Even as Congress continues to debate health care reform, state governments are stepping in to offer leadership and oftentimes expand coverage.

Last year, when Washington state was facing a $9 billion revenue shortfall, many observers expressed concerned that lawmakers would take steps to cut back on its General Assistance for the Unemployable (GA-U) program -- which offers health coverage for those with disabilities that prevent them from holding steady employment.

Instead, the legislature protected GA-U and established a pilot program to offer coordinated health care to improve the service in two counties. The results were successful, saving the state $3.5 million in hospital and pharmaceutical costs.

This year, the GA-U program will go statewide, covering 18,000 people who cannot work.

The legislature must address another shortfall next year, but reforms like this -- which save the state significant money in the long term -- offer lawmakers plenty of incentive to find ways to keep new programs funded.

In an historic and unanimous vote yesterday afternoon, New Jersey Democrats chose Sheila Oliver as the first African-American woman ever to serve as the state’s Assembly Speaker.

After the vote, Democratic legislators expressed confidence that Oliver and incoming Majority Leader Joseph Cryan will provide effective leadership in their new roles:

"(Oliver) was very soulful," Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex) said. "Joe (Cryan) is very practical. I think they'll be a great team."

Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo (D-Mercer) said Oliver will be an effective speaker despite her relative inexperience in the Legislature.

"Her ability to put people together is one of her strong assets," he said. "And she has the support of all of us."

Oliver will lead a chamber where Democrats hold a dominant, 47-33 majority after successfully defending all but one of their Assembly seats earlier this November. Her Democratic counterpart in the State Senate will be incoming Senate President Joseph Sweeney, who was also chosen yesterday afternoon.

The fireworks were on full display last week in former State Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno’s federal corruption trial, as a former Republican staffer explained how he helped his bosses stay on the wrong side of the law:

Prosecutors put into evidence an official Senate memo, written by government attorneys, strongly counseling the pols - in bold-faced, underlined type - to hand-deliver financial disclosure forms to the Legislative Ethics Committee.

Queried as to why he would give such odd advice, former Senate lawyer and Bruno aide Kenneth Riddett testified, and we quote: "There were, quite frankly, concerns with federal mail fraud statutes, to be honest with you."

In other words, Riddett simply assumed those forms were riddled with lies that wouldn't stand up to scrutiny from a U.S. attorney.

A shocking admission – one we had to read twice just to wrap our heads around. Still, given the multi-million dollar patronage machine uncovered when the Republicans lost control of the New York Senate, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised by a taxpayer-funded lawyer writing a how-to guide for Republican legislators trying to avoiding mail fraud charges.

Mail fraud, incidentally, is one of the charges Bruno was indicted on. So even with a legislative staff attorney telling him how to break the law and get away with it, Bruno still got caught.

One of the most interesting states for 2010 redistricting will be Louisiana. The state is likely to lose a congressional seat, and Democrats fighting to maintain their state legislative majorities against a strong Republican trend will also have to navigate dramatic population changes caused by Hurricane Katrina.

All this has brought national attention to Louisiana’s redistricting challenge, and the Rose Institute at Claremont McKenna College is rolling out a district-by-district guide to Louisiana redistricting, starting with an overview of which parties control which levers of power:

Democrats are in clear control of the Senate with 23 seats compared to the Republicans’ 16 seats. The situation in the House is not as clear because Democrats control 52 seats, Republicans control 50, and there are 3 Independents (one of the Independents, Michael Jackson, switched from being a Democrat in 2008). The House leadership is split between the parties. For example, the Speaker of the House and the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee are Republicans while the Speaker Pro Tempore and the Chairman of the Education Committee are Democrats. The close margin in the House and the split partisanship in the leadership could create compromise or could more likely encourage a very partisan situation as both parties fight to get enough votes to pass their plan. Democrats are in a position of power as they control the Senate, but the Republicans will also have a significant say because of the close margins in the House and because the Republican Governor can veto any plan.

The challenge, then, will be for Democrats to produce a redistricting plan that 1. Unifies the House caucus by sufficiently navigating regional and other divisions, 2. Wins the backing of either the Republican Governor or a significant number of Republican legislators, 3. Adheres to Voting Rights Act requirements, and 4. Produces enough Democratic-leaning districts to keep control of the legislature and as many competitive congressional districts as possible. Some (or all) of these requirements already conflict, but the situation is aggravated by Katrina, which decimated the population of New Orleans and some of the gulf-coast parishes while causing rapid growth in Baton Rouge and the New Orleans suburbs.

The Republicans’ challenge is much simpler: create new legislative targets for Republican takeover and make all the state’s congressional districts as inhospitable as possible for Democrats (excepting, of course, a majority African-American district required by the Voting Rights Act). Governor Jindal’s veto will be the key source of leverage for the Republicans, but the state Constitution gives Democrats a key safety valve if Jindal and the Republicans overplay their hand:

(B) Reapportionment by Supreme Court. If the legislature fails to reapportion as required in Paragraph (A), the supreme court, upon petition of any elector, shall reapportion the representation in each house as provided in Paragraph (A).

Louisiana Supreme Court justices are chosen by partisan elections, and Democrats currently hold 4 of the 7 seats (including the Chief Justice).

The Rose Institute's second installment, focusing on New Orleans-area congressional districts, is also now available.

Normally, we wouldn’t have a problem with a lawmaker wearing a mask on Halloween. But the University of Tennessee did when Republican Rep. Stacey Campfield showed up to a football game in a Mexican wrestler’s mask, frightening two small children -– and that’s when police got involved:

Masks of any sort were strictly forbidden in Neyland Stadium during the game. A mother and her two daughters got upset over Campfield's attire. He was sitting in their section. Police confronted the state representative. All they asked him to do was remove his mask.

Instead, police say, Campfield got argumentative and defensive. He wouldn't cooperate, so they asked him for his ticket. Turns out he was sitting in the wrong section, too. When the thing kept escalating, they threw him out.

You might remember Rep. Campfield from the time a blog post he wrote led to one of his readers threatening the life of the Tennessee Speaker of the House.

These antics might amuse some, but given that Campfield is looking to make a run for the state senate, they seem like a very strange way to endear him to voters.

Kentucky Democrats and nominee Jodie Haydon are wasting no time at all in a crucial special election in central Kentucky, where Republican State Senator Dan Kelly resigned to accept a judicial appointment. (We noted the typical, classless response from Kelly’s Republican colleagues at the time.)

Haydon was first out of the gate last week with a powerful biographical ad, noting his local roots and sterling record of service:

Meanwhile, an independent group has chimed in with their own biographical ad praising Haydon, as well as a new spot hammering Republican nominee Jimmy Higdon for his anti-family voting record in the legislature. The group helpfully posted both ads to YouTube, for all to see.

Neither Higdon nor the Republican Party of Kentucky, as best we can tell, has joined the media fight with ads of their own - perhaps a consequence of poor fundraising by Higdon. Democrat Jodie Haydon outraised the Republican nominee nearly 4-1 in the opening campaign finance period, $64,855 to $16,405. Higdon also has about $16,000 left from his last State House campaign, but he’ll need to do much better if he expects to keep pace with Haydon.

The importance of this race cannot be overstated. The Republican-controlled Senate has been the chief roadblock to Democratic Governor Steve Beshear’s deficit reduction and job creation efforts, and a Haydon win in the conservative-leaning 14th District would give the chamber 18 Democrats, 19 Republicans, and an independent who caucuses with the Republicans. If Haydon can pull it off, rumors are already flying that Gov. Beshear would cross the aisle again and name another Republican Senator to his cabinet, setting up a final showdown for control of the chamber.

State legislators don’t get to vote in Congress, but that doesn’t mean they ignore what happens there. And Washington State’s Democratic legislators have been working overtime to make sure their state’s residents get a say on health care reform and climate change legislation.

Last month, over two-thirds of Washington State’s Democratic legislators –- including State House Speaker and DLCC Board Member Frank Chopp –- signed on to a petition demanding real health care reform, with a robust public option. They followed up by sending a delegation to press their case in Washington, DC:

What a state lawmaker can hope to accomplish in pushing for national health-care reform remains to be seen. But Democratic state Sen. Karen Keiser of Kent put out word yesterday that she, Rep. Brendan Williams of Olympia and Rep. Steve Conway of Tacoma are heading back to Washington, D.C., today and Wednesday to see what they can do to help along the reforms. (…)

Keiser expects to meet today Tuesday with House and Senate leaders as well as Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Seattle, and U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma. They'll visit tomorrow Wednesday with U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Bainbridge Island, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Seattle, and White House officials.

The legislators also met with President Obama during the trip.

Now, Washington State Democrats are also pressing the case for national climate change legislation. A group of 46 State Senators and Representatives –- nearly half the Democratic caucus -- wrote to the state’s U.S. Senators to demand action:

"We need a comprehensive energy policy that sets us on a course to reduce this dependence on fossil fuels that is crippling our economy: A firm limit on global warming pollution is the policy that will do this," said the letter.

The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a sweeping climate change bill last summer. The legislation is currently before the U.S. Senate, where it faces an uncertain fate.

Until legislation passes, we won’t know how effective these voices are in spurring Congressional action. But in Washington State, Democrats are determined to do everything they can.

"They were just paid late.”

That was the excuse from Republican State Rep. Denny Hoskins after local media reported about more than $20,000 in unpaid property taxes owed by Hoskins’ real estate business.

The back-taxes and penalties have sat unpaid since 2008, but Hoskins paid them off earlier this week -– just days after the Missouri House Democratic Campaign Committee highlighted the story in a news release. The HDCC discovered the unpaid taxes during a routine records check.

In an interview with KOKO radio this morning, Hoskins tried to blame the economy and even his own brother, who co-owns the company, even though Hoskins admits he knew about the unpaid taxes all along:

Hoskins: And when we have tenants that can’t pay their rent, uh, because of economic recession and downturn, uh, in turn it’s tough for us to pay our mortgage, and our property taxes as well.

Woods: Now your brother takes care of this for you?

Hoskins: Brother takes care of –

Woods: For Hos Properties, LLC.

Hoskins: Yes.

Woods: Did you know that they hadn’t been paid?

Hoskins: Yes, yes, I knew that they had not been paid.

But this just raises another question: if Hoskins had the money to pay his taxes (and we know he did, because he paid them off just a few days ago), and if he knew all along that he owed these taxes but only decided to pay them after local media got wind of the story, isn’t that the very definition of tax-dodging?

More importantly, failure to pay his own taxes is a violation of professional ethics for Hoskins, who based his 2008 campaign on his experience as a Certified Public Accountant.

Hoskins claimed his CPA training would help him manage his constituents’ tax dollars -- but it’s pretty clear now that Hoskins shouldn’t get anywhere near the state budget.

In the age of Obama, it seems like Republicans’ dog-whistle politics just keep getting louder. A case in point is Republican State Senator David Schultheis of Colorado, who sent out a tweet last week comparing President Obama to the 9/11 hijackers:

"Don't for a second think Obama wants what is best for U.S. He is flying the U.S. plane right into the ground at full speed. Let's roll."

“Let’s Roll” was the signal for United Flight 93 passengers trying to recapture their plane from terrorists on 9/11. The plane ultimately crashed right into the ground, at full speed. The “generous” reading of this is that Schultheis would rather see America destroyed than have a successful, Democratic president.

Of course, Senator Schultheis denies that was the comparison he was trying to make. But the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Colorado Senate both blasted the remarks, as did a spokesperson for the conservative-leaning 9/11 Families for a Secure America, who said “Let's not cheapen what happened on Sept. 11 by making random and/or ill-fated comparisons to current policy.”

This is not Schultheis’s first morally reprehensible statement. Earlier this year, when he voted against a bill to prevent AIDS transmission from pregnant women to their babies, “he said then that infected children would set examples for women against sexual promiscuity.”

The loss of a loved one is a crushing experience, but it’s all the more tragic for thousands of domestic partners in Rhode Island – gay and straight – who have no legal right to plan their spouse’s funeral. The Rhode Island legislature voted near-unanimously to guarantee that right. But yesterday, to just about everyone’s disgust, the state’s Republican Governor vetoed the bill:

State Rep. David Segal (D-Providence) said the bill "would have let domestic partners claim the bodies of their deceased partners, and arrange funerals for them."

Segal noted the funeral planning bill was supported by the overwhelming majority of members of the Assembly who oppose marriage for gays and lesbians[.] It passed by a vote of 63-1. And Segal expressed outrage over Carcieri’s veto.

"This bitter, cruel, pathetic man is grossly unworthy of the esteem the people of Rhode Island have bestowed upon him," Segal wrote in a blog post on Rhode Island’s Future.

Rep. Segal is particularly justified in his outrage. He sponsored the legislation after learning that a constituent had passed away, survived only by his partner of 15 years and no other next-of-kin. Without pre-written funeral instructions, the partner found he was unable to claim his loved one’s remains.

But Democrats aren’t giving up this fight. Segal and the bill’s State Senate sponsor have pledged to override the governor’s veto, and they have the votes to do it.

Another new policy report was published last week, this time ranking the innovativeness of each state’s education system. And like several other recent reports, states with Democratic legislatures ranked near the top.

In the category of school management, solidly-Democratic Massachusetts, California, and New York took the top three spots in the ranking, and eight of the top-ten states have at least one legislative chamber controlled by Democrats. Another six Democratically-controlled states made the top-ten in the classroom technology category (along with divided Virginia). States were ranked in a total of seven categories, and the interactive graphic accompanying the full report is well-worth looking over.

The report is also interesting because of its sponsors: a joint-venture between the liberal Center for American Progress, the conservative American Enterprise Institute, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"A lot of the states have tried some things, but they haven't tried all the things we argue would be useful to creating a more innovative environment for success," says John Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, one of the report's authors. "States have a lot to learn from each other."

The report, "Leaders and Laggards," has an unusual consortium of authors: the liberal Center for American Progress, Frederick Hess of the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and the US Chamber of Commerce – a bipartisan mix that the authors hope highlights just how much agreement can be found despite the fervent political battles that often surround education debate.

The authors, says Mr. Hess, AEI's director of education policy studies, disagreed about some details, particularly when it came to areas like school vouchers and tuition tax credits. "But we like to point out that even folks who look at the world from different perspectives can find a substantial amount of middle ground," he says.

There is, in fact, wide-spread disagreement about some of the factors used to rank states, and it’s easy to imagine cases where the best policy choice might be somewhere in the middle of the pack. But the huge volume of data available in this report paints a useful and interesting picture of education in America.

In Texas, Scott Hochberg, a Democratic legislator from Houston has set into motion a potential revolution in public education.

The state spends hundreds millions of dollars outfitting Texas schoolchildren with new textbooks every two years, but forward-thinking policymakers like Hochberg are looking to the emerging market of ebooks to provide new educational resources and save taxpayers considerable amounts of money.

Hochberg wants to introduce open-source textbooks to the classroom. Under his proposal the state of Texas would own the content in each book and offer educators, professors, and vendors the ability to update and supplement the materials over time. Just before the last session of the legislature came to a close, Hochberg introduced a bill that would allow the Texas Education Agency to purchase open-source text books for public schools:

The quiet coup could help open the book market, dominated by few giant players, to an entirely new and unpredictable set of providers, from work-a-day teachers and professors to software giants.

In the meantime, the bill gives Texas universities a wide-open door to the schools market: They can approve the work of their own professors, provided they sign off on its accuracy and alignment with state curriculum standards. The law mandates that the State Board of Education “shall” put the university submissions on the state-approved list — it has no power to reject.

Ultimately, Hochberg is looking to pave the way for an entirely new approach to education in his state. If he succeeds, Texas will likely offer a model for policymakers everywhere.

Despite the recession beginning to ease, Wisconsin’s Democratic legislators know their constituents still face a tough economy. But the State Senate’s Democratic Caucus is determined to make next year’s legislative session all about jobs -- starting with a package of job-creation bills unveiled on Monday:

One of the proposals would spend $2 million to increase partnerships between businesses and the University of Wisconsin.

Tax credits that can be claimed for those who make investments in startup companies would be increased under another idea.

Other bill would create a $2 million tax credit for businesses that pay university or technical college tuition for their low-income employees.

The hallmark of the Democrats’ initiative is its focus on leveraging private investments, rather than relying entirely on tax dollars, and it’s exactly the kind of innovative approach Wisconsinites expected when they elected Democrats to lead their state legislature.

Just days after Proposition 1 overturned marriage equality in Maine, Republicans have filed legislation to repeal New Hampshire’s same-sex marriage law, which narrowly passed this year. But despite the disappointing vote in neighboring Maine, New Hampshire’s Democratic legislators are pledging to protect equal rights in their state:

Two proposals are being drafted in the N.H. House: One would repeal the law Gov. John Lynch signed in June and re-establish civil unions; the other is a constitutional amendment that would charge voters with deciding if "the state shall only recognize the union of one man and one woman as marriage."

Supporters of same-sex marriage are strategizing and gearing up for a fight, said Rep. Jim Splaine, D-Portsmouth, who sponsored the gay marriage law. He said momentum doesn't rest with gay-marriage foes.

"The momentum is on our side and those of us who support equality and love over hate," he said Wednesday.

Even so, "we have a fight cut out for us in January" when the Legislature reconvenes, he said. "But I think virtually everyone in the House and Senate who voted for marriage equality will stick with us and I'm hoping we'll pick up some others."

To be sure, the repeal effort faces long odds. State constitutional amendments in New Hampshire require a 2/3 vote in the legislature and a 2/3 vote in a state-wide referendum – neither of which are likely at this point. In addition, Governor Lynch has helpfully promised to veto any bill overturning marriage equality, so marriage opponents will need a 2/3 vote even if they decide to use normal legislative channels.

But that’s not stopping New Hampshire Republicans from pushing the issue to score political points, and if they succeed in making legislative gains in 2010, it could have a chilling affect on the equal rights agenda at all levels. That’s why Rep. Splaine, while sounding confident, explained that maintaining the Democratic advantage in the state legislature will be the key to protecting marriage equality:

I'm confident we will hold onto our supporters in the House and Senate, and that Governor John Lynch will remain steadfast in his strong support for equality. But it would be good to "max out" on our support in the Legislature in a few months.

Whatever the final result in Maine, and no matter how close, WE CAN DO THIS. We can have marriage equality, and hold it here. But it will take continued work. We have to remain optimistic, and continue looking forward.

In 2008, the New Hampshire Senate became the first legislative body in America -– and only the second in the world after Rwanda’s Chamber of Deputies -– to elect women to a majority of its seats.

On Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring the achievement. But this important milestone may be part of a broader trend in America’s state legislatures -– as more Democrats are elected as legislators, more women are elected as well.

According to a National Conference of State Legislatures report on the demographics of state legislatures, 23 states (almost half the country) elected women to at least 25% of their legislative seats. An overwhelming 17 of those states have Democratic majorities in both chambers, and two more are under split control.

The difference is even clearer when the threshold is increased to 30 percent. In the 11 states where women hold at least 30 percent of the legislative seats, Democrats control both legislative chambers in 10 of them.

We’d encourage everyone to check out the report to see where your state ranks. And in case you’re wondering, a full eleven of the 13 women in the New Hampshire Senate are Democrats.

In a night when state Democrats were looking for good news, the New Jersey Assembly offered a sharp counterpoint to elections elsewhere.

Headed into Tuesday, Democrats held a solid majority, but Republicans had been talking about mounting a serious effort to cut into that margin, if not win the eight seats they would need to tie the chamber.

The Democratic Assembly Caucus met that challenge head-on. In the weeks before Election Day, New Jersey Democrats built up formidable advantages in fundraising, candidate quality, and organization. That in turn allowed them to counter a bad set of national trends and a strong statewide campaign from GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie.

Last night, the Democratic Caucus protected all of its incumbents. The only seat that appears to have changed hands was left open by retirement in District 4.

The NJ Democratic Assembly Caucus did nearly everything right in this year's election, and the advantages they banked during the summer allowed them to offset the Republican climate in the state last night.

Heading into the 2009 Election, Republicans and Democrats each held a majority they needed to protect. Tonight, the status quo remains the same.

In Virginia, buoyed by a set of strong statewide candidates and a national climate that put history on their side, Republicans have made gains in the House of Delegates. But the GOP believed that this election might help them wipe out all the Democratic gains of the past six years, and it did not.

We’ve known since June that Republicans were planning a hard charge to retake control of the New Jersey Assembly, but the Democratic Assembly Caucus appears to have met the challenge head-on. In the weeks before Election Day, New Jersey Democrats built up formidable advantages in fundraising, candidate quality, and organization, and that ultimately allowed them protect their chamber.

Across the country, Democrats still hold 60 legislative chambers and control 55 percent of the nation's partisan legislative seats. Our current position remains a solid one heading into the final election before the Census and the next round of Congressional and legislative redistricting.

Voters head to the polls today in elections across the country. Here are the voting hours for the legislative races we will be following most closely.

Virginia: 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

New Jersey: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Bob Burns, Arizona’s Republican State Senate President, is bragging about how the Republican-controlled legislature is getting hardly any work done.

For much of the last legislative session, Burns refused to let his chamber to vote on any substantive bills until the state budget was passed. It was an interesting bit of gameship, but its predictable result was to throw the entire legislature into chaos:

The result was a huge backlog of bills, with several months’ worth of legislation being voted on in just weeks. It also meant that the majority of proposals, including many by the Republicans who control the Legislature, never got a Senate hearing, much less became law.

Yet it still took lawmakers to the last possible minute of the fiscal year — and actually slightly beyond — to adopt a new spending plan.

Hundreds of bills wound up as collateral damage from Sen. Burns’ maneuver. In all, the legislature passed nearly a third fewer bills than last year. But Burns, amazingly, boasts that the legislature’s gridlock is actually a good thing, claiming that “we’ve been criticized for passing too many bills.” (Because voters hate it when their political leaders are too productive – or something)

As for the budget itself, which was late anyway, it’s “still is not in balance for this year,” something lawmakers will have to fix in the next session. Overall, this whole episode was a remarkably pitiful performance by the Republican leadership.