Developments in the States

▪ 2002

Introduction

      After close to a decade of uninterrupted sunny economic times, states were plunged into multiple new problem areas at the end of 2001. Most states started modest belt-tightening early in the year as the slackening national economy produced slow revenue growth with additional outlays remaining modest. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, however, matters worsened dramatically, with revenues dropping as travel, commerce, incomes, and other state taxation sources were severely and adversely affected.

      States also scrambled to revamp public safety and health security measures in the national emergency, beefing up security in public places and overhauling outdated emergency procedures. At year-end virtually all states were facing budget shortfalls for the year—either higher expenditures or lower revenues, or both—and many began spending cutbacks to balance their budgets. The problems complicated the always-thorny relationship between the federal government and the states over which level of government should have the authority and responsibility for handling aspects of the crisis.

      All 50 states held regular legislative sessions during the year, and two dozen staged special sessions later, often to deal with budget and security problems. Democrats made gains in limited state elections, picking up governorships in New Jersey and Virginia previously held by Republicans and improving their status in state legislatures. Entering 2002 the GOP would hold 27 governorships and the Democrats 21, with two independents. Party control of state legislatures was deadlocked, with Republicans and Democrats each controlling 17 states and 15 states under split control. (Nebraska had a nonpartisan unicameral legislature.)

Government Structures, Powers.

      Stung by criticism of 2000 election procedures, numerous states pursued reform measures early in 2001. (See Sidebar (Election Reform Debate in the U.S. ).) Florida, Georgia, and Maryland approved sweeping reforms, including complete overhauls of voting equipment statewide. Seven states, including California, either banned or phased out punch-card ballots. Ohio, Nevada, Tennessee, and Virginia clarified what counts as a vote on a punch card; Colorado, Kansas, Virginia, and Washington set up new rules for recounts; and Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, and South Dakota either established or upgraded statewide voter-registration databases. A consensus on proper steps was slow in arriving, however, and political considerations in Congress prevented federal assistance or leadership for state election reform. By year's end the momentum for reform had largely dissipated.

      A majority of state legislatures enacted new redistricting plans for U.S. Congress and state legislative districts following tabulation of the 2000 U.S. census. (See Special Report (U.S. Census of 2000 ).) In a key 5–4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states may concentrate African Americans, Hispanics, or other minorities in specific districts as long as they do so for political, not racial, reasons.

      Nevada lawmakers delayed adjournment while debating a plan to expand the number of legislators, but no action was taken. Northern Nevada representatives complained that population growth around Las Vegas, in the south, was forcing them into ever-larger geographic districts. Support for state legislative term limits continued to erode during the year. No new state joined the 13 with term limits in place, and an Oregon court invalidated that state's term limits law.

Government Relations.

      The U.S. Supreme Court again bolstered state powers against federal encroachment, ruling 5–4 in separate civil rights cases involving Alabama that states may not be sued for discriminating against employees with disabilities or for policies that have a “discriminatory effect” on racial minorities. In a setback for states, however, the high court ruled 5–4 in a Massachusetts case that tobacco companies have a free-speech right to advertise their products; the federal government had preempted the issue, leaving states virtually powerless to restrict tobacco promotion, the court said.

      The proper division between state and national government responsibilities was at the centre of numerous other controversies during the year. As states scrambled to fund security and health programs made necessary after September 11, they looked to the federal government for assistance, with mixed results. New York state was pledged $20 billion in U.S. aid for extraordinary expenses related to the World Trade Center disaster, but assistance to less-affected states lagged behind their expenses.

      In early November, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft moved to invalidate Oregon's assisted-suicide law on grounds that the federal Controlled Substances Act barred doctors from prescribing lethal drugs to dying patients. Oregon voters had twice approved a Death with Dignity law, and more than 70 patients had taken advantage of it since 1997. State authorities obtained a temporary court order effectively barring federal intervention.

Security.

      States moved quickly to address public health and safety concerns arising from September 11 and its aftermath, coming to grips with issues ranging from lines of authority to funding. Some 35 states named security directors or created task forces to help prevent and deal with terrorism, particularly biological threats. Physical security around state capitols, transportation terminals, and public buildings was stepped up. Most states, prodded by the Bush administration, began redrawing outdated public health statutes with more comprehensive and detailed enumeration of state emergency powers. Alarming some civil libertarians, states began considering laws permitting large-scale quarantine, forcible seizure of hospitals and businesses, mandatory vaccination or treatment, and destruction of contaminated property without the owner's consent.

      After it was revealed that the September 11 terrorists had used driver's permits to open bank accounts and rent cars and apartments, several states immediately tightened rules for obtaining driver's licenses. A Florida executive order limited foreigners to a 30-day temporary permit while authorities investigated their identification. New Jersey stopped issuing licenses to immigrants whose visas were to expire within a year.

Finances.

      As the national economy slowed, legislators began modest belt-tightening measures early in the year. An unprecedented seven consecutive years of multibillion-dollar tax reductions came to an end as states enacted relatively minimal tax and spending changes during 2001 legislative sessions. The cautious outlook changed dramatically after September 11 as anticipated tax revenue plummeted, new security costs escalated, and social spending began to ascend.

Health and Welfare.

      Problems with managed health care continued to preoccupy state lawmakers, with a focus emerging on improving patient knowledge about plans and service. A majority of states set up information and complaint-resolution systems, often including publishing health maintenance organization (HMO) “report cards,” provider profiles, and state-run ombudsman services. North Carolina became the 46th state to adopt a patients' bill of rights; the measure gave authority to managed-care physicians to prescribe any needed medication even if it was not on the HMO preapproved formula.

      As states' fiscal problems mounted, additional states diverted their share of the 25-year, $207 billion tobacco settlement money away from public health and toward other needs. Maryland became the first state with a tobacco buyout, appropriating $5.9 million to wean tobacco farmers over to alternative crops such as grapes or raspberries. The 1996 federal welfare-reform act mandated a cutoff of assistance to recipients after five consecutive years, beginning in October 2001. But state welfare authorities reported that because of strong economic conditions over that period, few recipients were affected by the deadline. Massachusetts joined Maine in providing expanded services to HIV-positive patients on Medicaid, bidding to delay onset of full-blown AIDS. The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld a novel order prohibiting a deadbeat dad from having any more children while he was on probation. The court's four male judges endorsed the court's ruling, while the three female jurists voted against it.

Law and Justice.

      After eight consecutive years of declining crime rates, incidence of major violent and property offenses leveled off during 2001. The number of inmates in state prisons nationwide also was flat as California inaugurated a new program to divert nonviolent drug offenders from incarceration to treatment. Nationwide, states executed 66 convicts during the year, down from 85 in 2000 and 98 in 1999.

      By an 8–0 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that federal law prohibited the use of marijuana as a medical treatment for diseases such as cancer, glaucoma, or AIDS. The ruling did not directly invalidate medical marijuana laws in nine states but allowed authorities to pursue violators even in those states on federal drug charges. Nevada became the first state to approve Internet gambling, another practice forbidden by federal law. State officials planned to overturn the federal law in court.

      Nine state attorneys general refused to sign onto a deal when the Bush administration Justice Department settled its antitrust suit against the Microsoft Corp. without requiring the company's breakup or other major penalties. The 9 were among 18 states that had intervened in the case brought initially by the Clinton administration. At year-end Microsoft lawyers were encouraging reluctant states to drop their objections, saying further litigation would only waste taxpayer funds.

Energy and Environment.

      California's 1996 law partially deregulating the electricity industry put the state at the centre of a national crisis in early 2001. California had loosened regulation on power generators while retaining retail price caps, and that led to power shortages and financial trouble for several large utilities. In January state officials decided to buy more than $40 billion worth of electricity on behalf of Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Southern California Edison Corp., and San Diego Gas & Electric Co., all then suffering from high wholesale electricity prices. The state signed multiple-year contracts with energy producers that guaranteed delivery of electricity at set prices and thereby allowed the state to escape the spot market, where prices had soared to as high as $500 per megawatt hour. A combination of the contracts, conservation efforts, a cool summer, and declining energy prices helped the state avoid widely predicted blackouts, and by year's end the contracts were being criticized for overcommitting and overpaying for the electricity. California officials hinted that they would seek to renegotiate the contracts.

      When California's problems spilled over into neighbouring states, Nevada repealed an electricity deregulation plan it had approved in 1999. Even so, Maryland, New York, Texas, and Virginia moved toward deregulation during the year, which brought to 24 the number of states pursuing a free market in electrical energy.

David C. Beckwith

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