Capitol Comments

2007 CSG Innovations Awards Winners

States have been innovative in dealing with problems from energy supplies to child support payments. Eight of those programs will be recognized next month at the CSG Annual State Trends and Leadership Conference in Oklahoma City.

This year's winners of the CSG Innovations Awards are:

• Indiana's BioTown USA
• North Dakota's PRIDE (Parental Repsonsibility Initiative for the Development of Employment
• North Carolina's Utility Savings Initiative for State Facilities
• Virginia's Division of Child Support Enforcement Cell Phone Records Initiative
• Arizona's Health-e Connection
• Washington's GMAP (Government Management Accountability and Performance)
• Connecticut's Supportive Housing Pilot Program
• New Jersey's Knowledge Initiative

States Partner with Private Sector for Transportation

When it comes to financing transportation projects, many states have turned to public-private partnerships. Taking on various degrees of public and private responsibility, state governments are partnering with the private sector to fund and build roads, bridges, toll roads and other transportation facilities.

In fact, the method has been so widespread that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) maintains online resources on the issue. The administration explains the different forms these projects can take on its Web site.

Among them:

Most Support SCHIP Renewal

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program is widely popular among people of all political stripes.

That’s according to a new survey by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. The survey, conducted in October, found strong majority support for the reauthorization and expansion of SCHIP. In fact, seven in 10 Americans said they back plans for expansion.

Democrats overwhelming support reauthorization – 82 percent before hearing the pro and con arguments and 80 percent after hearing them. Sixty-nine percent of Independents support the bill; that number of supporters dropped only 3 percent after hearing the arguments. And a majority of Republicans, 54 percent, said they support expansion; that support dropped to 47 percent after hearing the pro and con arguments.

Two in three people oppose President’s Bush’s veto of the reauthorization, although 56 percent of Republicans approved of Bush’s veto. Two-thirds of the people surveyed supported SCHIP eligibility for families of four who make $40,000 per year, roughly two times the poverty level. Support dropped to 32 percent for those families who make $60,000 a year.

Read the Public Views on SCHIP Reauthorization and see a breakdown of the answers to survey questions.

Attorneys General Address School Violence

The National Association of Attorneys General last month released a report calling for federal and state leaders to address serious deficiencies in federal and state laws and educational policies that leave students vulnerable to violence in their schools and on college campuses.

Members of the NAAG Task Force on School and Campus Safety released the report that includes specific recommendations to address threat assessment, protocols for dealing with the mentally ill, information sharing among law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders, and crisis response planning and communications.

The 27-member Task Force, chaired by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch, was convened to update a 1999 report issued by NAAG to address issues surrounding school violence. Although much of the information in the 1999 report remains relevant, the ad hoc group was created to update recommendations and determine what issues have been brought into sharper focus as a result of the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

“The expectation that our students would learn in safe, secure environments that was for so long a part of our shared, national psyche has been shattered by Columbine, Jonesboro, Virginia Tech, and other eruptions of violence that occur with a disturbing frequency in schools and on campuses across America,” Lynch said in a press release.

“Whereas several of the reports issued in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy have been voluminous and exhaustive, the goal of our report was to be brief and concise and to stimulate dialogue among school administrators and policymakers on a few key issues,” Suthers said.

State Budgets Face Tough Times

State budgets could be headed for tough times.

Economists see some troubling warning signs, similar to those that preceded the U.S. recession in 2001. A quarter of the states are collecting less money than they anticipated from sales taxes. Others are barely holding even with inflation in overall revenues.

Officials in several states are responding to those troubling signs:

• Florida legislators are working in a special session to cut property taxes to stimulate consumer spending.
• Nevada has called for a 5 percent cut in state agency budgets.
• Michigan has expanded its sales tax to cover some luxury services not previously taxed, and has increased the income tax rate from 3.9 percent to 4.35 percent.

The problems in the housing market is one key sign of a problem. The receding market produces a domino effect, and collides with the consumer purchases that feed state treasuries via the sales tax.

Learn more about this story by visiting the Christian Science Monitor.

Candidates on Immigration

Several Republican candidates for state offices across the country have injected the issue of illegal immigration into their respective campaigns.

Virginia Republicans, trying to keep control of the General Assembly, have vowed to crack down on illegal immigration. Virginia is one of five states with state elections this year.

Gubernatorial candidates in Kentucky and Louisiana and the candidate for Mississippi lieutenant governor are attempting to capitalize on voter anger over illegal immigration.

Republican leaders of the Virginia House and Senate unveiled a legislative package in August that would prohibit illegal immigrants from attending Virginia colleges and universities and require local sheriffs to work closely with federal authorities to keep illegal immigrants suspected of crimes in jail.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher, seeking a second term and trailing in the polls to his Democratic challenger, Steve Beshear, recently announced that state prisons would take part in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 287(g) program, which allows specially trained police to enforce immigration laws by alerting federal authorities when they imprison illegal immigrants. He said if he’s re-elected, he would push the legislature to allow local government s in Kentucky to take part too.

Other GOP candidates are calling for cutting off a wide range of state benefits now being collected by some illegal immigrants, including workers compensation.

Mississippi Auditor Phil Bryant has proposed ensuring that state contracts only go to businesses that don’t hire illegal immigrants. Bryant is running for Mississippi lieutenant governor.

For more on this story, visit stateline.org.

States May Play Numbers Game with Lotteries

States May Play Numbers Game with Lotteries

Could Wall Street have the winning numbers in state lotteries?

Only time will tell, but governors in at least a dozen states are considering privatizing their states lotteries as cash hungry states are intrigued by the potential financial windfall from privatizing lotteries. California, for instance, has been quoted a figure of as much as $37 billion for privatizing its lottery.

The plan is not without its critics. Some people are concerned that future growth in lottery revenue, fed by increased marketing efforts and sales outlets with private operators, would come from minority and low-income gamblers. These private operators, opponents contend, may introduce more video lottery terminals and other fast-paced games that states restrict because of fears the devices foster addictive gambling.

And the traditional recipients of lottery proceeds—public schools and universities—worry that privatization may affect their funding.

Check out The New York Times for more on this story. And let us know what you think about privatizing state lotteries.

Out of Prison, Deep in Debt

People released from prisons and jails often owe a lot of money.

In fact, according to a new report from The Council of State Governments’ Justice Center, they can be as much as $25,000 in debt when they leave prison.

These former inmates must make payments to probation departments, courts, attorneys general’s offices and child support enforcement offices — often when they have no assets or employment.

Bridges On A Fast Track

Missouri has a novel idea to put repair or replace more than 800 bridges in five years.

Contractors would finance the $400 million to $600 million in repairs and maintain the bridges for another 25 years under the plan. The state, in turn, would use a portion of its federal bridge funds to repay the company over 25 years. The plan is being touted as a model for the rest of the country.

Many states are looking closely at bridges after the August collapse of a major bridge in Minnesota.

Find out more about Missouri's plan at stateline.org. And you can find out what other states are doing in public-private partnerships to take care of transportation infrastructure in an upcoming issue of State News. Visit The Council of State Governments Web site in early November to read the story. CSG will also release an issue brief on the subject at its annual meeting in November.