Capitol Comments

States Strapped to Provide Low-Income Heating Assistance

Northeastern states are facing a difficult choice this winter: Increase the heating assistance benefit to adjust for higher energy prices and thereby reduce the number of households served or provide a smaller heating assistance benefit to a large number of homes. The key concern for the Eastern region is the rapid rise in heating oil prices.   

The Northeastern situation is unique. The Energy Information Administration has projected that prices in the Northeast for home heating oil could go as high as $1,879 this winter, about 25 percent higher than last year’s level.  In comparison, the price of natural gas, the other major heating fuel in the Northeast, is only expected to increase 9.1 percent. This is of particular concern to the Northeast, since the region uses 75 percent of the heating oil used in the nation.

Who Controls Cigarette Sales?

The U.S. Supreme Court today will hear a challenge to a Maine law that requires tobacco retailers who sell their products online to register with the state, use only authorized carriers to deliver their goods and clearly mark packages containing tobacco.

The court's decision could affect 40 state laws regulating Internet sales and shipment of everything from tobacco products to dangerous products such as explosives and wild animals. States believe their police powers - their ability to protect the public's healthy, safety and general welfare -- allow them to restrict how tobacco products are shipped and sold.

Delivery companies like UPS and FedEx say federal law puts the federal government in charge of package carriers. In fact, they say, the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 prohibits states from placing extra requirements on their services.

Find out more about this story at Stateline.org.

States Win Another Fuel Standards Case

A federal appeals court has sided with several states in an effort to get tougher fuel standards on sport utility vehicles, minivans and pickup trucks.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week targeted a loophole that lets those vehicles get fewer miles per gallon of fuel than passenger cars, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The lawsuit was brought by California, 10 other states, and New York City and Washington, D.C., against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agency charged with setting vehicle mileage requirements.

The complaint challenged an increase in mileage for so-called light trucks to 23.5 miles per gallon by 2010 – the increase was called trivial as the current rate is 22.2 miles per gallon. Passenger cars are required to get about five more miles per gallon than SUVs and light trucks.

The court’s ruling is the third this year by a federal court to bolster contentions from state governments and environmental groups that the president and federal regulators haven’t done enough to battle climate change.

Mortgage Meltdown Touches the States

Picture this: A father loses his job unexpectedly and is unable to make his family’s mortgage payments. Suddenly, a two-income household is whittled down to one income and it’s just not enough. Or, a serious illness in the family wreaks havoc on the finances and mortgage payments are missed.

In each scenario, the homeowner falls into delinquency and eventually forecloses.

The subprime mortgage market has taken off at an all-time record and resulted in jumps in foreclosures, Frank Nothaft, chief economist with Freddie Mac, told CSG’s Financial Services Working Group Wednesday.

The subprime mortgage market accounted for 14 percent of all loans outstanding in the U.S. and those made up more than 50 percent of all foreclosures last year, Nothaft said. And even though the housing market has suffered from oversupply and a drop in home values, the nation is still a year away from hitting the trough, he said.

Freddie Mac is predicting a 3 percent to 4 percent drop in home prices next year, based on a national index.

There’s No Silver Bullet for Curbing CO2 Emissions

As policymakers examine tools and options for curbing CO2 emissions, the growing consensus is there are no silver bullet solutions. Instead, a combination of efficiency measures, renewable fuels and maximizing traditional energy sources will play a significant role in the future.

In the absence of federal legislation on curbing greenhouse gases, states are taking the lead in these areas.

Coal-fired power plants generate 50 percent of America’s energy and natural gas plants generate 19 percent. Presenters at Tuesday morning’s session, Maximizing Traditional Energy Sources, addressed how these sources can produce cleaner and more efficient energy.

“America has to lead the ‘Watt.com’ revolution. Those states that lead will reap the advantages,” Denise Bode, CEO of the American Clean Skies Initiative, said.

“Renewables like wind and solar alone will not solve the problem. Only when combined with clean-burning natural gas, whose supply forecast is up 18 percent over just two years ago to 120 years supply in North America, do you really have a clean and practical solution for the future,” said Bode.

Peters Headlines IGA Committee with Sympathy for the States

Solving the transportation crisis will take more than just Band-Aid solutions like raising gas taxes—U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters said Tuesday at the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee it’s going to take continued innovation from the states.

“I think the opportunity is in front of us to redefine the federal role,” Peters said, when it comes to building and maintaining America’s infrastructure. “You in the states are the ones who are setting the pace and driving local reforms.”

The number of federal programs has ballooned, Peters said, with the number of earmark projects growing from only a handful in the 1980s to more than 6,000 in 2005, amounting to more than $20 billion.

At the same time, the centralized fund for roads, known as the Highway Trust Fund, is predicted to go bust by an estimated $4 billion by 2009, according to July 2007 estimates from the Office of Management and Budget.

Alternative Energy Critical to Electricity Generation

Wind power, demand-side management and a national transmission grid are critical to the nation’s electricity generation, particularly the development of new infrastructure, energy efficiency and easing transmission gridlock, energy experts say.

“The capacity of wind technology is going up while the costs have gone down,” said Marguerite Kelly, senior project manager of National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
In his 2006 State of the Union, President George W. Bush said 20 percent of energy in the United States can be generated from wind energy. According to Kelly, this will not occur under “business as usual circumstances.”

She outlined the drivers of wind energy in today’s volatile energy markets—energy security, economic development benefits and the declining cost of taller and lighter blades that can capture smoother and stronger winds at higher elevations. Wind energy has costly upfront investments, but no fuel costs to produce the energy. Furthermore, “wind energy is a hedge bet against current fuel price uncertainty,” Kelly said.

States and cities can reap the economic benefits of a growing wind energy industry including increased property tax and landowner revenue and construction and manufacturing projects, she said. The U.S. could do more to foster wind technology, she explained. Currently, most wind turbines are produced overseas making them costly while the dollar is weak.

States Consider E-Health Initiatives

Say you’re a resident of Delaware visiting California. You’re in need of health care. If your health records are immediately available to the medical professionals, your treatment plan will be quicker to determine and more effective.

That’s the goal as more states work to implement e-health initiatives.

“It’s not all about the hospitals or docs or labs or the pharmacists,” said Paula Roy, executive director of the Delaware Health Care Commission and CSG Health Policy Task Force chair. “It’s about patient care and the quality of patient care. Keep it front and center. Patient centering is really important.”

Delaware is one of several states pioneering e-health initiatives in an effort to make patient information available electronically nationwide. Brad Tritle, executive director of the Arizona Health-e Connection, said it will take more than just a few states to make this information-sharing work.

Ballard takes Officials on Deep Sea Adventure

As Robert Ballard puts it, he rarely hears the word ocean. In fact, the deep sea is a place that most people don’t know much about.

That is until Ballard’s colorful photographs and equally colorful stories enlightened state government officials Tuesday of the need to explore the sea and to educate America’s youth on that need.

Deep sea covers 72 percent of the planet and 50 percent of the U.S. lies beneath the ocean, Ballard said, “yet we have better maps of Mars than the unknown America.”

Ballard has some great stories about exploring the deep blue—he told of squashing himself and two others into a titanium submarine six feet in diameter.

Wal-Mart Goes Green, Saves Green

When the makers of Hamburger Helper decided to straighten their wavy packaged noodles, they began a chain reaction that has saved nearly 900,000 pounds of paper fiber annually, reduced greenhouse emissions by 11 percent, and create more shelf space for its products in Wal-Mart stores.

That is one small step leading to big changes in Wal-Mart’s goal to use 100 percent renewable energy, create zero waste and sustain natural resources and energy.

“Being environmentally friendly is good for business and saves money,” said Matt Kistler, Wal-Mart’s vice-president of Corporate Strategy/Sustainability. The savings are then passed on to Wal-Mart’s and Sam’s Clubs’ customers.

Kistler outlined Wal-Mart’s environmental goals Tuesday during a breakfast plenary session.

The packaging change by Hamburger Helper, said Kistler, was the equivalent of taking 500 trucks off the road.

Hamburger Helper packaging is one way Wal-Mart hopes to achieve its goal of reducing overall packaging by 2013.

“That may seem small but it will reduce carbon dioxide by 660,000 tons, save the supply chain $3.4 billion and will be the equivalent of taking 200,000 trucks off the road,” Kistler said in describing the  annual impact of such a reduction.