State Legislatures Magazine: December 2002

Editor's Note: This article appeared in the December 2002 issue of NCSL's magazine, State Legislatures. To order copies or to subscribe, contact the marketing department at (303) 364-7700.

Stateline

MONEY FROM MANURE
Green fields full of brown blobs have a new meaning in New York. That state has recently passed a law that provides incentives for farmers to produce electricity with the methane that comes from manure. In a state that has more than 7.7 million acres of farmland, supporting almost 1.5 million cattle, 80,000 hogs and 60,000 sheep, that's a lot of methane potential. By using bacteria to decompose the manure (called anaerobic digestion), capturing the methane, and burning it to generate electricity, farmers can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions while saving energy and earning some money.

LEGISLATORS WIN
State legislators secured a huge victory recently in Congress with passage of HR 5596. No longer will state and local candidates have to file unnecessary, duplicative and bureaucratic federal campaign finance and income tax reports. The law repeals a provision in Public Law 106-230, passed hastily in July 2000, that required state legislators, political parties, campaign committees and other state political organizations to file federal tax returns. It applies retroactively to July 2000.

FIGHTING CHILD PORN
Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm (now governor elect) has ordered six billing companies to stop helping the promotion and distribution of child pornography over the Internet by providing access to and collecting proceeds from members on behalf of "fee-based" child porn Web sites. The companies collect the fees for these sites, which allows customers to pay with credit cards with-out having records of the payments traced directly to the Web sites. Helping distribute child pornography in Michigan is a felony with penalties of up to seven years in prison and fines of up to $50,000 per violation.

TIPS FROM THE TRENCHES
A committee staffer in California suggests one way to get a useful, timely product out of a legislative task force: Hire a writer. Task forces that depend on overworked staff to write up minutes, as well as final substantive reports, may never see the work come to fruition. With an outside writer, though, the job gets done in a timely manner, before changing conditions invalidate the group's work.

A SPAM ATTACK
Internet users who hate unsolicited e-mail advertising (spam) are celebrating recent court rulings in Washington. The court in September agreed with the state that Oregon businessman Jason Heckel violated Washington's anti-spam law. He sent out millions of e-mails with the subject line "Did I get the right email address?" along with an invalid return e-mail address. The U.S. Supreme Court had earlier refused to hear an appeal of this case and sent it back to the state court for a decision. Washington's law makes it illegal to send state residents e-mails with deceptive subject lines or fake return addresses or to use a third party's domain name without permission. The case is the first test of Washington's anti-spam law. Other cases throughout the country have targeted the content of e-mail messages, but this is the first time a state has successfully taken a person to court for the mere act of spamming.

THE MERCURY MENACE
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is taking Maine to federal court over a new law there that requires the industry to create a collection facility and pay $1 for each electrical switch containing mercury recovered from scrapped cars and trucks. They say the first-in-the-nation law violates the U.S. Constitution by forcing out-of-state automakers to create and finance a system for collecting and disposing of Maine's hazardous waste. Maine's Legislature enacted the law in April as part of a campaign to reduce the amount of mercury in the state's environment. Mercury can threaten the development of the nervous system in fetuses and young children, and interfere with the reproductive systems of birds and wildlife.

A DEFENSE AGAINST DROUGHT
Wrung out by four years of drought, the latest California environmental mandate requires water efficiency in clothes washers, a first in the country. The new law requires old, thirsty washers to be replaced with efficient ones by 2007. Supporters of the new law say the state could save about 1 billion gallons of water annually. And because less water is used, less gas and electricity is needed to heat that water. Washington and Texas also have tightened washing machine standards.

MOTHERING BEHIND BARS
A growing number of states are using a new old tool to keep women prisoners from returning to prison once released: motherhood. In Ohio, Nebraska, New York and Washington, some women who give birth behind bars are allowed to keep their babies with them instead of giving them up to foster care or relatives. The programs appear to be helping women stay clear of prison, although official studies have yet to be done. Prison nurseries were common at the turn of the century, but concerns over liability saw many disappear in the 1970s and '80s. In fact, a 1987 United Nations survey of 70 nations found that only four-the United States, Liberia, Suriname and the Bahamas-routinely separate incarcerated mothers from their babies.

EVACUATION FOR ALL
Getting out of a burning building is tough, and terrifying. For people with disabilities it can be deadly. Illinois recently enacted a law that requires every high-rise structure (an office, hotel or residential building with a height above 80 feet) to have an evacuation plan by Jan. 1, 2004, for people with disabilities. The new law also requires a drill to be held at least once a year.

IOWANS ADOPT EASIER
Bringing home a wonderful bundle of joy from a foreign country just became cheaper and easier for Iowans when a new law ordered the State Board of Health to remove a requirement that foreign adoptive parents go through the full state adoption process before their children legally become part of their families. Such parents usually go through the court adoption process overseas at considerable cost. Iowa now will recognize adoptions completed in foreign countries and will grant birth certificates for those children. California, Delaware, Kansas and Maryland passed similar laws in the last two years.

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
School districts across Maine are educating their bus drivers about the health hazards of diesel exhaust fumes. Studies show that children can be exposed to dangerously high levels of fumes during their daily trips between home and school. Safety measures include turning off buses instead of letting them idle, switching to low-sulfur or alternative fuels, or retrofitting older buses with catalytic converters and filter traps. Buses with well-tuned engines may produce up to 60 percent fewer emissions. New emissions standards set by the EPA go into effect in 2004.

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