information gathering or policy-making, states are responsible for anincreasing, and perhaps surprising,amount of the work done to protectthe nation’s environment.


he teacher shortage is severeand undeniable; states are try-ing numerous incentives to at-

tract and retain new teachers to theirschools. But as acute as the short-age is, it is even greater for bilingualeducators. While states such asFlorida and California may nolonger have formal bilingual educa-tion programs, they nonethelessneed bilingual teachers for their lim-ited-English students. Californiaalone, which has 42 percent of thecountry’s limited-English-proficientchildren, had a bilingual teachershortage of 25,000 in 1998.

Although teacher recruiting andhiring is performed largely at thedistrict level, states with the largest

numbers of bilingual students —among them Texas, Arizona andNew Mexico — advertise at majorconferences, on Web sites and innewspapers to attract candidates.And two states — California andNew York — have used innovative,state-run programs to meet some oftheir hiring needs.

The New York program’s ap-proach is ‘grow your own,’ wherebycommunities look to ‘paraeducators’to fill their bilingual (and minority)teacher needs. There are almost500,000 paraeducators — peoplealready working in schools, as teach-ers or perhaps as teacher’s aides, butlacking some necessary element orelements of their certification. Such

Facing a national

teacher shortage, states

are finding it harder

than ever to hire teachers

with bilingual skills.

BY SARAH WHITMIRE

_______________Sarah Whitmire was an editor for The Council of

State Governments.

educationeducation


teachers sometimes have only emer-gency certification.

New York’s Intensive Teacher Insti-tute in Bilingual Education and En-glish as a Second Language recruitsteachers from among New York edu-cators. The program offers tuition as-sistance for certification courseworkfor bilingual teachers or in English asa Second Language at about 20 colleges(the program also helps teachers whoneed recertification). Districts mustrefer teachers, and universities recruitparticipants from their students whomay need financial aid, said MariaValverde, director of the program.

Since the program’s inception in1990, almost 800 teachers have re-ceived bilingual education certification

and more than 250 have received cer-tification in English as a Second Lan-guage. The institute targets people whocan speak English and the followinglanguages: Chinese, Haitian-Creole,Hebrew, Korean, Russian and Spanish,among others. The New York Educa-tion Department Office of BilingualEducation funds the program. At themoment, the program is providing as-sistance to 167 teachers. Participantsmust sign an agreement that they willstay with their district for one to twoyears following completion of theprogram.

Using a similar approach, federalassistance is available to states and dis-tricts from the Department of Educa-tion’s Office of Bilingual Education andMinority Languages Affairs. To receivefunding from its Language MinorityTeacher Project, school districts arerequired to set up partnerships withinstitutes of higher learning and fundthe certification process for bilingualparaprofessionals already working inthe schools.

Cynthia Ryan, an education pro-gram specialist at OBEMLA, said theprograms “seem to work fairly wellbecause for one thing, these people areentrenched in the community.” Shesaid the funding is well invested: al-though the turnover rate is very highfor new teachers, “we believe theseteachers have more promise of stayingin the schools.”

Ryan cited a number of successfulexamples in California, including apartnership between the University ofSouthern California and Los Angelesschools.

“Those in their early years, particu-larly those in community colleges —that’s where many of them get stuck,”Ryan said. “A lot of them accumulatemany hours and credits but don’t getout of the community college. Thisparticular program provides supportservices that allow them to move on toteacher credentialing.”

While it can not fill all or even mostof its needs for bilingual educatorsthrough it, California’s program to re-

cruit teachers from foreign countrieshas been in effect for more than 20years. The numbers of teachers theprogram brings to the state are notenormous. Maria Trejo, manager ofthe California Language Policy andLeadership Office, said, “It’s not reallyto meet the lack of bilingual teachers,it’s more of a goodwill, cultural thing.”

Under California’s program, thestate sends district representatives toforeign countries to find teachers. Eachparticipating district must negotiatethe hires with its local teachers’unions. The teachers are admittedunder special permits from the immi-gration office based on the teachershortage. Prospective teachers mustmeet all the same qualifications asnative teachers and their salaries arethe same.

The program hires about 25 teach-ers per year from Mexico and up to acouple hundred each year from Spain.Other teachers have come from thePhilippines, South Korea and Ger-many. Teachers generally stay nolonger than three years, since theirnative countries want their skills.

As states and districts look to solvetheir teacher shortage problems throughadditional funding, programs such asCalifornia’s and New York’s are suc-cessfully making a difference oneteacher at a time.

ResourcesResourcesCalifornia Language Policy and

Leadership Office, (916) 657-5427New York’s Intensive Teacher

Institute in Bilingual Educationand English as a Second Language,Maria E. Valverde, director, (516)286-6551

U.S. Department of EducationOffice of Bilingual Education andMinority Languages Affairs, 600Independence Avenue, S.W., Wash-ington, D.C. 20202-6510

National Clearinghouse for Bi-lingual Education, (202) 467-0867


Tennessee’s political furor over cityannexation powers a few years agoproduced a promising approach tohead off future local intergovernmen-tal disputes. To control growth andreduce conflicts, the General Assemblyrequired local governments to commu-nicate and cooperate on long-termplanning.

In doing so, the General Assemblycourageously addressed an issue thathaunts many policy-makers: the spec-ter — and all too often the reality — ofexplosive growth and uncontrolledurban sprawl. In Tennessee, the prob-lem had become particularly acute asa result of a system that allowed citiesto annex portions of their own countiesby merely passing a single ordinance.

Cities had a tremendous financialincentive prior to 1998 to grab what-ever territory they could, since theyimmediately gained tax revenues fromannexed areas. This made comprehen-sive countywide growth planningnearly impossible. The system pro-moted confrontation between countygovernments and the cities withinthose counties.

The General Assembly in its 1998session passed a law that requires eachcity to assess its need for additionalterritory and to identify areas for fu-ture annexation in conjunction withthe county. These areas, along withrural areas and potential development

sites, are delineated with boundarylines and combined to form a 20-yearcomprehensive growth plan for thecounty.

After the governments involvedagree upon the growth plan, the citymay annex additional territory by or-dinance only within those identifiedareas and may take in territory outsidethe boundary only through referen-dum. The law contains restrictions oncorridor annexations and annexationacross county lines. It also allows thecounty to keep more of the tax revenuefor 15 years from territory that is an-nexed. For the first time, the countyplays an active part in determining thefuture of its land areas.

The preamble to Public Chapter1101, signed into law by Gov. DonSundquist on May 19, 1998, reads:

“It is the intent of the General As-sembly that local governments engagein long-term planning, and that suchplanning be accomplished throughregular communication and coopera-tion among local governments, theagencies attached to them and theagencies that serve them. It is also theintent of the General Assembly thatthe growth plans required by this billshall result from communication andcooperation among local governments.”

Perhaps the most important part ofthe new law isn’t what it requires, butwhat it encourages. Legislators knewfull well that after decades of landfeuds, some cities and counties mighthave difficulty working cooperativelyto develop a comprehensive growthplan, particularly one that spans 20years. So, Tennessee legislators notonly addressed this issue in the pre-

Tennessee pioneers ADR ingrowth planning

BY ALBERT HARBERSON

amble, they crafted into the law provi-sions that pioneer the use of alterna-tive dispute resolution or ADR incountywide planning.

When cities and counties cannotagree on a plan, they are required tomeet with a mediator to reach a mutu-ally agreeable solution. The goal is toresolve the immediate dispute and tofoster a new era of cooperation.

Developing this new mediation ini-tiative is the responsibility of the Ad-ministrative Procedures Division inthe Office of the Secretary of State.“The Legislature and the governorhave made clear that they want thesematters resolved by mutual agreement,if possible, and we’re going to do ev-erything we can to make certain thathappens,” said Charles Sullivan, direc-tor of APD.

Sullivan and the administrative lawjudges, who are trained mediators, re-cently have worked closely with theNational Institute for State ConflictManagement at The Council of StateGovernments to develop an effectivemediation program. Tennessee expectsto mediate a number of these mattersin the next few months.

The National Institute for StateConflict Management, part of CSG’sCenter for Leadership, Innovation andPolicy, works with states and territo-ries to provide a variety of services toassist ADR initiatives. The institutewill host the Summit of the States onConflict Management and DisputeResolution June 8-10, 2000, in Lexing-ton, Ky. Additional information isavailable at www.csg.org or by contact-ing Albert Harberson at (859) 244-8228 or [email protected].

_______________Albert Harberson is manager of theNational Institute for State Conflict

Management of CSG. Ann M. Johnson,legal consultant with the University of

Tennessee County Technical AssistanceService, contributed to this article.

news from csg's center for leadership, innovation & policynews from csg's center for leadership, innovation & policy


This calendar lists the annualmeeting dates of associations servingstate officials. For more information,call the number listed.

“CSG/” denotes organizations af-filiated with CSG.

Direct new entries or correctionsby the first of the month to:

Amy LindonThe Conference CalendarCSGP.O. Box 11910Lexington, KY [email protected] CSG’s Web site, www.csg.org

or www.StatesNews.org.

MAY 2000May 7-10 — Sunday-WednesdayCSG/National Association of StateTreasurers (NAST) SouthernState Treasurers Conference —Point Clear, AL — Grand Hotel Mar-riott (Hamilton, Lexington) (859)244-8174

JUNE 2000June 8-10 — Thursday-SaturdayCSG/University of KentuckySummit of the States on ConflictManagement and Dispute Reso-lution — Lexington, KY — Marri-ott’s Griffin Gate Resort (Harber-son, Lexington) (859) 244-8228,[email protected] 11-13 — Sunday-TuesdayInterstate Oil and Gas CompactCommission Midyear Meeting —Lexington, KY — Radisson PlazaHotel (Keller, Oklahoma City) (405)525-3556, [email protected] 17-21 — Saturday-WednesdayCSG/National Association of StateTreasurers (NAST) WesternState Treasurers Conference —Juneau, AK — Westmark BarnofHotel (Hamilton, Lexington) (859)244-8174June 23-24 —Friday- SaturdayCSG “Your Bottom Line: InternetTaxation” — Washington, D.C. —Hotel to be announced (Powell, Lex-ington) (859) 244-8249, [email protected] 24-28 — Saturday-WednesdayCSG/National Association ofState Facilities Administrators(NASFA) Annual Conferenceand Trade Show — Burlington,VT — Radisson Hotel (Stone, Lex-ington) (859) 244-8181, [email protected]

JULY 2000July 7-11 — Friday-TuesdayCSG/Bowhay Institute for Leg-islative Leadership (BILLD) —Madison, WI — Fluno Center(Tomaka, Lombard) (630) 810-0210July 7-11 — Friday-TuesdayCSG/National Association of StateTelecommunications Directors

(NASTD) Western Region Meet-ing — Whitefish, MT — GrouseMountain Lodge (Britton, Lexing-ton) (859) 244-8187, [email protected] 8-11 — Saturday-TuesdayNational Governors Association(NGA) Annual Conference —State College, PA — Hotel to be an-nounced (Dotchin, DC) (202) 624-5300July 15 — SaturdayCSG/Agricultural Policy TaskForce Meeting — Chicago, IL —Hotel Inter-Continental Chicago(Lackey, Lexington) (859) 244-8163, [email protected] 16-20 — Sunday-ThursdayNational Conference of State Leg-islatures (NCSL) Annual Meet-ing — Chicago, IL — Sheraton Chi-cago (Ross, Denver) (303) 830-2200, [email protected] 19-23 — Wednesday-SundayCSG/National Conference of Lieu-tenant Governors (NCLG) An-nual Meeting — Dorado, PR —Dorado Hyatt (Manning, Lexing-ton) (859) 244-8171, [email protected] 22-27 — Saturday-ThursdayCSG/Parliamentary Conferenceof the Americas Second GeneralAssembly — Rio Grande, PR —Westin Rio Mar Beach Hotel(O’Malley, DC) (202) 624-5460July 23-26 — Sunday-WednesdayCSG/American Probation andParole Association (APPA) 25th

Annual Training Institute —Phoenix, AZ — Downtown Hyatt(Swinford, Lexington) (859) 244-8194July 25-30 — Tuesday-SundayAmerican Legislative ExchangeCouncil (ALEC) Annual Meet-ing — San Diego, CA — San DiegoMarriott Hotel & Marina (Dougherty,DC) (202) 466-3800, [email protected] 29-August 2 —Saturday-WednesdayCSG/National Association of StatePersonnel Executives (NASPE)Annual Meeting — Princeton, NJ— Marriott at Forrestal Village(Leslie Scott, Lexington) (859) 244-8182, [email protected]

AUGUST 2000August 3-5 — Thursday-SaturdayCSG/National Association of StateTreasurers (NAST) College Sav-ings Plan Network & State DebtManagement 10th Annual Con-ference — Chicago, IL — WestinHotel (Hamilton, Lexington) (859)244-8174August 4-7 — Friday-MondayCSG/Eastern Regional Conference(ERC) Annual Meeting — Provi-dence, RI — Westin Providence

Hotel (Stanley, New York) (212)912-0128August 5-9 — Saturday-WednesdayCSG/Southern Legislative Con-ference (SLC) Annual Meeting— Biloxi, MS — Hotel to be an-nounced (Cousineau, Atlanta)(404) 266-1271August 6-9 — Sunday-WednesdayCSG/Midwestern LegislativeConference (MLC) 55th AnnualMeeting — Minneapolis, MN —Marriott Hotel (McCabe, Lombard)(630) 810-0210August 6-9 — Sunday-WednesdayCSG/National Association of StateTreasurers (NAST) 25th AnnualConference — Chicago, IL —Westin Hotel (Hamilton, Lexing-ton) (859) 244-8174August 19-25 — Saturday-FridayCSG/National Emergency Man-agement Association (NEMA)2000 Annual Conference — PalmBeach, FL — The Breakers (Hens-ley, Lexington) (859) 244-8162,[email protected] 26-31 — Saturday-ThursdayCSG/National Association of StateTelecommunications Directors(NASTD) 23rd Annual Confer-ence — Boston, MA — SeaportHotel and World Trade Center(Britton, Lexington) (859) 244-8187, [email protected]

SEPTEMBER 2000September 1-3 — Friday-SundayCSG/National Association of StateElection Directors (NASED) —San Francisco, CA — Hotel to beannounced (Scott, DC) (202) 624-5460September 14-16 —Thursday-SaturdayCSG/Council on Licensure,Enforcement and Regulation(CLEAR) Annual Conference —Miami, FL — Wyndham HotelBiscayne Bay (Turner, Lexington)(859) 269-1802September 23-26 —Saturday-TuesdayCSG/National Association of StateTreasurers (NAST) NortheastState Treasurers Conference —Charleston, WV — Embassy Suites(Hamilton, Lexington) (859) 244-8174September 24-26 —Sunday-TuesdaySouthern Governors’ Association(SGA) Annual Meeting — LittleRock, AR — Excelsior Hotel (Pur-dy, DC) (202) 624-5897, [email protected] 30-October 5 —Saturday-ThursdayCSG Henry Toll Fellowship Pro-gram — Lexington, KY — HiltonSuites (Powell, Lexington) (859)244-8249, [email protected]

NOVEMBER 2000November 1-3 — Wednesday-FridayCSG/Northeast Recycling Coun-cil (NERC) Fall Meeting —Northeast NJ — Hotel to be an-nounced (Bartlett, Brattleboro)(802) 254-3636, [email protected] 15-18 —Wednesday-SaturdayCSG/CSG-WEST Annual Meeting— San Diego, CA — Hyatt Islandia(Duvauchelle, San Francisco) (415)974-6422

DECEMBER 2000December 3-5 — Sunday-TuesdayInterstate Oil and Gas CompactCommission Annual Meeting —San Antonio, TX — Omni SanAntonio (Keller, Oklahoma City)(404) 525-3556 ext. 113, [email protected] 7-10 — Thursday-SundayCSG 2000 Annual Meeting andState Leadership Forum — Dear-born, MI — Dearborn Hyatt Re-gency (Hines, Lexington) (859)244-8103, [email protected]

JUNE 2001June 27- July 1 —Wednesday-SundayCSG/National Conference of Lieu-tenant Governors (NCLG) AnnualMeeting — Louisville, KY — TheSeelbach (Manning, Lexington)(859) 244-8171, [email protected]

JULY 2001July 14-18 — Saturday-WednesdayCSG/Southern Legislative Con-ference (SLC) Annual Meeting— Savannah, GA — Hotel to beannounced (Cousineau, Atlanta)(404) 266-1271, slcatlanta.orgJuly 29-August 1 —Sunday-WednesdayCSG/Midwestern LegislativeConference (MLC) 56th AnnualMeeting — Lincoln, NE — TheCornhusker (McCabe, Lombard)(630) 810-0210

SEPTEMBER 2001September 9-11 — Sunday-TuesdaySouthern Governors’ Associa-tion (SGA) Annual Meeting —Lexington, KY — Marriott GriffinGate Resort (Purdy, DC) (202) 624-5897, [email protected] 20-24 —Thursday-MondayCSG 2001 Annual Meeting andState Leadership Forum — An-chorage, AK — Hotel to be an-nounced (Hines, Lexington) (859)244-8103, [email protected]


Northeast agricultural interestsSG’s Eastern Regional Conferencelast August resolved to bring to-

gether regional state leaders to betterrepresent Northeastern agriculture in-

terests in Wash-ington, D.C. On

March 4, the Northeast Association ofDepartments of Agriculture formalizedits decision to join state legislators inthis initiative, the Northeast States As-sociation for Agriculture Stewardship.

With the participation of executivebranch officials and regional legislators,NSAAS will advance the Northeast’sagricultural interests at the federal level.As a first step, legislative members willseek support from their states to hire aWashington, D.C.-based NSAAS repre-sentative. This representative will moni-tor appropriations, lobby key players inCongress and federal agencies, testifyat congressional hearings and organize

C

the east

ow that term limits are knocking on the doors of mostWestern state capitols, legislators and academics are tak-

ing a hard look at the impact on legislative institutions. In a newpublication called Are Term Limits ChangingWestern Legislatures, two CSG-WEST com-

mittees review term limits in the context of other changes suchas expanding workloads, increased demands for constituent ser-vices and new kinds of candidates for public office.

In the report, Gary F. Moncrief, BoiseState University political science profes-sor, shares empirical and anecdotal in-formation relating to term limits andchanging Western legislatures with CSG-WEST’s Committee on the Future ofWestern Legislatures and its Legislative

Service Agency/Research Committee.Lynn Hettrick, Nevada Assembly minority leader, chairs CSG-

WEST’s Committee on the Future of Western Legislatures. CarlBianchi, Idaho Legislative Services director, chairs CSG-WEST’s Leg-islative Service Agency/Research Directors Committee.

Excerpts from a Futures Committee discussion on institutionalchanges wrought by term limits add practical insights to the report. Copies of thenew document are being mailed to every Western legislator free of charge. A lim-ited number of reports are available for $15 by calling (415) 974-6422.

New report out on term limits

the west

N

arry Wills, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose latest

book, A Necessary Evil, explores citi-zens’ distrust of government and theFounding Fathers’ views on federalism,

will be the clos-ing speaker at the

55th Annual Meeting of the Midwest-ern Legislative Conference, which willbe held Aug. 6-9 in Minneapolis.

Wills has written threebooks on the foundations

of American de-mocracy. He is

an adjunct professor ofhistory at Northwestern

University. Other books by Wills includeInventing America, Lincoln at Gettys-burg and Certain Trumpets.

The MLC Annual Meeting allows Mid-western legislators to meet and discussvarious issues facing the region.Through numerous sessions and speak-ers, the meeting highlights policies andideas that are working in the Midwestand provides legislators with profes-sional development opportunities.

To register for the meeting, visit theMidwestern office of The Council ofState Governments online at www.csgmidwest.org. Registration informa-tion also has been sent by mail. Formore information, call Laura Kliewer at(630) 810-0120.

MLC to meet inMinneapolis

G

the midwest

media events forNSAAS members.

NSAAS also plansto address the 2002farm bill, sprawlmitigation and theexpansion of theNortheast Dairy Compact to all North-east and Southeast states.

Regional leaders moved to createNSAAS in response to the federalgovernment’s repeated neglect of theNortheast’s agricultural interests. North-east states received only marginal fed-eral funding for emergency assistanceafter the 1998 ice storm and lastsummer’s drought, and they won onlypartial victory in reauthorizing the dairycompact.

For more information, call Sandra KiilLeber, ERC senior policy analyst, at(212) 912-0128.

Minnesota hosts MLC. Photo courtesy ofMinnesota Office of Tourism

Carl Bianchi,Idaho LegislativeServices director

Nevada Rep.Lynn Hettrick


he Council of State Governments received a record 21proposals for a matching grants program that fosters

partnerships between states and Asian/Pacific nations. Sixteenstates submitted proposals for projects in nine Asian coun-tries. Proposed activities vary from promoting U.S. technol-

ogy in targeted industries to “greening” network initiatives and organizing regionalsummits to building conflict-resolution partnerships.

The list of this year’s finalists was an-nounced at the CSG Spring National Com-mittee and Task Force Meetings in NapaValley, April 27, during the InternationalCommittee Meeting.

Proposals were reviewed by the StateEnvironmental Initiative Advisory Commit-tee. In making its final decisions, the com-mittee strongly considered the commentsand opinions of the representatives of theU.S. Asia Environmental Partnership.

The SEI receives its core funding fromthe United States Agency for International Development through the U.S. Asia En-vironmental Partnership and is managed by CSG’s Center for Leadership, Innova-tion and Policy.

The program provides funding on a competitive basis to state-led partnershipsin support of international, public-private partnerships aimed at achieving “cleanrevolution” in Asia. The SEI provides an opportunity for states to form sustainable,mutually beneficial international partnerships to transfer U.S. environmental expe-rience, policy, technology and practice to countries of Southeast Asia.

For more information, contact Karen Marshall at CSG, (859) 244-8234, [email protected] or Magdalena Mook at CSG, (859) 244-8199, mmook@ csg.org.

Record interest in CSG grant program

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TSG is launching a new meetingseries called “Your Bottom Line.”

When critical issues essential to stategovernment action hit the agenda, CSG

will explain “YourBottom Line.”

“Your Bottom Line: Internet Taxation”will be held in Washington D.C. on June23 and 24. This timely meeting will de-tail who benefits from the federal e-commerce and Internet taxation reportreleased in April. This CSG multibranchroundtable will explore the potentiallyserious impacts of Internet taxation onthe states’ budgets and ability to pro-vide services, as well as discuss possibleactions and responses that states needto consider in upcoming days. Stateofficials cannot afford to miss thisroundtable.

Participation is limited to the first 100registrants. Make sure your state is rep-resented by contacting Debbie Powellat (859) 244-8249 or [email protected] registration information. The meet-ing is tentatively scheduled for 7:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., Friday, June 23, and from9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m., Saturday, June 24.Registration fees are $295 for publicsector, $495 for private sector.

Improve yourbottom line

leadership

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Dates set for 2001 CSG Annual Meetinghe 2001 CSG Annual Meeting will be held Sept. 20-24in Anchorage, Alaska. Each year CSG’s Annual Meeting

rotates among the regions, with CSG’s leadership selectingamong potential hosts. This will be theorganization’s first national annual

meeting in the 49th state. Contact Wanda Hines at (859) 244-8103 or [email protected].

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leadership

Spectacular autumn scenery surrounds Anchorage in September. Photo by Elaine Stuart

Minnesota Rep. Phyllis Kahn (center) met withcurrent and former North Sumatra governors onan SEI visit.

he 54th Annual Meeting of theSouthern Legislative Conference

will take place in Biloxi, Miss., Aug. 5-9.All committees ofthe SLC will meet,

discussing a range of topics including:e-commerce and taxation; teacher train-ing and retention; farmland stewardshipand preservation; agriculture and inter-national trade; state actions with to-bacco settlement monies; building awork force for the 21st century; federal/state transportation safety issues; andports. For information or registrationmaterials, call the Southern office at(404) 266-1271 or visit the SLC Website at www.slcatlanta.org.

SLC to meet inBiloxi

the south

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he Council of State Governments is co-sponsoring GovStoreUSA.com, aninformation technology purchasing Web site exclusive to city, county and

state governments and their officials. This innovative and efficient method of pro-curement comes as a free, no risk, no obligation service to all CSG members.

GovStoreUSA.com offers competitive pricing, large selection, overnight deliveryand a streamlined purchasing process.

“CSG member officials can shop for anything from onelaptop computer or replacement part up to a whole series of pieces,” CSG Execu-tive Director Dan Sprague said. “Purchases made at www.GovStoreUSA.com mustbe made by a government official, but a purchase may be small or large — it’s abenefit of being a state government official.”

The site has a live, online customer-support center and features that make order-ing and tracking orders easy. GovStoreUSA.com will eventually expand its offeringsto include public safety, public works, transportation and other office products.

GovStoreUSA.com requires no fees or obligation to use and officials sign up atthe site. “GovStoreUSA.com represents 1,000 manufacturers and offers more than125,000 brand-name computer and communications products,” Sprague said.“Since the site is exclusive to state governments and officials, all products areoffered at a competitive, government discounted price.”

State government officials interested in signing up for this service should visitwww.GovStoreUSA.com.

Tom Straub, president of GovStoreUSA.com said, “Governments today face thesame challenges as the private sector: to improve their productivity and do morewith less. Through our Internet-based buying service, we can help improve governmentprocurement and reduce purchasing costs to governments and government officials.”

Sprague said, “State officials are encouraged to let their local government coun-terparts in city and county government know about this no risk, no obligationoffering. The site is open to all levels of city, county and state government. Allofficials visit the same address to verify their government status and then browsefor selection and price.”

This site is sponsored by CSG for state governments and their officials, and theInternational City/County Management Association for local government officials.

GovStoreUSA.com, based in Clearwater, Fla., is a wholly owned subsidiary ofInterlink Communication Systems, a 10-year-old distributor of technology products.

Link directly from the CSG Web site, www.csg.org.

GovStoreUSA.com

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he Southern office recently pub-lished the special series report

Making a Safe Haven: A Review ofSchool Safety Status, Perceptions and

Practices in theSouth. Providing

a statistical investigation of the currentand historical status of school safety, the

report discussesthe disconnectbetween improv-ing crime indica-tors and studentand staff percep-tions of safety.The report alsoprovides exten-sive discussion ofactivities South-

ern states have undertaken in the pastseveral years to ensure schools remainsafe and orderly.

School safety reportnow available

the south

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New century states: Celebrate themillenium in Michigan

he Council of State Governments’ 2000 Annual Meeting will be held Dec. 7-10,in Dearborn, Mich. Issue forums will center around the theme “New Century

States: Driving the Knowledge Economy,” as Michigan showcases its greatest features.Attendees will be treated to Michigan cuisine and a

Rockettes Christmas Show at the Fox Theatre, and a night attwo of the world’s most renowned museums: the Henry Ford Museum andGreenfield Village. The museums use 12 acres of American art and industry to tellthe nation’s evolution from a rural to an industrial society.

“Automobiles transformed the 20th century and technology is driving the 21stcentury,” CSG Executive Director Dan Sprague said. “Michigan is the place to bethis year to share the latest thinking on the Internet, taxation, work-force develop-ment and other vital topics just before many states head back into session.”

The host hotel is the Dearborn Hyatt Regency. Contact Wanda Hines at (859)244-8103 or [email protected] for registration details or to inquire about exhibitingproducts and services to the anticipated 1,000 attendees.

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statesnews

A majority of those who voted in the monthly CSG Internet poll said "yes" when asked if there should be a law against talking on a cellular telephone while driving. Of those who voted, 58% voted yes, 42% voted no.

The May question:Should there be a moratorium on the death penalty while its fairness is examined?

To vote yes or no, visit CSG's Web site at www.csg.org. The poll will be open May 1-15. Results will be published along with next month's question in the June/July issue.


Chester Hicks is Midwestern regional coordinator for The Council of State Governments.Chester Hicks is Midwestern regional coordinator for The Council of State Governments.

Breeding, budgeting and bible versesBY CHESTER HICKS

How many states have biennial budgetary cycles?One of the most frequently asked questions deals with

state budgetary calendars. According to the National As-sociation of State Budget Officers, 10 states have both bi-

ennial legislative and budgetary cycles. How-ever, legislative and budgetary cycles inmany states do not always coincide.

There are 11 states that have annual leg-islative sessions and biennial budget cycles.With some exceptions, all other states andPuerto Rico have both annual legislative ses-sions and budget cycles. One exception isCalifornia, the only state with biennial leg-islative sessions and annual budget cycles.

Kansas, Vermont and Missouri also areatypical. According to NASBO, 19 agenciesare on a biennial budget cycle in Kansas,while the rest are on an annual cycle.

Missouri, on the other hand, has consti-tutional authority to do both annual andbiennial budgeting. Since 1994, the operat-ing budget has been on an annual basis whilethe capital budget has been on a biennialbasis.

Vermont’s Constitution prescribes a bien-nial legislature. In practice, however, both the legislativeand the budgetary cycle occur annually.

Which states recently considered legislationregarding the Ten Commandments?

Interest in morality instruction in public schools hasrenewed the debate over posting the Ten Commandmentsin schools and other public buildings. In its 1980 deci-sion, Stone vs. Graham, the U.S. Supreme Court struckdown a Kentucky law requiring schools to post the TenCommandments. The court ruled such postings violatedthe separation of church and state.

Recently, the Indiana General Assembly adopted ameasure, HB 1180, allowing the posting of the Ten Com-mandments in schools, courts and other public buildings.The Commandments would be a part of a larger displayof historical documents. Kentucky passed SJR 57 to al-low such historical displays and South Dakota adoptedHB 1261 permitting such displays in public schools. Otherstates that were considering similar legislation in 2000include: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois,Indiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio and Oklahoma.

For more information on these or other issues, contactthe States Information Center at (859) 244-8253 andwww.csg.org.

his Inquiry Line features a hodgepodge of inquiriesthat have come through the States Information Cen-ter recently. We’ll start with a favorite topic of theInquiry Line — pet-breeding legislation. Last year,

the Inquiry Line informed CSG membersthat cats and canines were of concern atstate capitols. This year, we focus only onthe canis lupis, better known as the wolf.

What states have addressed legislationregarding wolf hybrids?

The practice of breeding wolf hybridshas made animal rights activists howl forattention from their state lawmakers. Inrecent years, in both Virginia and Iowa, leg-islators have introduced bills to prevent thecrossbreeding of dogs and wolves.

At least 23 other states regulate or pro-hibit the possession of these animals,according to a report by the WisconsinDepartment of Natural Resources. The de-partment plans to seek statutory authorityto regulate the ownership of wolf hybridsin Wisconsin.

These animals rapidly grew in popular-ity in the late 1980s and 1990s, and they seem to be thepet of choice for a growing number of people who appre-ciate the animals’ nice coat, intelligence and independentnature. National estimates of the number of privatelyowned hybrids run as high as 400,000, according to theWisconsin DNR.

No rabies vaccines currently are approved for use inwolf hybrids, although such pets still can be legally ownedin many areas. As a result, health officials generally sug-gest two options for owners. One is to vaccinate hybridsbecause they may build up immunity to rabies even thoughthe vaccines are not specifically designed for them.

The other option does not recommend vaccination be-cause of the concern about veterinarian liability and theproblem of instilling a false sense of security among hy-brid owners and the public. Because of the obvious risk toboth humans and animals, and regardless of whether theyare vaccinated, wolf hybrids that bite should be euthanizedand tested for rabies.

A wolf hybrid’s life in the wild is — well — rough.Free-roaming hybrids lack the hunting skills and packstructure needed to survive by hunting wild prey. Whenthe animals become hungry, they instinctively return tohumans for food, invariably get into trouble and oftenare shot by local law enforcement officers.

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This Inquiry Linefeatures a hodge-podge of inquiries

that have comethrough the StatesInformation Center

recently.


1996, after a 122-year uninterrupted Democratic reign,went along similar lines. Neither Speaker Dan Websternor Speaker John Thrasher had any desire to throw thebaby out with the bathwater and neither did. Republi-cans in Florida, as they had in Ohio, dispersed power and

got lawmakers more involved. UnderWebster’s leadership, the Florida Houseincreased the number of standing commit-tees, abolished subcommittees and createdpolicy councils to substitute for a rules com-mittee in prioritizing bills.

Under the new Republican majority, theFlorida House is more management ori-ented. Yet, personnel remained relativelystable. Staff turnover was no greater thanwhen Democratic speakers changed. Theclerk, sergeant-at-arms and most commit-tee staff directors remained in place. More-over, a former appropriations staff direc-tor, who had left the Legislature to serve inthe administration of former DemocraticGov. Lawton Chiles, returned to his formerpost. Today, the Democratic minority is partof the process: It participates in leadershipmeetings and is consulted on minority ap-

pointments to committees.It is still too early to assess the transition this year from

a Democratic to a Republican majority in the VirginiaHouse. It was no doubt facilitated by the power-sharingarrangement between the two parties the previous bien-nium, which came about because of a 50-49 split, withone Independent voting with the Republicans. With theGOP in full control as a result of the 1999 election, theprincipal institutional issue facing the House was whetherthe clerk, who had served for years under Democrats, wouldkeep his position. He did, with the proviso that he takeon a deputy chosen by the new Republican leadership.

The transition from minority to majority tends to besmoother in state senates (and the U.S. Senate as well),where individualism outweighs partisanship. Perhapsconservative Democrats, who serve as a bridge to Repub-licans, have eased the transition in Southern houses.Whatever the reasons, the contrast between what hap-pened in Ohio, Florida and Virginia and what happenedin the U.S. House stands as testimony to good judgmentin state legislatures._______________Alan Rosenthal is a professor with the Eagleton Institute ofPolitics at Rutgers University.

How to take overBY ALAN ROSENTHAL

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A long-sufferingminority party can

literally turn a houseupside down when it

gains suddenmajority status.

egislatures are resilient institutions, but damageablenonetheless. They can be picked apart from outsideor even harmed from within. One danger to the in-stitution occurs when a political party has endured

minority status for so long that when it finally gains con-trol it has little incentive not to kick thelegislature around.

The most obvious example of punishmentfrom within was inflicted by Republicansin the U.S. House under the leadership ofNewt Gingrich. After a period of guerrillawarfare, Gingrich’s Republicans took con-trol in 1994 and practically brought theHouse down in the process of reclaiming itfrom the Democrats. But things have gonevery differently at the state level, where Re-publicans came in out of the cold but didnot torch legislative houses in Ohio, Floridaand Virginia.

It is difficult to know precisely where theline gets drawn between making institu-tional changes on the one hand and beinginstitutionally destructive on the other. TheGingrich takeover was revolutionary.Gingrich radically centralized power in theHouse, which weakened standing committees and com-mittee chairmen and marginalized the minority party. Inaddition, the House majority reorganized Democratic cli-entele committees and eliminated informal groups suchas the Democratic Study Group and the Black Caucus.Committee staff turnover was high, as would have beenexpected under a partisan-staffing pattern. In addition,the Republicans abolished a nonpartisan congressionalagency, the Office of Technology Assessment. And forabout a year Gingrich as speaker refused to meet withDemocratic Minority Leader Richard Gephardt.

Compare the House takeover in Washington, D.C., tothat in Ohio. For 22 years the Ohio House had been un-der Democratic control, dominated by Speaker Vern Riffe.Republicans made significant changes when they won amajority in 1994. Speaker Jo Ann Davidson led in open-ing up the process, rewriting the rules to allow membersof both parties to offer amendments on the House floor.Staffing patterns remained as they had been. Most im-portant, the nonpartisan Legislative Services Commissionretained its function as principal support agency for ma-jority and minority members alike. The Democrats hadlost power, but not a role in the legislative process.

The takeover of the House by Florida Republicans in


Keon S. Chi is a senior fellow in CSG’s Center for Leadership, Innovation and Policy.Keon S. Chi is a senior fellow in CSG’s Center for Leadership, Innovation and Policy.

Legislative information technologyBY KEON S. CHI

and resolutions introduced, engrossed and enrolled? Havepersonal computers in legislative chambers affected thenumber of bills introduced or passed? What impact havesuch computers had on legislator-lobbyist interactions?What about public inputs via e-mail during the legislativesessions? In addition, they might consider if there is a

“digital divide” between legislators who usecomputers and legislators who don’t.

Improving legislative efficiency. In ad-dition to improving the effectiveness of thelegislative process, legislative leaders shouldbe concerned about the efficiency andcost-benefits of using digitized legislative in-formation systems, keeping in mind thattechnology is a tool.

Pertinent questions include: Has the leg-islature reduced or increased paperwork asa result? Has the legislature downsized staffas a result of adopting technology? Or, aremore legislative assistants and qualifiedtechnology specialists needed now?

Constituent services. In addition to itseffectiveness and efficiency, state legislators

might want to examine the effect of information technol-ogy on constituent services. Many state legislators main-tain personal Web pages with information on legislativeinitiatives and e-mail addresses. Technology allows legis-lators to communicate directly with voters, rather thanrelying on the media or traditional mailings.

Legislators now differ in how they handle constituentswho communicate by e-mail. There are questions aboutreceiving e-mails in the legislative chamber while debateand voting take place, allowing access to debates and vot-ing live on computers and handling such outside “disrup-tions” to the legislative process.

These are some of the issues relevant to the use of tech-nology in the state legislative process. The main question,however, is not whether more technology should or shouldnot be used in the legislative process, but how to use it,keeping in mind that we live in a new era of electronicgovernment and electronic democracy. Therefore, statelegislators might want to adopt new policies and regula-tions on the appropriate use of technology.

As former U.S. senator and vice president HumbertHumphrey once said, “Never underestimate the powerof a computer. History’s most profound revolutions havebeen underestimated by their contemporaries.”

It’s time to considerhow to better usetechnology in the

legislative process.

T he Internet has drastically changed state legislativeoperations and information systems. Every state leg-islature now has a colorful Web site with all sorts ofinformation about the workings of the lawmaking

body. In most states, legislative information is availablenot only to legislators and staff, but also state officials inthe other branches, lobbyists and the pub-lic. Moreover, legislators in many states usecomputers on the floor, thus creating newdimensions in the legislative process.

These developments open the door toquestions about the effect of legislativeinformation technology. Key questionsinclude: Does legislative information tech-nology help or hinder legislative effective-ness and efficiency? What new policies ormeasures might be needed to strengthen thelegislative branch in an era of rapidly chang-ing information technology?

Digitized legislative information. Asrecently as 1985, only 11 state legislaturesoffered online access to legislative informa-tion systems to the public. Today, virtuallyevery state legislature makes legislative information avail-able to the public.

The scope of information available has expandedsteadily over the years. In most states, digitized legislativeinformation includes: administrative rules, bill status, billtext, resolution status, legislative analysis, committeemeeting schedules and notices, committee reports, legis-lative calendars, legislative journals, legislative rules andprocedures, legislative reports and voting records. In ad-dition, many legislative Web sites now provide links toother states’ Web sites, policy organizations, interestgroups and federal agencies.

Computers in legislative chambers. Since the FloridaHouse of Representatives provided legislators with com-puters in 1991, many states followed suit. Currently, 29states make personal computers available in legislativechambers. Although each state’s use of computers on thefloor differs, the main purposes of providing laptops andother types of PCs in legislative chambers are to improvethe effectiveness and efficiency of the legislative processand have a more open legislative environment.

State legislators might want to consider results of hav-ing computers on the floor. For example, do legislatorsmake more informed and better decisions now than be-fore? Are they more familiar now with the texts of bills

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