Capitol Comments

Longer Days, Shorter Weeks

High gas prices have lead to shorter workweeks for some state employees.

Several states are offering more of their public employees shorter workweeks. Utah instituted the most comprehensive plan: Gov. John Huntsman Jr. ordered about 17,000 state employees to work a 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. work schedule Mondays through Thursdays. That plan will begin the first week in August.

Other states—Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina—already offered the option of a compressed workweek, while other states—including Arkansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Vermont—are considering the addition of more state agencies to existing programs.

While shorter workweeks offer several benefits—such as traffic and emissions reduction, longer access to government services and energy conservation at state facilities—critics say the shorter weeks inconvenience the customers governments are required to serve and also burdens some state workers.

Read more about the plans at Stateline.org.

Lawmakers Chosen for Leadership Institute

A select group of 37 Midwestern lawmakers will gather in Madison, Wis., in August for five days of intense leadership and professional development training.

The lawmakers are members of the 14th class of the Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development, conducted by The Council of State Governments Midwestern Office.

BILLD is one of five leadership programs offered through CSG—the Toll Fellows program in the national office and one in each of the four CSG regions.

Oklahoma Universal Preschool Program Produces Results

A new study found big gains in cognitive skills for students enrolled in Oklahoma's universal preschool.

The gains by 4-year-olds enrolled in the school-based prekindergarten program were as much as nine months in pre-reading skills, seven months in pre-writing skills and five months in pre-math skills, relative to their peers, researchers at Georgetown University found. That compares to the federal Head Start program, in which students had gains of six months in pre-reading skills, three months in pre-writing skills, and five months in pre-math schools, relative to their peers.

“The children in Tulsa’s pre-K and Head Start programs experienced substantial gains in pre-reading, pre-writing and pre-math skills above and beyond those that otherwise occur through aging,” said William T. Gormley Jr., lead author of the study, university professor and co-director of the Center for Research on Children in the U.S. at Georgetown University. “We found that negative effects of family and environmental risk factors can be lessened by a strong preschool program.”

Researchers also found that pre-K participation and Head Start participation were more powerful predictors of certain test outcomes than gender, free lunch eligibility, a mother’s education or whether the biological father lives at home.

Researchers believe the findings could influence policy and funding decisions across the country as many states consider expanding or restructuring their preschool programs.

Read about some of those changes in this article from State News and in a 2007 Trends Alert from The Council of State Governments.

Actuaries Gain More Attention in States

States have set aside about $2 trillion to meet long-term obligations for retiring public employees over the next three decades.

But that’s still about $731 billion short of what is needed to fund the promised $2.73 trillion in pension, health care and other retirement benefits, according to a Pew Center on the States report, Promises with a Price.

That shortfall and the new rule of the Government Accounting Standards Board that requires states to disclose the cost of nonpension benefits, such as health care, has drawn new attention to acturaries in the states. The Council of State Governments’ Southern Legislative Conference in June published an Issue Alert about the importance of actuarial estimates in public pension programs.

Because actuaries play a critical role in estimating the financial health of pension plans, they are now gaining more attention in discussions by public policymakers. Several states have taken action with regard to actuaries. In Texas, for instance, the attorney general is calling for actuaries operating in the state to be registered to ensure tighter oversight and regulation.

Oklahoma Law Mandates Ultrasounds Before Abortions

A new law in Oklahoma set to take effect Aug. 1 requires all doctors to show ultrasound imaging to women considering abortions. The ultrasound imaging is mandatory for all abortions, except in an emergency.

Fifteen states—Ohio and South Dakota joined the list this year—require doctors to give women the option of seeing an ultrasound of the fetus before an abortion.

Oklahoma Senate Bill 1878 requires doctors to make the image of the unborn baby available to women in addition to performing an ultrasound on all women (except in life-threatening situations). It also requires doctors to discuss the condition of the fetus, including details about the arms, legs, hands, feet, facial features, beating heart and other functioning organs, according to Stateline.org. This must happen at least an hour before the abortion. The law does not provide any exceptions in cases of rape or incest, according to Stateline.org.

Oklahoma Sen. Todd Lamb authored the bill and told Stateline.org that it was intended to “ensure 100 percent informed consent. We’re short-changing these moms if they’re not receiving an ultrasound so they can see how their child is being formed.”

Back to 55?

The continually rising price of gasoline has many people wondering what can be done to ween the nation off dependency on petroleum.

Some harken back to the energy crisis of the 1970s, when many states took action to cut energy usage. One columnist in Washington believes we should cut the speed limit on the nation's interstate to 55.

What do you think?

Rhode Island Attorney General Makes History

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch was unanimously elected as the 101st president of the National Association of Attorneys General last week. He is the first attorney general from Rhode Island selected for the post.

“I am immensely honored to serve NAAG in this leadership capacity and eager to work with the new officers and NAAG’s entire membership to embark on the challenging work ahead,” Lynch said.

Attorneys general also elected Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning as president-elect; North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper as vice president; and Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden as immediate past president for the 2008-2009 term.

The Association also announced its annual award winners:

Illinois Attorney General Sues Countrywide Financial

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is suing the troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, saying the company and its executives defrauded borrowers in the state.

The lawsuit, which is expected to be filed today, accuses Countrywide and chief executive Angelo R. Mozilo of selling borrowers costly loans that quickly went into foreclosure.

The civil lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and asks the court to require Country to rescind or reform all the questionable loans it sold from 2004 to now. Madigan also asked that Mozilo contribute personally to the damages and that the court give her office 90 days to review loans serviced by Countrywide that were in foreclosure or soon would be.

The complaint, detailed in the New York Times, comes after review of 111,000 pages of Countrywide documents and interviews with former employees.

Tennessee Signs on to Tracking and Monitoring Juveniles

Tennessee on Friday became the 34th state to pass a special agreement to track and monitor juvenile offenders in an effort to keep America’s children from falling through the cracks.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen signed House Bill 4099 June 20, and the state officially joined the Interstate Compact for Juveniles. One more state needs to join the compact for it to officially launch nationwide. Illinois may become the 35th state; its version of the compact—Senate Bill 2821—is awaiting the governor’s signature.

Every year thousands of juvenile offenders cross state lines and are lost in the system. Often left to fend for themselves and disconnected from social services and the help they need, young offenders who would otherwise be supervised commit violent and nonviolent crimes.

Some states are just losing track of children in the juvenile system.

But the compact seeks to change that.

State Solutions Focus of National Meeting in Bismarck

Solutions for finding better cooperation among the three branches of government will be the focus of a panel discussion Tuesday during The Council of State Governments’ Interbranch Summit of the States in Bismarck, N.D.

Speakers during the session will be Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro Cortes, Appeals Court Judge Robert Hunter of North Carolina and State Rep. Kim Koppelman of North Dakota. Koppelman is CSG national chair and is hosting the Summit, which ends Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday’s agenda is a panel discussion about the journey of a statute through the three branches of government. Speakers for that session will be Colorado Appeals Court Judge Russell Carparelli and State Sen. Bart Davis of Idaho.

Check back later to learn more about the Interbranch Summit of the States.