Trends and Transitions

Texas Senator Leticia Van de Putte was tapped for a plum assignment in January when congressional Democrats asked her to give the national Spanish-language response to President Bush’s State of the Union address. Governor Kathleen Sebelius gave the English-language response. Van de Putte was president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the first Hispanic and third woman to hold the post.

Members of the Indiana House of Representatives can resume clergy-led prayer at the beginning of each session. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana initiated the suit, alleging that the prayers often invoked Jesus but ignored other faiths, thus violating the First Amendment. Following a district court ruling in 2005, the House allowed only pre-written, nonsectarian prayers, and the Senate invited senators to deliver the prayer. However, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling on a technicality. “We should soon be able to return to our longstanding tradition of welcoming clerics of many faiths to offer prayer, freely and uncensored, before the House begins its business for the day,” said House Republican Leader Brian Bosma.

Arizona Representative Jerry Weiers doesn’t think lawmakers should be paid for a day’s work if they miss a single vote that day. Weiers’ bill would cost legislators about $175 a day for each missed vote. “We are elected to represent our constituents,” he said. “In my opinion, the only representation that truly makes a difference is our vote.” Weiers may not have much support from the speaker of the House—his brother Jim Weiers—who last year missed 12 votes.

Douglas Bruce, the citizen author of Colorado’s legendary Tabor Amendment that severely limits revenue growth, is now making his mark in the state House of Representatives. Appointed to fill a vacancy when Representative Bill Cadman was appointed to a vacant Senate seat, Bruce has become the first person in the history of the House to receive a formal censure. Bruce postponed his swearing-in so he would be eligible to serve six more years in the term-limited legislature. It was shortly before that ceremony that he kicked a news photographer during the opening prayer on the floor of the House. Bruce calls it a “tap” and says he asked the photographer not to take any pictures. But Bruce’s fellow lawmakers, annoyed that he refused to apologize, voted 62-1 to censure him for conduct that “failed to uphold the honor and dignity of the House of Representatives and reflects poorly upon the state of Colorado.”

Hawaii Senator Fred Hemmings of the four-member GOP caucus has retained his post as minority leader. Hemmings had been challenged by Senator Sam Slom and Senator Gordon Trimble.

Nancy Fisher has resigned after five years as chief of staff to Texas Speaker Tom Craddick. Fisher, who is leaving “to pursue other opportunities” said working for Craddick was an honor. “I appreciate the trust he placed in me and the opportunity to play a small role in bringing historic changes in public policy,” she said.

Senator Teresa Fedor agreed to step down as leader of the Ohio Senate Democrats after one year in the position, following a move by her caucus to replace her with Senator Ray Miller. Democrats hold 12 of the 33 Senate seats. The Democrats wanted a change in leadership heading into the 2008 elections.

Connecticut Republican Rob Kane has won a special election to fill the seat of former Senator Louis DeLuca, who resigned in November. DeLuca, the former minority leader, was facing expulsion over accusations that he asked a trash hauler with alleged mob ties to threaten the husband of his granddaughter, whom he believed was abusing her. No threat was carried out, but the trash hauler is awaiting trial on 93 criminal counts.

Former Alaska Speaker Pete Kott began his six-year sentence in federal prison in January, after a U.S. district judge denied his request for a delay in starting so he could be at his grandchild’s birth in February. Kott was convicted in September of bribery, conspiracy and extortion. He had served 14 years in the Legislature.

Two days after retiring from the New Jersey Senate, 32-year veteran Walter Kavanaugh died of complications from diabetes. He was 74. Known as “the Irish Senator,” Kavanaugh served on the board of the University of Notre Dame, his alma mater. A GOP member, he was admired for his ability to work with Democrats during his long career. He held various leadership positions, including majority budget officer, deputy speaker and assistant majority leader. “He was a true statesman with friends on both sides of the aisle,” said Senator Christopher Bateman, who succeeded Kavanaugh.

Maryland Speaker Michael Busch administered the oath of office to Maryland’s newest House member, Representative H. Wayne Norman, in January. Norman filled the seat of Barry Glassman, who left to fill a seat in the Senate.

Former State Legislators in the 110th Congress

U.S. Senate
40 Total

20 Democrats
19 Republicans
1 Independent

U.S. House of Representatives
229 Total

114 Democrats
115 Republicans

CHECK OUT who they are at www.ncsl.org/magazine.

Fighting for Dogs
Americans became privy to the horrors of animal fighting last April. Michael Vick, star quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, was discovered harboring a dog-fighting ring with three colleagues and charged by federal authorities with operating an unlawful interstate dog fighting enterprise. Vick pled guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to operate an interstate dog fighting ring and admitted financing the operation. In late August, a U.S. district judge sentenced him to 23 months in prison.

Dog fighting is a contest between game dogs specifically bred, conditioned and trained to fight in a plywood pit. It’s for entertainment and gambling, and often illicit drugs are involved. The bouts can last up to two hours, with the unsuccessful canine losing the fight and often his life. Pitbulls and Rottweilers are commonly used because of their aggressiveness.

In May 2007, President Bush signed the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, which provides felony penalties for animal fighting. Each violation of the federal law may bring up to three years in jail and up to a $250,000 fine. 

Dog fighting is illegal in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In all states and territories except Idaho and Wyoming, dog fighting is a felony. With the exception of Georgia, Idaho and Nevada, possession of a dog specifically for fighting is illegal. Being a mere spectator of a dog fight is prohibited everywhere except in Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho and Montana. Last year, at least 18 states introduced legislation to strengthen or expand their dog fighting statutes.

Vick also faces state charges in Virginia under its dog fighting laws.

California’s Clean Air Waiver Rejected
For the first time since the Clean Air Act became law, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Dec. 19, 2007, denied a waiver request from California. The state wanted to require a 30 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2016 from cars and light trucks.  In explaining his reasons for denying the waiver, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson referenced the energy bill signed that same day, which increases the nation’s fuel efficiency standards, thus negating the need for state action.

The EPA also says the waiver was rejected because the request did not meet the compelling and extraordinary standards that are required under the Clean Air Act. Climate change is a global issue, not one that affects California specifically and elsewhere less, according to the EPA. 

In January, California officials filed suit, asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn EPA’s waiver denial. “It is unconscionable that the federal government is keeping California and 19 other states from adopting these standards,” says California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. “They are ignoring the will of millions of people who want their government to take action in the fight against global warming.” A multi-state coalition made up of Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington has joined the lawsuit.

U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer and U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, both from California, plan to bring EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson before their committees. Senator Boxer has vowed to take measures to overturn the ruling, including a legislative strategy and possibly joining the lawsuit.

Energy Department Scraps Coal Project
The small Illinois town of Mattoon was selected this past December as the future site of the world’s first near-zero-emissions coal-burning plant. But a month later the U.S. Department of Energy decided to back out of the project citing huge cost overruns and technological advances.

A nonprofit consortium of multinational coal and energy companies and the Department of Energy called The FutureGen Alliance was to carry out the project with 74 percent of the $1.8 billion price tag coming from the Department of Energy. 

By 2013, the plant was expected to produce electricity from gasified coal with almost no pollutants and only 10 percent of the carbon dioxide as compared to today’s coal-fired plants. The “living laboratory” expected to capture and store carbon dioxide in a liquid form deep underground.

The decision by the Department of Energy is a blow to coal producers and utilities, which had hoped to use the demonstration plant to test new “clean-coal” technologies.

Coal-fired power plants are facing difficulties because of state concerns over air quality and uncertainty about future costs, with the federal government expected to apply carbon taxes or a cap and trade scheme in the next few years. This apprehension has fueled a wave of state sentiment against coal plants. In 2007, plans for coal-fired power plants were abandoned in at least eight states.

The Energy Department is budgeting $241 million instead for a few commercial power-plant projects that will capture and store a smaller share of emissions.

The Noise Over Silence
Illinois is embroiled in a lawsuit over whether students and teachers must observe a brief period of silence at the opening of every school day. The state’s previous law stated that students and teachers “may” observe a brief period of silence, while the new statue requires them to do so. Vetoed by the governor, but overturned by the legislature, the law is now the subject of a suit by a father, on behalf of his daughter, who claims that the statute is vague and does not specify how the law should be implemented or enforced. A U.S. district judge has prevented the child’s school district and the state superintendent of education from implementing the new statute.

This is the latest action in a long-standing public debate about prayer in schools. Those who oppose school prayer and moment-of-silence policies assert that they violate First Amendment rights because public schools are government entities and cannot endorse religion. Those in favor maintain that voluntary prayer does not amount to the government promoting or establishing a religion. The courts have allowed student prayer in public school only if the prayer is not disruptive, does not violate the rights of others, and is voluntary. In addition, a student must not be forced to listen to or be coerced into praying.

The courts have looked favorably on policies that show no preference for prayer but simply allow for a moment of silence. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has routinely rejected policies that are sponsored or organized by public schools or elicit staff to lead school prayer. Policies that have been created merely to allow and promote prayer in schools have also been rejected by the high court.