The Thicket at State Legislatures

Cap City Trivia for Your Holiday Edification

by Tim Storey

Quick--what state capital has the most people? Hint--it's not Atlanta, Boston or Denver--all big cities and the largest cities in their respective states. 

Time's up; it's the sprawling southwestern capital of Phoenix, Arizona.  According to new city population estimates released by the U. S. Census Bureau, Phoenix had 1,567,924 people on July 1, 2008 making it the largest state capital--nearly double the next largest, Indianapolis, at 798,382 people.  The smallest capital city is beautiful Montpelier, Vermont with 7,760 people.  Phoenix is over 200 times larger than Montpelier.  Pierre, South Dakota ranks 48th in total population with 13,899 people. 

Phoenix is also one of the fastest growing state capitals having grown by over 18% since the 2000 census.  The top award for fastest growing capital goes to Raleigh, North Carolina which has grown over 35% since 2000. In 15 capitals, the population has actually decreased since 2000 with Charleston, West Virginia topping the list posting a 5.7% decline. 

The average size of a state capital is 247,092 people.  For a table of capital populations, click here. 

Do you think it is easier to find parking near the Capitol (with an O) in Montpelier than Phoenix? Probably not.

Have a wonderful 4th of July.  

Arizona Budget Update

by Jan Goehring

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed parts of the budget package that the Legislature sent to her earlier this morning. In a statement, she called the budget "fatally flawed" and called for a special session to begin on Monday. She wants the Legislature to address a temporary increase to the sales tax and make other adjustments to the budget. According to azcentral.com, Senate President Bob Burns is scheduled to be out of the country next week.

Eight States Late on Budgets

By Todd Haggerty

Forty-six states begin the new fiscal year today, but for some, it comes without a new budget.  The Arizona Legislature passed a budget early this morning and it is now in the Governor's hands. California, Connecticut, Illinois, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania face the difficult task of finalizing their budgets after the start of the new fiscal year.  California is preparing to issue IOUs and state employees will face a third furlough day this month. Extreme fiscal conditions increased the likelihood of late budgets this year. For those states without a budget the options range from:

1. Temporary appropriations bills, also known as a "continuing resolution" or "stop-gap measure." North Carolina and Ohio have already enacted temporary appropriations bills this year.
2. Executive orders by the governor to provide funding for agencies and programs as Governor Rell in Connecticut has issued.
3. Constitutional or other provisions that ensure the continuous operation of government.
4. Partial government shutdowns. 

Earlier this decade in 2002 and 2003, revenue collections fell short of forecasts in most states, also leading to sizable budget gaps.  This contributed to seven states passing late budgets in 2003.  This year, the unprecedented nature of the recession created an environment for complex and lengthy budget negotiations.  The economy has wreaked havoc on state revenues with states having to close a $121 billion cumulative budget gap as they crafted their fiscal year 2010 budgets.  With 31 states already projecting budget gaps for fiscal year 2011, lawmakers are faced with even more difficult decisions as they move through the new fiscal year.  NCSL is tracking the status of state budgets along with a number of materials about late budgets and budget balancing measures. 

New State House for Alabama?

By Doug Farquhar

Alabama was thinking about a new building for the legislature, now they may be forced to build one.

The Alabama State House, where the legislature meets, sits across the street from the State Capitol.  The State House building was built in 1963, originally designed for the highway department.  But when the legislature needed more space, they converted the building to house the legislature.

The building never adequately met the needs of the legislature.  The rooms were too small, the public had difficulty attending meetings and it lacked modern conveniences.  So a new building was in order, once financing, a design and a location was sorted out. 

Mother Nature sped up that process.  A flood in early May brought four feet of water into the building, forcing the legislature out.  Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is visiting, doing an inspection to see if the building suffers from sick building syndrome.  The EPA could condemn the site. 

Either way, the legislature is destined to get a new building, one that will meet the needs of the state for years.

AWOL in South Carolina and Elsewhere

In "Sanford's Bigger Sin: Going AWOL," Lou Jacobson of National Journal goes beyond the personal to explore the problem of absentee governors.  It includes similar (though not as extreme) cases and lots of quotes from other states and an NCSL table on gubernatorial succession.

Praising Institutionalists

Former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton, current president of the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Center on Congress at Indiana University, has an excellent commentary on the role of institutionalists in Congress, which, as with most of his commentaries, can be equally applied to state legislatures.  It begins:

It takes all kinds of people to make the U.S. Congress work. The ambitious and the laid-back, loners and consensus-builders, partisans and aisle-crossers — all have their place. In these highly politicized times, though, there’s one type who is particularly valuable: the institutionalist.

This means pretty much what it sounds like: a member who puts the institution of Congress first. Who welcomes responsibility for making it work; who pushes his or her colleagues to fulfill their constitutional obligations; who respects the role and history of Congress in forging this country’s history.

And ends:

Institutionalists in Congress are often seen by their peers as slightly quirky nags, consumed with the trifles of process or precedent while the more important work of fighting against the opposition or slamming legislation through at all costs goes ahead. But of course, they’ve got it backward. It’s the institutionalists who have the nation’s best interests at heart, because they understand the role that Congress plays in sustaining a functioning democracy and making the country work.

In trying to think of current and former institutionalists, both in Congress and state legislatures, what name comes first to mind?  Lee Hamilton.

AZ Court Decides Budget Question

By Jan Goehring

The Arizona Supreme Court denied Republican Governor Jan Brewer's request that the Legislature immediately send her the budget bills, passed June 4, 2009. The Republican-controlled Legislature had held the bills while continuing negotiations with the Governor. A veto was anticipated. The court heard oral arguments yesterday and took jurisdiction of the case. The ruling described the situation as a "good faith" dispute between the two branches of government. The Legislature assured the court it would transmit the bills by June 30. The Arizona House Republicans have posted a link to the opinion.  

Same-Sex Marriage. Where do states stand?

by Meagan Dorsch

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

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

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

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

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

Arizona Budget Goes to Court

By Jan Goehring

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer filed a lawsuit against the Legislature yesterday claiming the state constitution requires they send her the budget bill passed June 4, according to azcentral.com. The bill faced a likely veto. The presiding officers, Senate President Bob Burns and Speaker Kirk Adams, held the bill as negotiations with the Governor over their budget differences continued.

On Monday, in response to the threat of litigation, the leaders issued a joint press release.  "It is unfortunate the governor is seeking to involve the courts in an ongoing budget negotiation while the Legislature is still in session. It delays and obstructs the process.” 

The case is on a fast track with a response from the Legislature due Friday and a hearing scheduled for next Tuesday.

New York Senate Update

by Karl Kurtz

Yesterday a New York judge dismissed a case filed by Senate Democrats to overturn the Republican-led coalition's takeover of the state Senate.  The judge said that it would be an "improvident intrusion" for the courts to intervene in a legislative branch dispute.  The effect is to throw the matter back to the senators to resolve for themselves.

The Thicket can't keep up with this saga.  Plus we don't want to become all New York Senate all the time.  For those interested in blow-by-blow accounts, check in periodically with The Daily Politics or Capitol Confidential.

The Rockefeller Institute's Bob Ward has a nice commentary on the situation in the Albany Times-Union. He concludes:

A ruling from the high court would likely be the quickest route to resolution of the Senate stalemate. But in legislatures, which are intended to balance complicated and conflicting interests, the easy answer is not always the best.

Photo credit: "Acting State Supreme Court Justice Thomas McNamara, right, addresses attorneys representing Republicans and Democrats in the Senate leadership fight before dismissing the case Tuesday in Albany. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union"

The World is Listening

by Meagan Dorsch

"Tiananmen + Twitter = Tehran."

This was a comment a blogger made about the weekend elections in Iran and picked up by the Christian Science Monitor in a recent article. 

The media has been apparently cautioned about covering protests against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's declared victory and possible election fraud. Many reporters, citizen journalists and Iranians immediately turned to blogs and Twitter to spread information about events on the ground. 

Apparently, the Iranian government tried to shut down access to the internet and the Twitter site. Twitter also postponed scheduled maintenance on its site (which would have taken Twitter off-line) to keep the service available during the political events in Iran.

Still today on Twitter, the top two items people are following are #IranElection and Tehran. The world is still listening.

New Episode in New York Senate

by Karl Kurtz

In an ongoing saga, the New York Senate is now tied, 31-31, as one of the two dissident Democrats who last week went over to the Republican side and change control of the Senate has returned to the Democratic fold.  Republicans claim that Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr. was elected president pro tem last week and that he will remain in that office until there are 32 votes to remove him.  Democrats say that the Espada/Republican takeover was illegal and that Sen. Malcolm Smith remains the pro tem and majority leader.  A judge will decide.

Part of the deal that returned the dissident, Sen. Hiram Monserrate to the Democratic side was that Sen. Smith be replaced as the leader of the Democratic conference.  Sen. John Sampson (photo) has now taken over that role, but Democrats must say that Sen. Smith retains the title of president pro tem in order to have standing in the litigation over the matter.  The current situation is summarized in a story in the Buffalo News with a somewhat melodramatic lead:

New York State is in the throes of a constitutional crisis, with the State Senate having fallen into further disorder after Monday’s decision by a Queens Democrat to flip his allegiances back from last week’s GOP-led coup — creating a 31-31 tie that creates gridlock.

The historic dispute, heightened by the state’s not having a lieutenant governor to break ties, creates a muddled future for how legislation will weave through the partisan-divided Senate—a situation that could remain until the fall elections in 2010.

NCSL's report on what has happened in tied chambers in other states is getting a good deal of attention in New York, although sometimes without giving us credit.  A tied chamber with a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor makes the issue of whether the president pro tem could vote twice--once as a senator and once as acting lieutenant governor--a real one.  We provided a comparative perspective in anticipation of this scenario a year ago in "A Senator who can Vote Twice?".

Photo credit: (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A Pretty Good Bang for the Buck, Indeed

by Karl Kurtz

An article by R. G. Ratcliffe in yesterday's Houston Chronicle begins:

When Texas lawmakers met in 1963, former state legislator Carl Parker of Beaumont had no office of his own and kept files under his desk on the chamber floor.

The cost of a legislative session in 1963: $2.9 million.

Forty-six years later, the Legislature is big business. The 81st Texas Legislature, which adjourned earlier this month, runs on a year-round support staff of more than 1,800 workers.

The cost per year: $171.5 million.

The cost of the 140-day session that ended June 1: $9.1 million.

That's an engaging lead, but missing from the article is any consideration of inflation.  That $2.9 million for a session in 1963?  It translates into $20.2 million in 2009 dollars (CPI inflation calculator). Apparently, the cost of a legislative session in Texas today is less than half of what it was in 1963 in constant dollars! 

The article didn't provide the 1963 annual cost of the legislative session, so we can't perform the same calculation for that number.  Had the reporter provided it and made the inflation calculation, it probably would have shown a substantial increase in constant dollars. The reason is that Texas session costs almost certainly have been shifted to year-round costs as the permanent staff of the Legislature is much larger than it was in 1963.

So the cost of running the Texas Legislature has almost certainly gone up in real terms, as it has in all states as legislatures have modernized and professionalized their operations.

Other statistics not mentioned in the article are that the annual cost of the Texas Legislature of $171.5 million comes out to $6.96 per capita or that it's only about 0.3 percent of the state's general expenditures.  That's also consistent with other states. The cost of state legislatures is relatively trivial: In no state does the cost of the legislature exceed one-half of one percent of state general expenditures.

Fortunately, the article ends with a comment that I couldn't agree with more:

Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of the conservative Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, said given the size of state government overall when Texas is compared to other states, he is not disturbed by how much the Legislature spends on itself.

“In a sense, you could say we’re getting a pretty good bang for the buck,” Sullivan said.

World Congress on Civic Education

By Jan Goehring

Representatives from 66 countries, 28 states and the District of Columbia gathered in Cape Town, South Africa the end of May for the World Congress on Civic Education, a Civitas International Program. Directed by the Center for Civic Education, Civitas brings civic education curriculum to students worldwide through partnerships with organizations and educators in 70 countries. Civitas assists international civic educators in establishing effective programs in their countries, brings civic education programs to students in the United States to help them understand emerging democracies, and facilitates the exhange of ideas. The World Congress is a forum to share ideas and best practices in democracy education. I had the distinct privilege of attending this meeting.

The conference theme, Civic Education: Reconciling our Past, Building a Democratic Future, provided a powerful framework for the presentations. We had the opportunity to learn about the history of South Africa and the promise for its future. South Africa struggled through 300 years of conflict including the implementation of apartheid in 1948. But in 1994, democracy came to this nation, and Nelson Mandela was elected president. For the past 15 years, South Africa has sought to reconcile its past and renew itself through democracy.

Gugu Ndebele, deputy director general, South Africa Department of Education spoke of the challenge of coming to terms with the country's past so it can move forward as a unified nation. He also says that true democracy will be achieved when they change the prospects for young people. In other sessions, we heard about strides in South African education.

South Africa is not the only nation reconciling a difficult past and building a democratic future. A panel presentation with speakers from Ireland, Israel and Poland provided a very interesting discussion of the themes of the conference. Alicja Pacewicz, co-director, Poland Center for Citizenship Education, offered an eloquent description: Civic education is about ghosts and miracles. The ghosts are the history of war and lost independence. The miracles are independence and democracy. Civic education needs to fulfill the promise of the miracles.

Woven into the agenda were musical and dramatic performances by young South Africans. Their enthusiasm and talent were amazing. We also had the opportunity to hear Project Citizen presentations by a number of students from the area. They showed real pride in their work and an understanding of how they can now have a voice in their government. It was interesting to note that some of the community problems they chose to address are also common themes in Project Citizen presentations in the United States, such as bullying and vandalism. The scale and character of the problems, however, were different.

The conference concluded with comments from Father Michael Lapsley with the Institute for Healing of Memories. An Episcopal priest, he opposed apartheid and was exiled from the country in 1976. He joined the African National Congress as a chaplain. He returned to South Africa in 1992 to what he called a "damaged nation." When democracy came to the country in 1994, the nation needed to deal with its past. And they started their healing publicly through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that allowed citizens to come forward and tell their stories, examine amnesty, hear of human rights violations and consider reparations.

This is just a brief overview of a very interesting conference. It does not do justice to the many excellent presentations nor the fascinating history of South Africa.

Senate Staffer Plays Key Role in New York Senate Conflict

Secretary of the New York Senate Angelo Aponte turned off the lights in the chamber and cut off the Senate's television feed in the midst of Republican senators' takeover of the chamber on Tuesday.  After everyone had left for the day he locked the chamber, retreated to his office behind the Senate's locked iron doors and has refused to give up the key.  Republicans and their Democratic partner, the newly elected president pro tem Pedro Espada, Jr., are calling for Aponte's resignation.

Locked out of the chambers, the new majority talks of holding a session today outside in a park.  Democrats are discussing counter-strategies, and there are rumors of a change in their leadership.  Blackberry addiction may have played a role in toppling the Democratic leader.  See Capitol Confidential's "A.M. Roundup."

Photo credit: The Daily Politics

Reliving California Assembly Coalitions

by Karl Kurtz

The coalition formed in the New York Senate yesterday is so reminiscent of the California Assembly in 1995 that it led me to reconstruct the California history. It's a fascinating story of political reward and punishment, even 14 years later. Here is a short chronology, taken primarily from a summary in Alan Rosenthal's, The Decline of Representative Democracy:

1. After the November 1994 elections, the Republicans hold a 41-39 majority over the Democrats. But one of the Republican Assembly members, Richard Mountjoy, is also elected to the Senate in a special election held on the same day. In an organizing session in December, the initial vote for speaker is 40-40 between 14-year incumbent Speaker Willie Brown (photo) and the previous minority leader, Jim Brulte, because one Republican, Paul Horcher, votes with the Democrats. With Brown in the chair—not as speaker but as senior member of the Assembly—the Assembly votes 40-39 not to allow Mountjoy to vote in the Assembly because he is now a member of the Senate. Mountjoy is not allowed to vote on this motion. Brown is then elected speaker on another 40-39 vote. Horcher gets a committee chairmanship.
2. Outraged Republicans boycott the sessions, thereby denying a quorum of 41 votes and preventing any business from being done. They mount a recall campaign against Horcher. The recall campaign is successful and Horcher is replaced by another Republican (under California recall rules, a successor is on the ballot and automatically elected if the recall prevails).
3. In June 1995 Brown steps down as speaker, but organizes the Democrats to elect another renegade Republican, Doris Allen, as speaker on a 40-39 vote. Allen was smarting because her Republican colleagues had opposed her in a primary election for a state Senate seat, which she had lost. After Allen is elected speaker, Brown becomes minority leader and takes over Brulte's office. Brulte is assigned to Horcher's old office.
4. In September 1995, Allen steps down as speaker because of the pressure, but the Democrats elect still another dissident Republican, Brian Sentencich, as speaker on a 41-39 vote—the 39 Democrats plus Allen and Sentencich.
5. In November 1995 Allen is recalled. In December 1995, Brown is elected mayor of San Francisco and resigns his Assembly seat. Republicans finally elect one of their own, Curt Pringle (photo), to be speaker in January 1996. He serves for one year until Democrats retake control of the Assembly in the November 1996 election. In June 1996 Sentencich loses a Republican primary for reelection to the Assembly.

Photo credit: Willie Brown by Rich Pedroncelli in James Richardson, "Willie Brown: The Members' Speaker."

As the World Turns in New York Senate

by Karl Kurtz

In a surprise move this afternoon, two dissident members of the New York Senate Democratic caucus joined with Republicans to form a 32-30 majority and elect new leaders.  One of the dissidents, Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr., was elected president pro tem, and Republican leader Sen. Dean Skelos (photo) was elected majority leader.  This duo replaced Democrat Sen. Malcolm Smith who has held both offices combined, as has been the practice in New York for decades, since January of this year.  In rules changes immediately approved by the Senate and announced by Sen. Skelos, the majority leader will retain the bulk of the power.

Sen. Smith disputes the legality of the Republican coup and maintains that he is still the majority leader and president pro tem.  Stay tuned for the next episode.

June 9 update: The Senate chamber was locked last night by Secretary of the Senate Angelo Aponte. He and the sergeant-at-arms, who reports to him, are the only ones who have keys.   Sen. Smith says that under Senate rules the majority leader/pro tem is elected for a two-year term and that the action to replace him took place after the session had adjourned.  Republicans and Sen. Espada disagree.

You can find details in The New York Times, Capitol Confidential and The Daily Politics.

We have already received a question as to what other state legislatures have had mid-session coups for reasons other than scandal or voluntary resignation of a top leader.  The nearest analogy that I can think of off the top of my head is the series of coups and coalitions that took place in the California Assembly in 1995, which resulted in Assemblymembers Willie Brown (a Democrat), Doris Allen, Brian Sentencich and Curt Pringle (all Republicans) all holding the position of speaker in the course of a single year.  Willie Brown played the role of Dean Skelos in that soap opera, managing to control a chamber when the other party was in the majority.

Readers, please weigh in if you have other examples of mid-session leadership changes for non-scandal/indictment reasons.

If this situation holds in New York, it will become the sixth legislative chamber in which a coalition rules.

“Chubbing”: Gone Fishing in the Texas House

by Karl Kurtz

During the last few weeks of Texas' legislative session, minority Democrats in the House of Representatives engaged in a practice known in Austin as "chubbing"—a delay tactic, similar to a filibuster, in which legislators talk at length on every item on the calendar in order to prevent action on a later bill on the calendar. The tactic was aimed at killing a voter i.d. bill that had passed the Senate. This practice caught the attention of The New York Times in "The Talk, and the Talk, and the Talk, of Austin," which focuses on the substance and politics of the issue.

But I'm more interested in adding "chubbing" to my inventory of legislative lingo and finding out the derivation of the term. The Times story doesn't help me with that.

Texas Rep. Aaron Peña has written about "The Art and Etymology of Chubbing" in his prolific blog. He speculates variously that the term comes from the chub fish, which is known for its large mouth, prodigious eating habits, and fattiness, all characteristics that Rep. Peña relates to the "excessive talking that occurs in legislative chubbing."

He goes on, though, to suggest that chubbing may more generally relate to "going fishing," which is "a slow, methodical and patient art" that mirrors "the slow methodical pacing of the lazy passage of time while filibustering." Yet another Peña hypothesis is that "since 1558 the term chub was used metaphorically to describe a "lazy person". This act of legislative chubbing can be described as "taking a lazy or slow approach to asking questions."

In short, while all of Peña's ideas seem plausible, nobody really seems to know where the term comes from. As Gritsforbreakfast concludes in a comment on Peña's blog posting, "It's a phrase propagated for an obscure parliamentary act by one of the most rarified [sic] and exclusive subcultures on the planet - the Texas House of Representatives."

Photo credit: Fishing 4 Fun

Extension for States on Adam Walsh Act

by NCSL Staff

A victory for states! This week, Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States, signed a one year agreement to extend the deadline for states to comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), which is part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.

This extension is a win for all states and one that the National Conference of State Legislatures has fought hard for on Capitol Hill. It also represents an important first step toward making this tough federal law more workable at the state level.

The SORNA compliance deadline for states would have been the middle of this year. The penalty for noncompliance is a 10 percent reduction to federal Byrne/JAG law enforcement assistance grants. But with the Attorney General's signature, states now have until 2010 to come into compliance.

SORNA is a very prescriptive law that mandates information states must collect regarding sex offenders and defines different tiers of sex offenders to determine how long a person has to register as a sex offender. Many of its requirements pertain to juveniles adjudicated delinquent and will force states to completely overhaul how juvenile sex offenders are treated. It also will require periodic, including in-person, verification of registration information and requires internet-based information by added to a national registry among other related requirements.

Although this is a victory for states, many will still face challenges in implementing compliancewith Title 1 of SORNA in just one year. The cost is a major factor for states, especially during this tough economic climate. Many states are grappling with how to redefine their offender classes in order to comply with federal law, while others are working to address the juvenile provisions of the Act.

The Buzz: States Hit a 'Home Run'

by Michelle Blackston

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

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

Georgia Sen. Jimmy Carter Loses Cemetery Vote

A poem from Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac for Friday, May 29, 2009:

Progress Does Not Always Come Easy

by Jimmy Carter

As a legislator in my state
I drew up my first law to say
that citizens could never vote again
after they had passed away.

My fellow members faced the troubling issue
bravely, locked in hard debate
on whether, after someone's death had come,
three years should be adequate

to let the family, recollecting him,
determine how a loved one may
have cast a vote if he had only lived
to see the later voting day.

My own neighbors warned me I had gone
too far in changing what we'd always done.
I lost the next campaign, and failed to carry
a single precinct with a cemetery.

"Progress Does Not Always Come Easy" by Jimmy Carter, from Always A Reckoning. © Random House, 1995. Reprinted with permission.

Yet another rose from The Thicket to Tom Clapper.

Photo credit: Jimmy Carter Library

In Praise of Hobbes

An amusing resolution approved by the Oklahoma Senate:

STATE OF OKLAHOMA

1st Session of the 52nd Legislature (2009)

SENATE
RESOLUTION 57    By:    Branan

AS INTRODUCED

A Resolution praising Hobbes; wishing him well in his retirement; and directing distribution.

WHEREAS, Hobbes is an approximately 13-year-old male service dog, half Chesapeake Bay Retriever and half Golden Retriever, who has served as an assistance dog for the past ten and one-half years to Senate staff member, Charles Israel.  Hobbes was trained by Paws with a Cause in Wayland, Michigan, an organization which trains and provides assistance dogs nationally for people with disabilities, providing lifetime support and encouraging independence; and

WHEREAS, the Oklahoma State Senate staff and friends held an auction to pay for Hobbes.  The auction raised in excess of $20,000, which not only paid for Hobbes, but was able to assist in the purchase of service dogs for others in need; and

WHEREAS, Hobbes was welcomed by all as an integral member of the Senate family.  Charles, however, refused to change his own first name to “Calvin” in honor of the comic strip by the same title, as originally suggested by a fellow Senate staffer; and

WHEREAS, Charles adhered to the service dog guidelines that assistance dogs should not be petted, fed or distracted while working, but for the sake of diplomacy and public relations would allow it if an attractive young woman would ask to pet Hobbes; and

WHEREAS, Hobbes, following the behavioral patterns of fellow Oklahoma State Senate staffers, was always on the lookout for a free meal.  Hobbes relished searching wastepaper baskets for nourishment rather than standing in long lines for snacks, a free breakfast, or a complementary lunch with his fellow Senate staffers; and

WHEREAS, Hobbes, after ten and one-half years of service to both Charles and the Oklahoma State Senate, has retired from Senate duties and enjoys more relaxing duties at home.  Even in retirement, Hobbes is a devoted companion and consummate chick magnet.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE 1ST SESSION OF THE 52ND OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE:

THAT the Oklahoma State Senate praises the dedication, loyalty, and hard work of Hobbes, who literally worked for dog treats and praise instead of a monetary reward.

THAT the Oklahoma State Senate wishes Hobbes the very best during his retirement from service on the Oklahoma State Senate staff.

THAT a copy of this resolution be distributed to Hobbes and his human, Charles Israel.

A rose from The Thicket to Tom Clapper.

NCSL Launches New Website

by NCSL Staff

If you have The Thicket bookmarked on your computer, chances are you don't go through NCSL's website to access our wonderful blog. But we have a reason to bring you back to our homepage.

www.ncsl.org is all new! On Thursday, NCSL started rolling out its new web platform in phases. As of late Friday afternoon, it should be live nationwide! 

The press release highlights some of the new bells and whistles on the site, but we hope you will take advantage of the new comment box. You can find this on NCSL's home page, on the right hand side, below the banner.

Please feel free to leave us your comments, concerns and tips. NCSL's goal is to make our website as user-friendly as possibly. 

We look forward to seeing you on-line!

PS - If you do go through www.ncsl.org to read The Thicket, you can find the tab located under the "magazine" drop down menu. You can also find a link on NCSL's Press Room page.

Twittergate? Really?

by Meagan Dorsch

A friend sent me this article from the Financial Times. It talks about members of the German parliament who leaked the winner of Germany's presidential reelection via Twitter, about 15 minutes before the winner was officially announced.

The reporter's have dubbed this incident as "Twittergate," but I personally think this is more along the lines of "Twitterchad."  

Aside from this, the article brings up the latest debate on how to use social media in government. Several communications professionals from various federal and state organizations (including NCSL) have been coming together over the last few monthsto begin developing protocol/guidelines and even best practices on use of things like Facebook and Twitter. 

I sit on a few of these committees and believe me, this is a beast of an issue to tackle. Great ideas are being developed on both the state and federal level, but I think we are a few months away from seeing anything in writing. Any suggestions you want me to bring to the table?

I'll be sure to keep you posted on the Thicket and through our tweets. Follow NCSL on Twitter at NCSLCOMM or on Facebook, just type in National Conference of State Legislatures. Shameless social media plug!

 

Lesson for States? Feds Ask Public to Come Inside and Look Around

by Gene Rose

Have you ever criticized the efficiency of the federal government? And have you sometimes felt you couldn't do anything about it? Well, now's the chance to put your money where your mouth is. You have until Thursday to take part in a national brainstorming session.

The New York Times' Katharine Q. Seelye provides a great synopsis of the Obama administration's efforts to open up government databases and how the public can weigh in on making the federal bureaucracy more efficient.

State legislative leaders may find this a model to engage citizens in the budget dialogue, especially during the extraordinary budget times we live in now. As we all know, it's easier to complain than it is to actually get involved. But, if government never asks, then it's hard to criticize the complainers.

If your state is taking an active approach to engaging citizens and making your agencies more transparent, let us know by leaving a comment below.

Unusual News Day for Legislative Junkies

by Karl Kurtz

It's unusual when I find more than one or two stories, excluding ones on Congress, in a newspaper in one day that I mentally file in the legislative junkie category--i.e., potential fodder for The Thicket.  The New York Times, which often has trouble covering its own state legislature in Albany, has five stories of interest today on legislatures in other states or countries, only one of which made it into our NCSL daily clipping service, Grasscatcher:

• A front page story on reactions to California voters' rejection of ballot proposals to implement the Legislature's budget deal and the resulting challenges facing the governor and legislative leaders.  There have been lots of stories on this subject, which is why we haven't covered it in The Thicket.  The angle that interested me in this story was the growing momentum for a constitutional convention in California.  It would be the first in that state since 1878-79.  Many seem to feel that a convention would be the best way to repair both the state's budget process and the mess of amendments that have been placed in the constitution by ballot initiatives.  See also today's Los Angeles Times editorial, "California needs a constitutional convention."
• A story, "Bill to Ease Rules on Development Divides Floridians," about the Florida Legislature's action, now awaiting Gov. Charlie Crist's signature, that would make residential development easier for builders.  Environmental groups that oppose the bill are urging the governor to veto it.
• "Setback to Gay Marriage in New Hampshire," which describes the Granite State House's action to reject amendments to a previously approved gay marriage bill designed to obtain Gov. John Lynch's approval.  The bill will now go back to a conference committee for further efforts to reconcile differences.  This is another story that has received a lot of national attention.
• A news note in the international section about two members of the British House of Lords (true junkies are hooked on legislatures wherever they may be) who were suspended for taking cash to amend bills.  The story notes that "the last recorded suspension of a peer was Viscount Savile [photo], who was barred by Parliament in 1642 for siding with King Charles I at the time of the English civil war."  How many American legislatures can say that the last member ousted from the body was in the 19th century, much less the 17th?
• And finally, an unusual editorial, "Poor, Poor Parliament," about the sorry scandal in the British House of Commons over members' misuse of expense reimbursements.  The editorial concludes with:

Members do have a legitimate compliant [sic] that they are paid too little: less than $100,000 a year, compared with about $170,000 for a member of the United States Congress. Britain’s taxpayers want changes. They want to make Parliament’s doings more open, which is a good thing. They also want to cut out these fat and far too easily abused expense accounts. That’s good too. But they will also have to find a way to pay their representatives a better wage. [Emphasis added]

Protestant, Unspecified Lead Religious Affiliations of State Legislators

by Karl Kurtz and Morgan Cullen

Our analysis of information about the religious affiliation of state legislators from their publicly available biographies in 2008 shows that those who have no religious affiliation or choose not to report it make up 43 percent of the total.  Protestants comprise about one-third of all state legislators.  Combining Protestants with Catholics and other Christians accounts for just over half of all lawmakers.

This high rate of "unspecified" is probably a result of the lack of consistency in legislators' biographies across states.  With no standard form for bios that includes a category of religion, many legislators will not think (or choose) to include their religious affiliation.  In the U.S. population as a whole, according to the Statistical Abstract, 2009, only 17 percent of the people report that they are unaffiliated or don't know their religion. 

One result of this under-reporting of religious affiliation by legislators is that every religion appears to be slightly under-represented in legislatures compared to the population as a whole.  Protestants, for example, make up 51 percent of the general population compared to 34 percent of state legislators.

Here are some interesting trivia from the data:

• Southern state legislators were much more likely to report their religious affiliation in their biographies.  The states in which 80 percent or more of state legislators specified their religion are Mississippi, Virginia, Kentucky, Florida, Alabama and West Virginia.  The states with the least reporting of religious affiliations were in the West. Less than 40 percent of legislators in Oregon, California Utah, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada and Washington revealed their religion.
• Massachusetts had the highest percentage of Catholics (36 percent) but Pennsylvania had the largest number (78).  New York, Illinois and New Hampshire also had 50 or more Catholic legislators.
• There were more than 10 Jewish legislators only in New York (24), Florida (17) and Maryland (13).
• Mormon legislators were concentrated in Utah (27), Idaho (24) and Wyoming (11).
• Three legislators reported that they are Buddhist, three Muslim, and two Hindu.

Legislative Blood Lines in Minnesota

by Karl Kurtz

If you talk with legislators much, you are always struck by how many of them got into politics because a family member had gone there first.  But I'll bet you've never seen the family connections to legislative service documented in the way it is on the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library's Web page, "Family Connections within the Minnesota Legislature."

This amazing page shows several hundred relationships among Minnesota legislators, going back to the 1840s, in the categories of Generation to Generation, Siblings, Spouses, and Cousins, Uncles, Aunts, In-Laws, etc.  The list is in a database format, so it's searchable by any category that you want to look at. 

Even if you're not from Minnesota, don't want to know that current Speaker Margaret Kelliher's third cousin is married to Rep. Marty Seifert's first cousin, nor otherwise care anything about their Legislature, you'll be astonished at how this database documents the family connections of American politics.

That's just on the legislator side of things.  In a previous post, "Legislative Service is in the Blood," we wrote about the family connections of the chief legislative officers in the Illinois Senate and the Oregon House.  We recently learned of another remarkable story of family ties when Vermont Secretary of the Senate David Gibson wrote to us: "My father was Secretary of the Senate from 1933 to 1940; my brother, Bob, was Secretary of the Senate from 1967 to 1999; and I have been Secretary of the Senate from 2000 to the present date."

The Gibson family trifecta matches that of California Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Tony Beard, whose father and grandfather were also top security officers in the capitol in Sacramento.

Legislative Downsizing

by Karl Kurtz

Stories about how legislatures are cutting state budgets are so ubiquitous that we haven't covered this topic in The Thicket.  There's already a well-worn path to our web page, State Measures to Balance 2010 Budgets.

How legislatures are cutting their own budgets has drawn less attention.  Travel bans for legislators and staff are common around the country, and legislative employees have been required to take furloughs like all other state employees.  Massachusetts state senators gave themselves unpaid furloughs as well in a symbolic move that saved $50,000.  This week the California Assembly announced 10 percent cuts in members' budgets for staff and operating expenses, which is estimated to save $2.3 million annually.

In one of the more unusual budget cutting moves, the Maine Legislature has passed a constitutional amendment to downsize the House from 151 to 131 members.  Maine's House districts are some of the smallest in the country with approximately 8,400 people in each constituency.  The size reduction will change that number to 10,000 per district and is estimated to save $1.5 million over two years.  (For background on this subject, see "What's the Right Size for a Legislature?")

Legislative Websites Branching Out

by Pam Greenberg

The New York Senate earlier this month launched a new website with the goals of transparency, openness and participation. It includes a blog, YouTube videos, news feeds, and links (with a popup disclaimer) to Facebook and Twitter for the Senate and for individual senators.  The site is a leap forward for New York state government online information services and compares favorably with innovations in legislative websites around the country. 

One of the more interesting features of the site is its Legislation Markup section, which allows the public to comment on selected bills under consideration.  This feature is similar to the Nevada Legislature's Online Opinion Poll, which allows citizens to submit comments about, vote for or against all bills being considered, and view others' comments anonymously.

Another initiative of the New York Senate Site is the use of crowdsourcing tools:

Crowdsourcing tools leverage the "wisdom of crowds." By creating a forum where large numbers of people can submit ideas and vote on them, a crowdsourcing application can gather new ideas from beyond the walls of the Capitol to make the Senate a more effective lawmaking body. Crowdsourcing will be used by the Senate's Policy group to tap into the public to generate ideas and feedback on certain legislation. By doing so, the Senate will encourage citizen participation in the legislative process.  The Senate's first crowdsourcing topic is about property taxes.