State Government
Leadership Foundation

The Indiana Senate has included an expansion of Medicaid through the Healthy Indiana Plan in the state budget. A bill to expand Medicaid, called Senate Bill 551, died this week in the House Ways and Means Committee, with House lawmakers saying negotiations with the federal government over a possible expansion should be left to Gov. Mike Pence. The governor’s administration has maintained he can expand Medicaid through the program without new legislation.

But an Indianapolis Star review of the state budget found much the Senate’s version of the Medicaid expansion included in the budget bill. The Senate is expected to approve the budget today, and the House and Senate will negotiate a final version in the next few weeks. Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said he revived the Senate’s version of the Medicaid bill to give lawmakers more control. “The legislature wants to have the chance to review any waiver that may be secured by the governor,” Kenley said. “That’s not a criticism of the governor, so much as it is that we have a strong interest in what it will do both fiscally and in what type of waiver program we want to have.”

Point to any tyrannical regime around the globe and you’re bound to find a commitment to guaranteeing the “rights of the people.” But those same regimes repress basic human rights as vigorously as they proclaim them. While we in the United States rightly value our Constitution’s Bill of Rights, we know from example that even the grandest promises of rights will be an illusion without a system of government designed to protect them. That is precisely what makes the structure of the U.S. Constitution so brilliant.

The U.S. Constitution separates the branches of the federal government, forcing them to check and balance one another. It also lists and limits the power of Congress, reserving much broader authority for the states to address the concerns of their citizens. Each of these characteristics contributes to a comprehensive structure that is premised on the assumption that we are not angels, and that liberty and prosperity are threatened by any government that vests imperfect humans with unaccountable power. So, as James Madison wrote, “ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” In an ideal world, Congress, the President, and the states would each guard their own spheres of power, limiting one another and reducing the ability of any one of them to overreach.

JUNEAU, Alaska — A bill that would require Alaska's voters to present photo identification at the polls has been moved out of its final committee of referral in the House of Representatives. HB3, by Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage, was advanced from the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. The measure now moves to the House Rules Committee, which could schedule it for a vote. It would then go to the Senate if it passes. The bill would stipulate that voters present a form of photo ID or two forms of non-photo identification to election officials. If two officials know the voter, the identification requirement can be waived. Voters who do not meet any of those requirements could still submit a questioned ballot and prove their identity later.

Lynn says the bill is necessary to protect Alaska's voting system - in which elections can be decided by a single vote - from fraud. "Nothing in HB3 whatsoever prevents anybody who is registered to vote or is motivated to vote from doing so," Lynn told the committee. "It's our intent not to disenfranchise anybody but to safeguard our precious right to vote in this state."

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri schools appear likely to get a 2 percent funding increase next year. And state employees could get a small raise. Those decisions appear to be locked into the budget as a result of decisions Tuesday by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The committee agreed to provide a $66 million increase in basic state aid to public elementary and secondary schools on top of a $3 billion core budget. The House had approved a $65 million increase. Under legislative rules, negotiators are required to keep the final figure between the House and Senate versions. The budget panel also agreed to go with a House plan that would provide a $500 annual pay raise to state employees, starting halfway through the 2014 fiscal year.

JACKSON, Miss. — If 2013 was the education session for Mississippi's Legislature, it will be followed by the implementation season. State leaders will have to create structures to authorize charter schools and fund prekindergarten programs. Literacy coaches will have to be hired to implement a new focus on reading grades K-3, along with training for thousands of teachers. Along the way, more money will be required to bring some of the visions to fruition. And traditional demands for higher teacher pay and more state aid to local schools could rebound, especially as the 2015 state elections near.

At the end of the 2012 legislative session proponents vowed they would try again to push a bill expanding the opportunities for charter schools in Mississippi. In the summer of 2012, Gov. Phil Bryant, began setting the table for a broader education agenda. The Republican governor didn't get everything he wanted - for example lawmakers ditched his call to allow students to enroll in any public school anywhere in the state - but he was successful in several efforts.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday unveiled an income tax reform plan aimed at reducing tax bills and simplifying the state’s complicated tax system. The proposal would offer Iowans a 15 percent across-the-board reduction in income taxes over three years. Taxpayers could calculate their taxes under the current method or could use a new, simplified method and then pay the lower amount.

On average, taxpayers would receive a $360 reduction in tax year 2014 and $516 in 2015, Republicans said. No taxpayer would receive an increase. All 24 members of the Senate’s Republican minority are co-sponsoring the legislation, which has been developed by Sen. Randy Feenstra of Hull. While Democrats hold a Senate majority, GOP lawmakers hope their proposal can become a part of a bipartisan effort by House and Senate lawmakers to address tax issues.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A bill that would likely weaken selenium regulations in West Virginia is headed to the Senate floor for a final vote. The bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday would allow the state Department of Environmental Protection to implement a state-specific standard for selenium discharges from mining sites. If sites are found to have exceeded guidelines it would trigger additional monitoring instead of punishment.

The state standards would require approval from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has been revising its selenium standards since 2004 and said there would be new standards by the end of this year. The coal industry argues that federal standards are not applicable to West Virginia's fast moving streams. Studies have found selenium harmful to aquatic life, and to humans with high-level exposure.

The fight to expand Medicaid in Missouri has been framed largely by Jefferson City politics, but the state’s health care industry suggests that it is about something much bigger. “I’m sure there are political dimensions to it, but mostly it’s a humanitarian issue,” said Steven Lipstein, president and chief executive of BJC HealthCare, the St. Louis-based health care giant. “Think of people living in Missouri, a family of four with a household income of less than $32,500. ... These are the families who would now become eligible for Medicaid.”

Lipstein is describing an estimated 300,000 Missouri residents, including the growing number of people living in poverty since the Great Recession. Many of these people work, but receive no health benefits. And some of them are among those who would have qualified for assistance before state budget cuts eight years ago lopped them off the Medicaid rolls. These are the same Missourians who show up at hospital emergency departments for treatment, and whose care BJC and other health systems have to write off. Often, the trip to the ER could have been avoided by a visit to a doctor’s office. Or, because such patients haven’t received ongoing medical care, they are hospitalized at a life-threatening stage of a chronic disease.

BURLINGTON, N.C. — Gov. Pat McCrory is using the backdrop of a textile manufacturer for a big announcement about how North Carolina government is seeking to increase business in the state. McCrory is speaking Monday at Copland Fabrics in Burlington about what his office called a major commerce and economic development policy announcement. The Republican governor has been telling audiences his administration is assembling a state Commerce Department reorganization proposal.

McCrory has said North Carolina's economic brand has faded in recent years and needs to be changed to make the state more attractive to business. Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker said recently public-private partnerships may be used to distribute government-funded incentives packages.

WASHINGTON — As the Senate returns from recess this week, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he thinks the bi-partisan Gang of Eight will have its immigration plan completed by the end of the week. “We hope that we can have a bipartisan agreement among the eight of us on comprehensive immigration reform by the end of the week,” Schumer said today on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Over the last two weeks, we’ve made great progress. There have been kerfuffles along the way, but each one of those, thus far, has been settled.”

Schumer said that the staffs of each Gang of Eight member has worked 12 hours a day to fine-tune the details of their immigration plan and reach an agreement on every issue. In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also a member of the Gang of Eight, set a longer time frame of a “couple of weeks” before the plan is completed.

But one Republican member of the bi-partisan group has expressed concern that the deal on immigration reform is being reached in haste. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has called for more hearings and time to review the plan in order to encourage “healthy public debate.” “Arriving at a final product will require it to be properly submitted for the American people’s consideration, through the other 92 senators from 43 states that weren’t part of this initial drafting process,” Rubio said in a statement last week. “In order to succeed, this process cannot be rushed or done in secret.”

BISMARCK – In the waning weeks of the North Dakota Legislature, conference committees are hard at work reconciling differing versions of bills that have been endorsed in the other chamber. The bulk of the Legislature’s time will be taken up over the next few weeks by such meetings. Once agreements are met, the legislation is kicked back to the full Senate and House for approval. The North Dakota Constitution limits the Legislature to 80 days of meetings every two years. The 2013 session will hit its 62nd day on Monday. Still ahead are big topics, including oil taxes, a tribal agreement and an unsigned abortion bill

As he weighs whether to allow fracking in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is under intense pressure from the oil and gas industry, Republican lawmakers and long-struggling communities eager to see the drilling technique jump-start the state’s economy. But last week, the governor came under pressure from another source — a fellow Democrat. In a strong endorsement of hydraulic fracturing, former Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell urged Mr. Cuomo to “do as I did: Step back and look at the facts. See the bigger picture.”

In a piece for the New York Daily News, Mr. Rendell touted the benefits of fracking that he saw firsthand as drilling in the Marcellus Shale helped revive long-depressed towns in the western and northern reaches of Pennsylvania. It’s just one example of how fracking has earned unusually broad support from across the political spectrum, breaking down partisan barriers in surprising ways. The hydraulic fracturing process extracts oil and natural gas from deep within shale rock formations by injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals

TRENTON — The state has received 38 applications for new charter schools, including some that would specialize in math, science and technology instruction and others that would focus on more obscure themes, according to a list released by state education officials. One applicant wants to open a high school for teens in Elizabeth and Roselle that would be named after state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, a powerful Union County Democrat. A former Newark high school principal has applied to start a military-themed school bearing former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s name.

Another contender is seeking state approval to open a virtual charter school for Lakewood teens who also attend Jewish day schools there. And Stephanie Barnes, an elementary school teacher living in North Brunswick, hopes to open Pearls of Wisdom Charter School to serve 125 fifth through eighth graders in East Orange, Orange and Irvington. "I grew up in East Orange and I have family who live in all of the towns I hope the school will serve," Barnes said. "The students there deserve a chance at a high quality education and they need other options."

The purpose of constructing a General Business Index is to provide a systematic treatment of all officially collected and relevant economic indicators. Based on recent GBI values, the local area economy ended 2012 on a positive note. And, if the first two months of the current year are any indication, then 2013 also could be shaping up to be a relatively decent year. The local area economy from February 2003 through February 2013 is constructed from many individual indicators which individually are often ambiguous and sometimes contradictory; one indicator may be changes in one direction while another may be moving in the opposite direction. A composite index (or GBI) constructed from individual indicators can help clear up such ambiguity by condensing all the relevant variables into a consistent picture of an area’s overall economic well-being.

Compared with the previous year, many of the economic indicators used for measuring economic performance were higher in February. Based on year-over-year totals, employment gains were especially noteworthy, increasing by 2.2 percent over the past year. However this month’s employment gains were sizable, increasing by 3 percent from the previous month. It also is instructive to look at “state sales and use collections” which increased, on a year over year basis, by a respectable 1.6 percent from February 2012 to February 2013. The upward trend in increased collections generally is reflective of the sales growth experienced by the various sectors that comprise the local economy.

After the 2013 session ended, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter joked that he grew confident his proposal for a state-based health insurance exchange would succeed only "when that bill hit my desk." In reality, the Republican governor's biggest legislative victory of the last three months began to take off back in February. That's when a group of 16 House freshmen came out in support _ to the chagrin of conservatives who painted Otter's plan as cozying up to President Barack Obama's 2010 health care overhaul.

Along with that win, Otter is also claiming a $20 million tax break for businesses on their personal property as another milestone for his administration. It's not exactly the full repeal he pitched in his Jan. 7 State of the State speech, but he says what emerged was a good start. In past sessions, Otter has taken a licking from supposed GOP allies in the House and Senate on key priorities such as his disastrous 2009 bid to raise Idaho's gas tax and registration fees. This time, however, he had what was arguably the most-successful legislative season of his seven-year gubernatorial career.

WASHINGTON — Alabama insurance regulators will not enforce the consumer protection provisions of the Affordable Care Act, another sign of Republican Gov. Robert Bentley’s defiant response to the 2010 law. In a recent letter to federal health officials, Bentley said Washington — not Montgomery — is responsible for making sure health insurance plans sold in the state comply with requirements such as covering people who have pre-existing medical conditions. Alabama is one of six states that will not help enforce provisions of the 2010 health care reform law, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The others are Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming.

This isn’t the first time Bentley, a physician, has rejected portions of the Affordable Care Act. The law allows states to operate their own health insurance exchanges, but Bentley opted to let Washington run Alabama’s exchange. He also rejected the option of expanding the state’s Medicaid program to cover more low-income people.

BISMARCK, N.D. - Legislation that would convert North Dakota’s higher education funding formula to a performance-based model has strong support among lawmakers and higher education officials. The formula’s intent is to provide funding based on the number of credit hours completed rather than by student enrollment. The funding formula is detailed in Senate Bill 2200. The formula consists of a point system of weighted credit hours. The points vary by course level, such as entry level, graduate level and professional level.

Funding is then determined by adding up the total completed credit hours and multiplying the number by a per-credit-hour amount set for state aid. State aid levels are set in SB2200 for research universities, four-year colleges and two-year colleges. The per-credit-hour state aid number was determined by adding up the total credit hours earned at each college and university during the 2009-11 biennium. The totals were then run through the formula to determine what their appropriation should be.

HELENA – The state House has given initial approval a measure that would provide $2.5 million in private school scholarships and public school grants. Senate Bill 81 would give tax credits to people who donate to organizations that provide scholarships to private schools and grants for new programs at public schools.

Supporters say it gives students more educational options. Republican Rep. Cary Smith of-Billings says it would help disabled and low-income students. Critics say the measure is unconstitutional because it allows public funds to go to private schools, which are often run by churches. The House endorsed the measure Saturday in a 53-47 initial vote. It has already cleared the Senate and will need to pass a third vote in the House before it goes to Gov. Steve Bullock.

On Wednesday, a panel in the Missouri legislature voted 7-3 to adopt a law requiring public employee unions to obtain written consent from state workers before they can deduct dues from their paychecks. Current state labor law allows the unions to automatically the dues money from workers, even those who don’t want to belong to the union.

The statehouse has made several stabs at adopting a version of a “right to work” law. Last month, the state senate approved a broader bill that extends the require to private sector unions as well. Gov. Jay Dixon opposes right-to-work and has twice vetoed such bills in the past. But the advocates are pushing a version that could skip the governor and instead decide the matter through a November voter referendum. Should it pass, Missouri would become the 25th state to adopt so-called “right to work” laws. Michigan became the 24th state earlier this year. Unions have been protesting the move, dubbing such legislation “paycheck deception“.

LITTLE ROCK — The Republican-controlled Senate passed legislation Friday outlining the state’s plan to extend health care coverage to thousands of Arkansas’ working poor through the federal Affordable Care Act. By a vote of 24-9, the Senate approved Senate Bill 1020, which would enable state human services officials to proceed with setting up a program using federal Medicaid dollars to subsidize the purchase of private health insurance for an estimated 250,000 people with annual incomes of up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level through the state’s health insurance exchange rather than adding them to the Medicaid rolls.

Actual implementation of the proposal hinges on House and Senate approval of a separate appropriation to be included in the state Department of Human Services budget — requiring a three-fourths vote in each chamber — and final approval of the plan by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The so-called private option, which Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe negotiated with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius with ideas from Republican lawmakers, has softened staunch GOP resistance to any expansion of health care under the federal health care reform act known as Obamacare.

Gov. Matt Mead says Wyoming has no legal recourse to block federal budget cuts required by sequestration. The state's best hope now is to work through its congressional delegation, Mead said Friday during a news conference. The Department of the Interior is withholding $53 million of Wyoming's share of federal mineral royalties and an additional $1.5 million of abandoned land reclamation money.

Mead and other state officials had claimed the federal action is illegal because the money is obligated to the state. Mead said he told Attorney General Gregory Phillips he wanted to pursue legal action if there was a "snowball's chance" of success. "The word back is there is no snowball," Mead said. Wyoming and New Mexico, he said, appear to be the states hardest hit by the budget reductions.

Republican leaders in the North Carolina House unveiled details of their long-awaited Voter ID bill Thursday. The measure would require most North Carolinians to bring photo identification with them to the polls, beginning in 2016. It would allow residents to use a number of different kinds of IDs in order to vote. Republican Speaker of the House Thom Tillis told a news conference that weeks of discussions have gone into creating this bill. Back in 2011, state lawmakers passed a Voter ID measure that would’ve required residents to present one of eight forms of photo identification in order to vote. Governor Bev Perdue vetoed it. But Tillis says, “I think you will see that it’s very different from the bill that was passed last year. It’s trying to take into account a number of the concerns that were raised. I think it’s technically a better bill and a bill that will withstand any challenge that comes to us in the way of the courts.”

Tillis says this measure is a compromise that probably won’t satisfy everyone on both sides of the aisle. It would require nearly all voters to present photo IDs at the polls, except for people who are disabled. Republican Representative Tom Murry of Morrisville says, “We are going to allow for multiple forms of state issued IDs including drivers licenses, non-operators licenses, student IDS from state institutions, employee IDS from state employees, travel cards, we’re also going to be developing a state-wide photo database.”

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho lawmakers made public schools, collective bargaining and school funding a top-ticket item during the 2013 Legislature, despite a ballot box beat-down of a series of public education initiatives last fall. Apparently undaunted by voters' strong message in November, lawmakers, along with the Idaho School Boards Association, made bold moves to reinstate some "Students Come First" laws during the 88-day session that ended Thursday. For example, the association teamed with Republicans to pass bills allowing teacher salaries to be cut and eliminate benefits for early teacher retirement - all amid protest from the teachers union and most Democrats.

But Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter said there was enough consensus among lawmakers and stakeholders to revisit some of the features of the defeated Propositions 1, 2 and 3, including a bill approved in the session's final hours giving districts leverage to shorten teacher contracts. "There were some elements of all Propositions 1, 2 and 3 where there was favor, but there was also some problems with some of those," Otter said at his end-of-session news conference Thursday. "I think we picked the low hanging fruit ... those things that seemed reasonable." For the Idaho School Boards Association, the session was about getting back the collective bargaining advantage spelled out in the Students Come First overhaul, initially approved by the GOP-dominated Legislature in 2011.

LANSING — Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette says “plain language” and “50 years of case law” are on his side in asking a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit that challenges one of Michigan’s new right-to-work laws in U.S. District Court. The lawsuit was filed in February by a coalition of state and national labor unions, who claim the law governing private-sector workers violates the U.S. Constitution and the National Labor Relations Act. The unions argue that federal labor law trumps Michigan’s law, but Schuette disagrees. Twenty-three other states have right-to-work laws, which have held up in court.

In court documents filed late Wednesday, Schuette said the NLRA includes a clause that protects states’ ability to regulate compulsory union membership, and through that provision, the NLRA “expressly permits” right-to-work laws. Right-to-work laws ban mandatory union dues as a condition of employment. He also cited various court decisions that say the NLRA doesn’t preclude states from regulating union security clauses in labor agreements. “Michigan’s law is neither unique or novel,” Schuette said in court documents. “Michigan joins the multitude of states that use the same or similar language in their laws.”

The state’s leading physician association is one step closer to passing a medical malpractice bill after it was approved by the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday. However, the victory came with a stinging rebuke from state Sen. David Simmons, who said the Florida Medical Association should be focusing on other issues more important to Florida doctors, including their future as independent businesses in an ever-changing health care delivery system.

Simmons said doctors in his district email him concerned that corporations are buying their practices. Instead of owning the physician practice, Simmons said, doctors will become employees. “The entire profession is at risk. It’s at risk of no longer being a profession,” said Simmons, who ultimately voted for the bill (SB-1792). “That’s what physicians ought to be dealing with their own future. They are drowning. They are literally drowning and getting ready to be destroyed as a profession within a few years and what we are doing is we are dealing with this; a side issue.”