State lawmakers, enjoying their best budget climate in six years, splurged in 2006 on new projects — from a baseball stadium for the Minnesota Twins to a spaceport in New Mexico — while mustering new ideas to try to fix the nation’s broken health care system and boosting the minimum wage for millions of workers.
In a comprehensive look at trends and ideas that caught fire in state legislatures in 2006, Stateline.org found that two of the most popular policies this election year were raising the minimum wage and expanding the rights of crime victims to use deadly force in self-defense.
Eleven states passed laws hiking the minimum pay scale, compared to six last year. A total of 23 states now have laws requiring employers to pay more than the $5.15-an-hour floor that Congress approved in 1996 — and refused to raise as recently as this year.
In a victory for the National Rifle Association, 14 states leapt on the bandwagon and copied Florida’s year-old law expanding the rights of crime victims to use deadly force against attackers. Supporters call them “stand-your-ground” statutes, while detractors call them “shoot-first” laws.
Stateline.org has compiled a state-by-state summary of legislative action in each of the 44 states that held regular sessions this year. Its review shows the overriding theme in 2006 was budget surpluses. For the first time since the 2001 nationwide economic downturn, all but 10 of the 50 states were awash in money. The welcome reprieve from budget cutting and squeezing led legislatures to approve some tax cuts, some replenishing of states’ “rainy day” accounts and some overdue investment in schools, roads and other services cut in leaner years.
Alaska, Utah, Washington and Wyoming were in the enviable position of figuring out what to do with projected $1 billion surpluses.
States also made headway on issues besides the minimum wage that have left Congress gridlocked. Massachusetts and Vermont adopted different strategies with the same grand goal of providing health care insurance for all their citizens. California took the nation’s lead in fighting global warming. And Georgia and Colorado took out their frustration at the influx of illegal immigrants by stepping up sanctions against employers who hire them.
On the social policy front, South Dakota moved to center stage of the abortion debate by enacting the nation’s strictest ban on the procedure — prompting opponents to put a measure on the state’s Nov.7 ballot to reverse the Legislature. Nebraska’s unicameral Legislature revived the specter of segregated classrooms by dividing Omaha’s public school system into three racially distinct districts.
Meanwhile, gay marriage continued to percolate in statehouses as voters in as many as eight states prepared to vote this November on whether to ban same-sex marriage. Twenty states already have prohibitions on gay marriage in their state constitutions.
While eight legislatures technically work year-round, all of the 44 scheduled to meet this year essentially have wrapped up their work as lawmakers turn their attention to Election Day. Eighty-four percent of the nation’s 7,382 state legislators are up for re-election this year, along with 36 governors.
California closed shop Aug. 31 after enacting new pharmaceutical, minimum wage and environmental laws while rejecting California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) $6 billion prison reform package.
Meanwhile, lame-duck Gov. Frank Murkowski (R) has backed off his threat to summon Alaska lawmakers for a third special session to ratify a gas pipeline contract. A few other legislatures still will meet briefly to deal with unfinished business.
First of their kind
With the number of Americans without health insurance growing steadily for the past five years — to 46.6 million in 2005, according to the latest figures — states are experimenting with solutions within their borders.
Massachusetts in 2006 became the first state to pass a law requiring people to buy insurance, and it vowed to fine companies $295 for each worker not offered coverage. Vermont followed with a plan requiring private insurers to offer health coverage for primary and preventive care while a state commission oversees the program.
In a move aimed at Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, Maryland’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly overrode Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich’s veto to enact the first state law to require large employers to pay more employee health benefits. But a federal court handed the Legislature a stinging defeat by overturning the measure.
In California, Governor Schwarzenegger Sept. 13 vetoed what would be the nation’s first publicly financed universal health care system, passed by the Legislature, although he promised to sign a measure pressuring drug makers to negotiate price discounts or risk losing business with the state’s Medi-Cal program.
But California thrust itself to the forefront of efforts to combat global warming with a broad measure to cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources 25 percent by the year 2020. While seven Northeastern states have signed an agreement to curb pollutants blamed for global warming, those restrictions will reduce emissions only 10 percent by the year 2019 and are aimed only at power plants.
Other trailblazing legislation enacted this year:
Indiana took the unusual step of raising $3.8 billion for new road projects by leasing its 157-mile state-run Indiana Toll Road to a Spanish-Australian consortium.
Illinois allocated $135 million to create the nation’s first statewide preschool program that includes both 3- and 4-year-olds.
Louisiana, where thousands of pets died in Hurricane Katrina, required creation of a unique identification system so pets and owners can be reunited after emergencies.
Tennessee enacted a controversial first-of-its-kind law requiring beer retailers to check identification cards of everyone, regardless of how old they seem.
Washington state imposed the nation’s first statewide ban on phosphates in residential dishwashing detergent, building on state laws across the country that restrict phosphates in laundry soap.
West Virginia passed a new underground coal-mine safety law shortly after the Sago Mine explosion killed 12 miners, reforms that then served as the blueprint for federal legislation that President Bush signed June 15.
Minimum wage
With the federal minimum wage stuck at $5.15 an hour for nearly a decade, and polls showing widespread popularity for proposals to raise the rate, 11 states passed new laws requiring a boost for the lowest-paid wage earners: Arkansas, California, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia.
The action came as Democratic organizers worked to get minimum wage increases on this November’s ballots in six states (Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio). Republican state lawmakers in Michigan and Arkansas were so wary of having a minimum wage initiative on the ballot, worried it would drive more Democratic voters to the polls, that they pre-emptively raised the rate through legislative action.
In January 2007, Washington state will have the highest hourly rate at $7.63, followed by Massachusetts and Oregon tied for second with $7.50 an hour. New laws in California and Massachusetts will bump their minimum wage rates up to $8 an hour in 2008.
So far, Congress is refusing to raise the wage level even though Republican lawmakers worry about paying a price at the polls. The U.S. Senate June 21 rejected 52-46 a proposal to raise the rate to $7.25. While the U.S. House of Representatives this summer narrowly approved an increase to $7.25 an hour over three years, it tied the wage increase to an estate tax reduction that killed the bill’s chances in the upper chamber. There is a still a chance Congress could revisit the issue before Election Day.
Immigration
Colorado and Georgia this year may have taken the country’s toughest state actions yet to crack down on illegal immigration. Georgia in May passed a sweeping immigration reform package that sets strict sanctions for employers who hire illegal immigrants and bans illegal immigrants access to public services. Colorado lawmakers passed nearly identical requirements during a politically heated special legislative session in July called by Republican Governor Bill Owens.
Employer sanctions in both states will be phased in starting in 2007. The laws require employers to verify the immigration status of workers, with penalties for those caught hiring illegal aliens. All adults applying for government benefits, licenses or other services with the state must show documentation proving they are in the country legally — beginning Aug. 1 in Colorado and Jan. 1, 2007, in Georgia.
More than 500 immigration-related bills were introduced in statehouses this year, according to a July analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Fifty-seven immigration-related laws were enacted in 27 states, NCSL said.
Gay marriage
Colorado lawmakers chose to go in the opposite direction of most other states, putting on the November ballot a proposal that would give same-sex couples most of the rights of marriage. But the Colorado ballot also is expected to feature a citizen-initiated measure to ban gay marriage.
Legislatures in Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin chose to let voters decide in November whether to join the 20 states that now have constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. Arizona also is expected to vote Nov. 7 on a citizen-initiated measure to ban gay weddings. Lawmakers in Massachusetts, the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, on July 12 postponed until after Election Day a legislative vote on a constitutional amendment to roll back its law and ban same-sex marriage.
Taxes
While the housing market may have cooled, property tax bills still sting, and many state lawmakers responded. Arizona, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina were among states giving property-tax relief this year.
A bid to lower New Jersey’s property taxes, the highest in the nation, was a major factor in the budget impasse that shut down state government for six days in July before Governor Jon Corzine, a Democrat, prevailed in securing a 1 percent sales tax increase. And during a one-day special legislative session Aug. 25, the Idaho Legislature approved GOP Governor James E. Risch’s proposal to raise the state sales tax 1 cent in order to cut property taxes by 20 percent. That proposal now goes to the voters on Election Day.
Guns
While 14 states passed Florida-style self-defense laws giving crime victims more leeway to fight back with deadly force (Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota), there also was another brand of popular pro-gun legislation this year.
Inspired by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, 10 states passed laws blocking local law enforcement authorities from attempting to confiscate weapons during declared emergencies or natural disasters. Those states were Alaska, Idaho, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia.
Stateline.org has compiled a complete state-by-state synopsis of 2006 legislative accomplishments. Six legislatures that convene biennially weren’t scheduled to meet this year — Arkansas, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon and Texas. However, Arkansas, Oregon and Texas were called into special session by their governors, and their work is included in the state-by-state summary that is begins on page 27.
Stateline.org is an independent element of the Pew Research Center and is based in Washington, DC