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State Legislatures Magazine
Trends

Trends and Transitions

March 2007


People & Politics
Kansas Speaker Melvin Neufeld has appointed three Republicans and three Democrats to a committee that will review the election of freshman Democratic Representative Gene Rardin, who won his race against opponent John Kriegshauser by just two votes. Kriegshauser refuses to concede the election that has been certified by the county and the state and confirmed by a county district judge. Under the Kansas Constitution, each chamber is the ultimate judge of the elections of its members. Former Representative Eric Carter, who represented the district before and is Kriegshauser’s attorney, says his client should have won by one vote because at least three votes for Rardin should not have been counted.

Charlotte Brookins-Hudson has resigned as general counsel to the District of Columbia Council after 30 years of service. Brian K. Flowers has been named the new counsel.

June Goulson, director of the New Hampshire independent Senate Research Office, resigned from her position 20 years to the day after she launched it under then Senate President William Bartlett.

Texas Speaker Tom Craddick, the first Republican speaker in 130 years when he was elected to the post in 2003, fended off an attempted coup to win his second term as House leader. Craddick, who is a 36-year veteran of the House, had helped Republicans take control two years ago. In November, Democrats gained six seats and Republican Representative Jim Pitts tried to build a coalition of members of both parties to win the speakership. But when the House refused to vote to keep the ballots for speaker secret until committee assignments were made, Pitts conceded, and told members he would not force his supporters to vote for him without a secret ballot.

Delaware Representative Peter Schwartzkopf has a different definition of constituent service. When his neighbor across the street went into kidney failure, Schwartzkopf volunteered to be tested and learned he was a match. He gave up his kidney in December in what turned out to be a more difficult operation than anticipated. Schwartzkopf, a state trooper for 18 years before becoming a lawmaker, blamed the gun belt strapped to his right hip all those years for the problems his doctor encountered extracting the kidney. Both lawmaker and constituent are now recuperating well, and Schwartzkopf urges others to become organ donors. “Give the gift of life,” he says.

The North Carolina House elected 14-term veteran Joe Hackney as speaker, ending a power-sharing agreement with Republicans that lasted four years. The Democrats added to their slim margin in the House when they picked up five seats in the November election, and Representative Jim Black, who had been speaker for eight years, did not run for the post again. Black has been at the center of a campaign-finance related investigation and ethical questions surrounding a lottery bill, but Black has announced he will run for reelection in 2008. Hackney is vice-president of NCSL.

Senator Ron Ramsey became the first Republican Senate speaker and lieutenant governor to be elected in Tennessee since 1869 when Democrat Rosalind Kurita cast her vote for him. The 51-year-old Ramsey replaces 85-year-old Senator John Wilder who was lieutenant governor and speaker for 36 years. Although the GOP has a 17-16 advantage in the Senate, two years ago two Republicans voted with the Democrats to retain Wilder as leader. In Tennessee’s 213-year history, Wilder is the only lawmaker to hold the dual position of speaker and lieutenant governor for more than six years. Wilder, the longest serving leader in the nation, had presided over the Senate since 1971. House members reelected Representative Jimmy Naifeh to a ninth term as speaker.

Senator William Sharpe Jr. is recovering from 10-hour brain surgery to treat an aneurysm. Sharpe is the president pro tempore of the West Virginia Senate. His condition has been upgraded from critical to good. There is no word on when he will return to the legislature. First elected in 1960, Sharpe has held his leadership position since 1999.

The South Dakota Senate has censured Senator Dan Sutton for inappropriate contact with a male Senate page. Three days of hearings before a special committee preceded the 32-2 vote. Sutton is also being investigated by the state attorney general.

The Trickle-Up Trend
What do a Nobel Prize winning economist from Bangladesh, a nuclear waste clean-up crew in Colorado, and a couple of ponies have in common? They all make a living thanks to Microenterprise development.

A microenterprise is a business with five or fewer employees that requires $35,000 or less in start-up capital. Microenterprise industries range from jewelry making and nail care to furniture repair, webpage design, and in at least one case, a traveling carnival for birthday parties—pony rides included. All told, the Aspen Institute estimates there are at least 20 million microenterprises in the United States, equal to about 17 percent of all private employment.

Initial loans for these businesses average just over $7,000. Yet, most would-be microentrepreneurs either lack the income or the credit score to raise that kind of capital.

Enter a microenterprise development organization. These organizations are private, non-profit entities that provide small, usually short-term, market-rate loans to their clients. Most also offer the kind of training and assistance that rookie entrepreneurs need, like business plan assistance, mentoring and networking. Such support is crucial to microenterprise development, and perhaps the main reason that more microbusinesses survive than fail. An estimated 650 MDO’s, now operate nationwide.

In a major Aspen Institute survey, 57 percent of businesses were still around at the end of the five-year study period. By comparison, the Small Business Association says that about 40 percent of small businesses make it after four years.

Most view microenterprise as a promising path for lower-income Americans to achieve financial stability as well as a strategy for economic development. As such, they target traditionally disadvantaged entrepreneurs. More than 60 percenet of all clients served by MDO’s are women, 55 percent are minorities, and 59 percent are considered low-income.

Does microenterprise work as a weapon against poverty and as a way to grow a middle class? Evidence suggests that is does. The Aspen Institute’s five-year survey saw 72 percent of low-income microentrepreneurs boost their income by an average of $8,484, or from $13,889 to $22,374. Assets increased by $15,909; and over half of the lowest-income entrepreneurs moved over the poverty line.

Rags to riches stories and tales of the realized American dream are as old as the nation itself. While most microentrepreneurs will never make millions, many are finding a way to make a living. These days, that alone can be a dream come true.

Legislatures Look at Civics Education
The American public believes that educating young people about our system of democracy should be a central mission of schools, according to a 2004 survey by several organizations. However, most feel public schools are not fulfilling this mission. Nine states are looking at how they can improve civic education through commissions created by the legislature. 

The Rhode Island Permanent Civic Education Commission, which has been in existence for a number of years, sponsored the second annual state civic education summit last May. It was a forum for the commission and the Department of Education to collect ideas for the development of statewide civics grade-level standards, required by legislation passed in 2005. Fifty high school students from around the state participated and contributed their ideas.

The Vermont Legislature created the Council on Civics Education in 2006. The council plans to assess civics education in schools and colleges, recommend ways to improve it and encourage civics coordination services at the capitol. It will also create an inventory of opportunities to participate in civics, and recommend best practices in civics education. The council will build a network of civics education professionals, and help ensure quality civics education at all levels, including college. Members of the council will include educators and members of civics organizations such as the League of Women Voters and the bar association. Legislators serving on the education committees may attend council meetings as nonvoting members.

Arizona, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia have established similar commissions or councils to examine civic education. A number of states also have created civic education coalitions without legislation.

Working on Welfare Diversion
Some people go on public assistance because of a lack of transportation, a health emergency or the birth of a child. But welfare diversion programs that provide lump sum payments to families to help them through these events are now being offered by 28 states and the District of Columbia. The hope is that this financial help will get the family through a crisis and keep them off welfare.

If structured right, these diversion programs can also help states meet tough new work participation rates in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2006. More than half the states will find it difficult to meet the 50 percent work participation rate required in the law and so, may face penalties beginning in federal fiscal year 2009.

Participation in diversion programs don’t count against time limits. So the programs can provide more time to assess barriers to employment, and time to remove those barriers without running the clock on time-limited welfare benefits. Assessment takes time—and that time doesn’t fit neatly into redefined work activities. 

Also, by diverting applicants from applying for welfare benefits, fewer families are added to caseloads.  Shrinking caseloads are a significant part of an equation that can help boost work participation rates. 

Nearly half of states offering diversion programs already require applicants to actively seek employment as a condition of the assistance. For example, in Minnesota’s Diversionary Work Program, before receiving any benefits, families must develop an employment plan, which sets goals for finding and retaining a job. Counselors help participants receive other needed services to move families into work more quickly. Early evaluations of the Minnesota program shown it is effective.

National Treasure
The Pennsylvania state Capitol is now officially a national treasure. The 100-year-old building recently received National Historic Landmark status. The designation comes from the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior. There are about 2,400 national landmarks, which are designated as having historic importance to all Americans. The Pennsylvania Capitol’s centerpiece is its spectacular 272-foot dome inspired by St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Sixteen other state capitols are on the list: Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Also on the list are the Government House in American Samoa, the U.S. Capitol, and the old statehouses in Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Rhode Island.

March is Women’s History Month
In 1981 Congress established National Women’s History Week during the second week of March. In 1987, Congress expanded the week to a month.

Source:  U.S. Census Bureau

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  • The "Little Powerhouses" item was a fun bit of trivia. (How many have you visited?) What about a list of the 10 largest cities with State Capitols in them?
    Submitted By: Steve Blackistone , DC
    Date Posted: 02-13-08
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