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Wednesday, December 29, 1999
Busy 2000 Agenda Facing State Legislatures
By Gene Gibbons, Managing Editor
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A long-running, less than suspenseful Mississippi political drama comes to an end next Tuesday when state legislators break an election deadlock and choose a new governor. Democrat Ronnie Musgrove edged Republican Mike Parker in popular votes last Nov. 2. But a Reconstruction-era Mississippi law provides that because neither got a majority, the state House of Representatives must decide the winner.
The outcome is a foregone conclusion -- luckily for Musgrove, his fellow Democrats control the state House handily. Although Musgrove made enemies in his party during his tenure as lieutenant governor, Democratic lawmakers spurned all of Parker's entreaties to desert their colleague and let him succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Kirk Fordice.
Mississippi is one of fifteen states whose legislatures convene in the first week of January. (California, Colorado, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin are the others).
By the third week in February, 41 state legislatures will be hard at work, their efforts overshadowed no doubt by the scramble for the Republican and Democratic presidential nominations, which may well be approaching a conclusive stage at that point.
These are the big common issues the lawmakers will be tackling, experts say:
How To Reduce Budget Surpluses
How To Spend Tobacco Settlement Money
How To Curb School Violence, and
How To Protect Individual Privacy
All the while, state policy makers will be nervously looking over their shoulders at the work of a congressionally-created panel charged with developing recommendations on a tax policy for the Internet economy, the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce. The commission will end its work in April, and many close to the panel expect an inconclusive result.
Whatever the outcome of ACEC deliberations, the Internet taxation debate will only intensify. Forty-six states rely heavily on sales taxes as a revenue source (Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon are the only exceptions). According to the U.S. Census Bureau, sales and gross receipt taxes account for 48 percent of all state revenue. If Internet commerce is declared tax-free, many officials fear brick-and-mortar merchants will rebel against shouldering the sales tax burden, resulting in staggering state budget problems.
(This is a mega-issue for the states. For excellent background information, click on VoxCap.Com).
Outlook For Legislation
Taxes and Budget:On the budget front, with scattered exceptions like Alaska, Kansas and Louisiana, states expect to again be swimming in surpluses. So the legislative tax cutting frenzy is likely to continue for a sixth straight year.
Tobacco Money: The forty-six states and the District of Columbia that were parties to the $206 billion tobacco settlement got their first installment of the money in mid-December. Deciding how to spend it is going to be a major preoccuption of state legislators in the months ahead. You'll find more information on this on the National Governors' Association Web site.
Education:Many state legislatures were not in session when the Columbine High School tragedy occurred last April 20, or adjourned soon thereafter. So look for a spate of anti-violence measures. Legislative analysts predict lawmakers in some states -- Maryland is one of those cited -- will pass some mild gun control measures, i.e. requiring trigger locks. But nothing dramatic is expected.
Privacy:The Internet explosion and genetic research threatens to shred any vestige of individual privacy. State legislators are aware of this and will be addressing the issue in 2000. Analysts predict more posturing than new policy.
A sleeper issue could be an intensification of the ongoing controversy over how states define and legally treat domestic partners. Vermont's State Supreme Court laid the groundwork for this on Dec. 20 when it ruled that the Green Mountain State must either legalize gay marriages or adopt a sweeping domestic partners law that would cover all state benefits, rights, and provisions concerning spouses.![]()
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| Issues: |
Health Care
Taxes and Budget
Education
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 | Stateline.org has put together a list of state public policy resources organized by issue. Here, you will find useful links to essential information from government, academia, and think tanks. If you have a link to add, please email us.
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