State Legislatures

State Focus On Social Issues Worries GOP

The New York Times | Posted 04.21.2012

Read More: Elections 2012, Abortion, New York Times, Evolution, Social Issues, Election 2012, Unions, State Legislatures, Politics News

Fiscal issues and union rights were front and center in many Republican-controlled legislatures last year. But this year, with the nation heading into...

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Tea Party Stands With Unions Against Controversial Bill

HuffingtonPost.com | Dave Jamieson | Posted 03.19.2012

Read More: Video, Labor, First Amendment, Free Speech, Afl-Cio, Atlanta, Georgia, Constitution, Tea Party, Labor Unions, State Legislatures, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- Subscribers to an Atlanta Tea Party email list received an alert Monday morning urging them to take a stand against SB 469, a controvers...

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Pay Hike for Albany Legislators? Nah

Dan Collins | Posted 03.26.2012

Read More: Albany Pay Raises, New York State Assembly, Senator Carl Kruger, New York State Assembly Pay Raises, Carl Kruger, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Sheldon Silver, State Legislatures, New York News

Talk about a non-starter. This week the top Democrat in the New York state legislature floated the idea that the lawmakers deserve to get pay raises.

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GOP Lawmakers Propose Radical Changes

HuffingtonPost.com | John Celock | Posted 12.22.2011

Read More: Bob Kingsbury, Video, New Hampshire Republicans, New Hampshire Courts, New Hampshire Politics, New Hampshire Judiciary, State Courts, State and Local Government, New-Hampshire-Legislature, Josh Davenport, State Legislatures, National Center for State Courts, Politics News

A group of Republican lawmakers in New Hampshire have recently proposed state constitutional amendments that have the goal of overhauling aspects of t...

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States Attack Voting Rights

HuffingtonPost.com | Max J. Rosenthal | Posted 11.16.2011

Read More: Texas, Student Voting, Video, Wisconsin, Voter Disenfranchisement, Tennessee, Voting Rights, Concealed Carry, Voter ID Laws, Voter Fraud, State Legislatures, Voter ID, Voting, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- More than one million students attend colleges, universities and technical schools in Texas. But because of the state's new voter identi...

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Progressives Begin Turning the Tide at 2011 National Legislative Summit

Tim Judson | Posted 10.12.2011

Read More: Dodd-Frank Act, Labor, Social Security, Budget Cuts, Financial Reform, AT&T, State Legislators, State Laws, Affordable Care Act, Health Care, Unions, State Legislatures, Politics News

The primary story that emerged from this year's NCSL summit was one of common sense prevailing over the economically disastrous and socially divisive proposals that have received so much of the spotlight in the states this year.

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Republican Strategist Plans To Recruit 100 Hispanic State Legislature Candidates For 2012

HuffingtonPost.com | Jon Ward | Posted 09.17.2011

Read More: Hispanics Republicans, Latinos, Future Majority Project, Ed Gillespie Hispanics, President Obama, Elections 2012, Immigration, Hispanics, Ed Gillespie, Republican State Leadership Committee, State Legislatures, Politics News

WASHINGTON – The same Republican strategist who presciently focused his party's resources on winning state legislatures in the last election is now ...

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How Educated Is Your State Legislator?

Dr. Jeffrey H. Toney | Posted 09.12.2011

Read More: Education, College, State Legislatures, State, Public Universities, Thomas Jefferson, University of Virginia, The Chronicle of Higher Education, College Degree, College News

How educated is your state legislator? The answer varies considerably from state to state. While many lawmakers hold a college degree, support of public higher education, it seems, has always been a challenge.

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Cash-Strapped States Turn To Budget Cuts Over Higher Taxes To Patch Shortfalls

The Wall Street Journal | Leslie Eaton And Kris Maher | Posted 09.06.2011

Read More: State Budgets, Budget Cuts, State Budgets 2012, Budgets 2012, Budgets, Tax Hikes, State Legislatures, State Budgets 2011, Tax Increases, Budgets 2011, Politics News

Forty-six states began a new fiscal year Friday after lawmakers spent the spring hashing out budgets that largely avoid big tax increases in favor of ...

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Immigration Reforms Backfire On States

HuffingtonPost.com | Tyler Kingkade | Posted 08.24.2011

Read More: Supreme Court, Immigration Reform, South Carolina Immigration, Georgia Immigration Law, DREAM Act, Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Illegal Immigrant, Utah Immigration Law, Immigration, Arizona Immigration Law, Florida Immigration, Nikki Haley, State Legislatures, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Nikki Haley added South Carolina to the list of Republican-controlled states to implement harsh immigration laws when she signed he...

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Nominees Wanted: Local Immigration Hall of Shame

Amy Novick | Posted 07.26.2011

Read More: Immigration Reform, Undocumented Immigrants, California, Pluralism, Illegal Immigrants, Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Illegal Immigration, Immigration, Arizona Immigration Law, Sheriff, Immigration Debate, State Legislatures, Diversity, Politics News

Do you know of a local or state politician who is spreading fear about immigrants, proposing Arizona-style laws, or obstructing immigration reform?

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Think Congress's Anti-Choice Legislation Is Extreme? Look at the States.

Michael B. Keegan | Posted 07.11.2011

Read More: Abortion, Hr 3, Tony Perkins, Pro-Choice, State Legislatures, Abortion Rights, Marriage Equality, Politics News

The House GOP's attempts to restrict women's rights are for show, yes. But while Congress rattles its saber, pro-choice advocates should not be distracted from the real fights it has inspired in the states.

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Sunshine Week: The Forecast is Mostly Cloudy

Kenneth F. Bunting | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Foia, Wisconsin, Gary Herbert, Open Government, Sunshine Week, Herbert, Utah, Public Records, Obama Openness, Open Meetings, State Legislatures, Grama, Nfoic, Media, Journalism, Cuillier, Missouri, University of Arizona, Politics News

Open government laws, in state after state, are being damaged and weakened, with increasing frequency, by new exclusions, loopholes and crazy exemptions that promote more secrecy and a lot less transparency.

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More Than 270 State Legislators Nationwide Declare Support For Wisconsin Protests

HuffingtonPost.com | Amanda Terkel | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Wisconsin Unions, Union Protests Wisconsin, Georgia Legislature, Diane Russell, Labor, Wisconsin, Union Protests, Labor Protests, Labor Unions, State Legislatures, Wisconsin Protests, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- More than 270 state legislators from 44 states and two territories have signed a letter standing with the Democratic state senators in W...

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Across the U.S., GOP Lawmakers Build States of Denial

Michael Winship | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Wisconsin, Right to Work, South Dakota Abortion Killing Bill, Molly Ivins, Afl-Cio, Ann Richards, Gun Control, Right Wing, Texas, Labor Unions, Labor, Scott Walker, Organized Labor, Utah, Texas State Legislature, Tea Party, State Legislatures, Politics News

In the name of austerity, newly elected Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker is attempting to stamp out public workers' collective bargaining rights. But despite his dire claims, his state had been coping better than most.

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Montana Considers Repealing Reality in the Interest of Economic Development

Peter H. Gleick | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Montana, Climate Change Denial, Climate Change, Integrity of Science, Science, Glacier National Park, Global Warming, State Legislatures, Green News

Montana Representative Joe Read's bill, "An Act Stating Montana's Position on Global Warming," repeals the laws of nature and the realities of science.

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States Caught In Crossfire Over Guns In Churches

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Gun Control, Gun Laws, Second Amendment, Second Amendment Rights, Concealed Carry, Guns in Church, Churches, Guns, State Legislatures, Religion News

By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service The way Rev. Jonathan Wilkins sees it, members of his Baptist church in Thomaston, Ga., should have the righ...

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Dem State Lawmakers Defecting To GOP Post-Election

AP | SHANNON McCAFFREY | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Republicans 2010 Elections, Democrats Joining GOP, 2010 Elections, Democrats Switching Parties, State Legislators, Democrats Joining Republican Party, State Legislators Switching Parties, Democrats 2010 Elections, Switching Parties, State Legislatures, Politics News

ATLANTA — Staggering Election Day losses are not the Democratic Party's final indignity this year. At least 13 state lawmakers in five states ha...

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GOP Makes Massive Gains At State Level

AP | JENNIFER C. KERR | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Election Results, Election Day, State Elections, State Legislatures, Elections 2010, State Legislature Races, Politics News

WASHINGTON — From New Hampshire to Minnesota and down to Alabama, Republicans knocked Democrats out of the majority in key state legislative cha...

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How Democrats Could Sweep Gubernatorial and State Legislature Races

Paul Abrams | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Public Opion, Governors, Affordable Health Care Act, Republicans, Healthcare Reform, Insurance Companies, Democrats, Tea Party, State Legislatures, Politics News

A little-discussed provision of the Affordable Health Care Act provides an extraordinary opening for Democratic candidates to deliver a simple message that will resonate with voters and sweep them into office. Yes, this year.

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Colorado: A Blueprint for Electoral Success?

Rob Witwer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Redistricting, 2010 Elections, State Legislatures, Progressnow, Progressives, Colorado, Colorado Democracy Alliance, Elections 2010, Denver News

While the national environment hasn't been kind to Republicans, Colorado progressives can take credit for consistently outperforming the generic environment. So what's the secret sauce?

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Scavenging for Organs: Why the Donor Famine Justifies A Radical Harvest

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Medical Ethics, Law, Organ Donation, State Law, Norway, Iran, Liver, Legislation, Mandated Choice, Politics, Kidney Transplant, Courage, Ethics, National Kidney Foundation, Disability, Presumed Consent, Bioethics, Health Care, Medicine, State Legislatures, Illinois, Liver Transplant, Heart Transplant, Belgium, Kidney, Dale Risinger, Conservative, Pro-Life, Unos, France, Heart, Human Rights, Lung Transplant, Liberalism, Health, Great Britain, Republican, Hospitals, American Medical Association, Doctors, Spain, Healthcare, Politics News

18 Americans die every day while waiting for an organ transplant, yet the American political establishment has been unwilling to champion non-traditional methods of expanding the organ supply.

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