A two-year-old Oregon program is making significant progress promoting renewable energy production and energy conservation. At the same time, the success of the program is tearing down one of the most persistent, Republican-peddled lies in the rural West: that clean energy and environmental protection are somehow threats to rural livelihoods.

As Oregon’s program is proving, clean energy and rural prosperity actually go hand-in-hand:

"Renewable energy and efficiency are more prevalent in agriculture," [renewable energy specialist Stephanie] Page said. "A lot of folks have completed projects already, but as energy prices go up, more people will look for opportunities."

On the energy efficiency side, operators have found ways to save through more efficient irrigation, greenhouse heating, lighting, pump and motor operation, and even milk cooling in dairies. On the renewable energy side, operators have harnessed solar, wind, small hydroelectric, and geothermal energy sources. Some producers have pursued biofuels. In many cases, the energy saved or generated on the farm is being used to run the operation. In other cases, a surplus of energy is used to provide power for others. What works best for an individual farmer or rancher depends on the type of operation and, to some extent, the tax liability. Accessing tax credits can make these kinds of projects worthwhile.

"Oregon has some of the best incentives in the country," said Page, who credits the 2007 State Legislature for adopting a comprehensive renewable energy package.

Among the programs available to producers is the Oregon Business Energy Tax Credit, which provides a 35 percent credit for energy efficiency projects, a 50 percent credit for renewable energy projects, and a pass-through option for businesses that don't have the tax appetite to use the credit themselves.

As states expand their small-scale renewable energy programs across the country, we’re learning that rooftop solar panels are only the beginning, especially in rural America. Some of the most exciting opportunities involve agricultural production, which uses scores of energy-intensive (or energy-producing) processes that can be re-thought and harnessed. Oregon is leading the way and proving that renewable energy is more than a pet project for urban progressives – it’s also a money-saving tool that’s helping more and more farmers stay in business.

The New York State Senate has been in the news lately after Republicans attempted to seize control of the chamber in mid-session. We still don’t know how that struggle will play out, but a demographics expert at Queens College has studied long-term trends and come to an inescapable conclusion: no Republican majority is likely to survive 2010 redistricting.

“There is a very large population growth downstate in New York City and Westchester and a very large decline upstate,” said Andrew A. Beveridge, a demographer at Queens College, who conducted the analysis for The New York Times. “Basically, this is a rerun of 2000.”

(…)After the 2000 census, the Republican majority was able to minimize the impact of population losses in its upstate base in two ways, both of which survived legal challenges.

Generally, districts’ populations are not supposed to deviate by more than 10 percent. Inventive Republican mapmakers maintained their party’s edge in the 2002 election because when they redrew the district lines, they placed all the underpopulated districts upstate and most of the overpopulated ones in the heavily Democratic New York City metropolitan area. So they were able to cram more sparsely populated districts upstate.

In other words, faced with huge demographic shifts that favored Democrats, Republicans stretched their Senate gerrymander as far as they could in 2000 – and Democrats still took control by 2008. Ten years later, the very same demographic shifts still favor Democrats, but Republicans have run out of options for protecting their seats. Even if they regain control of the Senate, there simply isn’t a map that would keep them in power.

And with New York State investing millions of dollars to ensure an accurate Census count in the state (unlike in 2000, when urban centers like New York City suffered from chronic undercounting), it will be even more difficult for Republicans to cram Democratic voters into urban districts.

Yesterday marked a key victory for the equality movement when both the Delaware House and Senate voted to add sexual orientation to the state’s existing anti-discrimination law. Legislative Democrats quickly praised the action:

“I’m really thrilled that we finally got this done and we’ve added discrimination based on sexual orientation to the list of prohibited practices in Delaware,” said Sen. David Sokola, D-Newark North. “It feels good to be a part of any piece of legislation that is monumental in any way … and we’ve had a pretty productive year.”

When the bill goes into effect (and Democratic Governor Jack Markell has indicated he will sign it), discrimination against gays and lesbians will be outlawed in housing, employment, public works contracting, public accommodations and insurance transactions. This bill has been a long-time priority for Delaware Democrats, and yesterday’s success came just months after Democrats seized control of the State House and expanded its majority in the State Senate.

While a different kind of success from the marriage equality legislation that recently passed in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, we are very proud that Delaware was able to take such an important step toward equal rights.

The Texas Observer has put together a list of the lawmakers who, "notably opposed—or bravely ­championed—the best interests of the good folk of Texas at the 81st Legislature."

Rep. Garnet Coleman, a DLCC Board Member, features prominently on the tally of those working for the peoples' interest:

For those who follow Texas politics, Garnet Coleman and the Children’s Health Insurance Program have become nearly synonymous. Perhaps no recent government program has benefited working families as much as CHIP, which provides low-cost coverage to families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but still can’t afford private insurance. And no lawmaker in the state has nurtured and protected the program since its inception in 1999 as fiercely as Coleman. This session, Coleman once again fought the good fight, sponsoring a bill to expand CHIP to 80,000 more Texas children. He pushed the bill through the House, only to see it die in the Senate. Coleman tried to resurrect the proposal right through the session’s final hours. He didn’t win this one. But Coleman will surely return in two years with another CHIP bill.

Rep. Coleman has also been a powerful advocate for higher education and rural health care.

As for those who the Observer describes as opposing the peoples' interest -- well, all five of those legislators are Republicans.

Is anyone surprised?

Michigan Republicans have followed their ideological peers in Virginia by blocking a vote on a bill to accept $140 million in federal stimulus money for the state’s unemployment system. Like the Virginia bill, the Michigan legislation would have allowed some laid off part-time workers to receive benefits as a condition for accepting the federal funds.

Democrats slammed the Republican Senate leaders for blocking the plan, which would have boosted the local economy and helped thousands of Michigan families weather the recession:

State Senate Democratic Leader Mike Prusi said the Senate should act before beginning a two-week break.

"These bills have sat long enough," says Prusi, "Thousands of people are going without unemployment benefits because we refuse to act in this chamber, and I think now is the time to act before the we break for the summer, before we let these families go without the unemployment benefits that support them and support their children."

Republican behavior on this issue is especially infuriating because unemployment funding is such a major concern for the state. Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the country, and the state’s unemployment system is more than $2 billion in debt -- far and away the heaviest debt burden of any unemployment system in the country. And the money to fix the system simply doesn’t exist because Michigan has seen catastrophic declines in sales, income, and corporate tax revenue since the recession began.

Michigan voters should be outraged that Republican senators won’t set aside partisanship and ideology to help their state. Instead, they’re determined to reject $140 million in federal money in the middle of a recession that’s hitting Michigan harder than any other state.

A recent report by Feeding America found that one in every five Missouri children was living in hunger.

For that reason, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has a Summer Food Service Program to provide meals to underprivileged kids. Each meal costs the state about $2.50.

This month, Republican State Rep. Cynthia Davis -- the current chair of the Missouri House Special Standing Committee on Children and Families -- questioned whether the program was, 'warranted' in a commentary about a press release sent out by the state government touting the meal program. In a newsletter to her constituents, she wrote:

Who’s buying dinner? Who is getting paid to serve the meal? Churches and other non-profits can do this at no cost to the taxpayer if it is warranted [...]

Anyone under 18 can be eligible? Can’t they get a job during the summer by the time they are 16? Hunger can be a positive motivator. What is wrong with the idea of getting a job so you can get better meals? Tip: If you work for McDonald’s, they will feed you for free during your break.

It really is all about increasing government spending, which means an increase in taxes for us to buy more free lunches and breakfasts. Parents get the same food stamp allotment regardless of how many extra meals are being provided to their children over the summer. This equates to an increase in taxpayer funded food programs.

That's right -- hunger can be a "positive motivator" for children.

Those comments have twice this week earned Davis the title of Keith Olbermann's Worst Person in the World:

Davis' arguments have also been rebutted by the editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who pointed out that, "the number of poor Missouri kids who qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches [rose] by 8.3 percent this year, well above the national average."

As the editorial rightly noted, the chair of the special committee on children and families ought to understand basic facts about the needs of children and families in her state.

That's why Democrats in the state are trying to get Davis stripped of her position.

In a letter to Republican House Speaker Ron Richard, Minority Leader Paul LeVota argued that Davis' views were, "Dickensian" and that keeping her as chair was "an endorsement of her offensive views by you and the House Republican Caucus."

UPDATE:

The Missouri House Democrats are all over this story. Follow their updates here!

Republicans right now are doing everything they can to prove they’re out of touch. Case in point?

A Republican state senator in Arkansas has demanded the repeal of the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution. Specifically, he claims that popular elections have somehow made senators “less responsive to the people,” as the Associated Press described his comments.

For those unfamiliar, the 17th Amendment requires the direct election of U.S. Senators (prior to ratification in 1913, senators were chosen by their respective state legislatures). Amazingly, the Arkansas Republican who proposed repealing the amendment is also a rumored US Senate candidate. And since Arkansas Democrats hold leads of 72-28 in the State House and 27-8 in the State Senate, repealing the 17th Amendment would just about end any chance of anyone from his party winning a U.S. Senate seat.

But despite the Republican’s obviously flawed logic, the 17th Amendment is a source of some interesting academic debate –- particularly for us at the DLCC. Following our success in the 2008 elections, Democrats had complete control of 27 state legislatures and controlled one legislative house in another 8 states. If US Senators were chosen by legislators in the same proportion, Democrats would hold a 62-seat majority (a rough count, to be sure, as an exact estimate would involve many more variables than simple chamber control).

In a more abstract sense, some have argued that the 17th Amendment irreversibly undermined federalism by severing the only direct link between state governments and federal policymaking. Senators would be less likely to preempt state laws, for instance, if lawmakers back home could fire them at the end of their terms. At the same time, popular elections are a much more transparent process for choosing such powerful officials.

We’ve known all along that the stakes couldn’t be higher in Tennessee’s closely-fought legislative elections next year, but state Republicans finally revealed their level of rank opportunism when State Rep. Gerald McCormick announced a Republican goal to gerrymander at least “five or six” new GOP legislative seats during redistricting in 2010.

Democrats quickly blasted the Republican announcement and defended the existing, Democratic-drawn maps, which have led to highly competitive elections between the two parties:

Chip Forrester, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party, said those statements do not have "a shred of decency or fairness."

"His statement certainly reflects the zealotry Republicans have adopted," Forrester said.

He said Democratic-drawn district lines were not "meant to disenfranchise Republicans." During the 10-year period since the last redrawing of district boundaries, Republicans have seen their numbers increase as Democratic seats decreased in the Tennessee General Assembly.

If we can recapture one of Tennessee’s legislative chambers in 2010, we can prevent Republicans from gerrymandering decades of Republican dominance in the Tennessee legislature and congressional delegation. And since legislative control in Tennessee also determines partisan control of every county elections board in the state, we could prevent Republicans from abusing these offices to purge likely Democratic voters or otherwise harass Democratic campaigns all over the state.

Last week, the Arizona State Senate voted to approve a ballot measure cutting off all funding for the state’s public campaign financing system.

The full Senate has yet take an on-the-record vote on the measure, but it’s pretty clear that this is nothing more than a raw Republican power-grab. All of the bill’s sponsors are Republicans, and the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the bill on a party-line vote, with almost all the committee’s Republicans voting for it and all Democrats against it.

Even more suspiciously, the move comes just a month after a Republican legislator was ordered expelled from office by the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission for – you guessed it – gross violations of the very same public financing system. That’s Arizona Republicans for you: they don’t punish the rule-breakers; they just throw away the rules.

UPDATE:

The Senate finally did take a roll call, and the plan passed 17-12. As expected, Democratic Senators unanimously opposed the plan, while only one Republican was willing to break ranks and stand up for clean elections. What a pitiful performance by Arizona Republicans.

On Election Night, we learned that Democrats won a new majority in Wisconsin Assembly, putting our party in control of both chambers.

In this year's legislative sessions, Democrats have chosen to tackle a different set of priorities from what Republicans previously valued, and the result has been a major win for the environment:

Wisconsin lawmakers are paying more attention to the environment than at any time in the past decade.

Pollution bans, river and groundwater protections, pro-hunting and fishing initiatives, and measures to fight global warming are getting strong consideration, even as the state grapples with record budget deficits.

Even while being mindful of a difficult economic situation, our lawmakers have worked hard to pursue this kind of legislation.

It's the kind of smart, Democratic agenda we can pursue in places where we hold majorities.

Last November, Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing embryonic stem cell research in the state, but Republican state legislators are now pushing to overturn the will of the people by restricting the supply of donated embryos to researchers:

For instance, the amendment says embryos created in fertility clinics may be used for stem cell research if they are not suitable for implantation. The proposed bill defines "not suitable" to mean the embryo exhibits characteristics that "make successful implantation and gestation of the human embryo less than 50 percent likely."

The legislation also would require an annual report, ban transportation of cloned embryos into the state and set penalties for violations.

Additionally, it includes regulations for fertility clinics, where embryos are created for infertile couples and sometimes donated to scientists for stem cell research if they are no longer needed.

What Michigan Republicans don’t understand is that the debate about stem cell research is essentially over. The issue consistently polls extremely well, with more than 60% of Americans saying the research is morally acceptable, and the American people endorsed the research when they elected President Obama (who campaigned on the issue throughout 2008). And with the Republicans’ far-right base focused on stopping marriage equality (which is advancing by leaps and bounds -- entirely in states with Democratically-controlled legislatures), it’s doubtful that even that base would feel motivated right now by efforts to ban stem cell research.

Even if Senate Republicans manage to pass their new restrictions on stem cell research, the bill is probably dead on arrival in the Democratically-controlled House. Still, this is just one more demonstration of just how out of touch Michigan Republicans really are from their state’s voters.

As it is currently written, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires many state and local governments –- those that once systematically suppressed minority votes –- to obtain Justice Department approval before altering election practices.

Today, the Supreme Court chose to avoid making a ruling that would have altered the way that Section 5 is enforced.

For now:

By a vote of 8-1, in a ruling written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the majority choose to sidestep the larger controversial constitutional questions, effectively setting up a future challenge (unless Congress chooses to revisit the law). From the Wall Street Journal:

Instead, the court ruled narrowly in holding that all political subdivisions -- not just those that conduct voter registration -- can seek exemption from Section 5 pre-clearance if they can demonstrate a 10-year history free from racial discrimination. Lower courts had interpreted the exemption provision more strictly, meaning that most of the 12,000 units of local government covered by Section 5 could not seek exemptions.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, said the larger issue of whether dramatic civil rights gains means the advance approval requirement is no longer necessary "is a difficult constitutional question we do not answer today."

We're paying particularly close attention to any decisions the Court makes with regards to the Voting Rights Act because any alterations would leave many state lawmakers scrutinizing the way that local elections are conducted, and that in turn could lead to some big changes.

Although the candidate filing deadline for Alabama legislative races is April 12th, 2010 (June 1st for independent candidates), we at the DLCC strongly believe it’s never too early to start planning and organizing. That’s why we’re so happy to see that Doc’s Political Parlor, one of the best local political blogs in Alabama, has published a complete candidate list and race rankings for every legislative race in the state.

As more candidates announce their campaigns and as individual races develop, these rankings will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in Alabama politics. And since Democrats now control two fairly conservative U.S. House seats in the state (AL-02 and AL-05), Alabama’s legislative races will determine whether Democrats can protect those seats from Republican gerrymandering after the census.

Also, if the commenters at Swing State Project follow through, we might soon be treated to a whole series of legislative race rankings from around the country – something we definitely look forward to.

In California, the legislature has traditionally been responsible for the entire redistricting process. In addition to drawing new lines for members of Congress, state lawmakers approved their own districts and those of the state Board of Equalization.

That changes after 2010 when a bipartisan commission assumes responsibility for much of the process, drawing lines for everything except the US House seats:

The commission, approved by voters as Proposition 11, will handle the complex, computer-driven task of drawing the districts’ boundaries. The two-house conference committee struggling to cover a $24 billion budget shortage grudgingly approved $3 million this week to finance the commission’s work. The point person for the commission is State Auditor Elaine Howle, designated by voters as the person to set up the logistics for the new commission and get the process underway.

While the change in responsibilities is clear, many other details still need to be ironed out. Experts estimate that the redistricting process will cost at least $4 million, and for a state with a budget crisis, that is no small amount of money. Members of the commission must still be appointed as well.

For Ohio’s State House Democrats, “support the troops” is more than a bumper-sticker slogan. On Wednesday, a unanimous Democratic House Caucus voted to guarantee two weeks’ leave for military family members facing deployment-related hardship:

The Ohio House voted overwhelmingly yesterday to require larger employers to provide up to two weeks of unpaid leave for spouses and parents of military personnel when they are first called up for a combat zone or are injured or hospitalized.

"Ten days of unpaid leave to ensure that military families have enough time to make the transition to their new status is not too much to ask in return for the defense of our country," said Rep. Peter Ujvagi (D., Toledo), the bill's sponsor.

"One of the jobs of legislators is to protect those who are making the sacrifices for our country," he said. "Denying military families their most vital time together during a period of extreme stress would be a failure to do that job."

The bill now moves to the Republican-held Senate, where its fate is uncertain. One of the few House Republicans willing to vote against the bill told the Toledo Blade that rank-and-file Republicans are opposed to the bill because it shows “contempt” for businesses. If he’s right, then the Senate’s Republican leaders may show their contempt for our troops by refusing to even vote on the bill.

Ultimately, the federal government is mostly responsible for major policies toward veterans (like soldiers’ pay and benefits), but the DLCC is still very proud of the way Democratic legislators across the country have been doing their part to make life a little easier for military families. The Ohio vote, for instance, comes just a few months after the Democratically-controlled New Mexico Legislature voted unanimously to provide in-state tuition rates at state colleges and trade schools for every veteran and military family member in the country.

Just days after we noted Gov. Kaine’s frustration with Virginia Republicans’ obstruction of transportation funding, some real-world consequences have finally hit the state economy. After 49 states and D.C. had requested federal stimulus funds for transportation, Virginia was only able to this past month -– making it the last state in the country to do so:

Other states were able to provide the federal government with a list of projects immediately because they had construction underway or about to be started. But in recent months Virginia has lacked the money to spend on such undertakings. The state has concentrated on maintenance, such as fixing potholes and cutting grass in medians, which are not covered by the stimulus.

For years, state lawmakers have tried, but repeatedly failed, to forge an agreement that sets out how to pay for millions of dollars in transportation needs, including proposals aimed at the most congested area of Northern Virginia.

In December, state transportation officials sliced $2.2 billion from Virginia's $10.6 billion, six-year spending plan because state revenue was declining and the inflow of federal tax revenue remained unpredictable.

"This delay is [due] in part, to a large degree, that Virginia is failing to adequately fund transportation," said Bob Chase, executive director of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, a business-supported group that lobbies for transportation funding.

Virginia Republicans have spent years blocking state transportation funding in the legislature, allowing their blind ideology to threaten decades of economic growth in the commonwealth. This year, after the GOP already rejected $125 million in stimulus funding for the state unemployment system, no one should be surprised that Republican policies are making it difficult for Virginia to get its fair share of transportation funding too.

With the recession as bad as it is, it’s unfortunate that Virginia Republicans don’t seem to care about the economy. This November, voters can finally replace them with legislators who do.

We've touched on the general ridiculousness of the Republican majority in the Arizona legislature before. Whether they're opposing health care reform, slashing higher education funding, or charging admission to attend a town hall, the GOP in the state just doesn't seem to care about what's best for Arizona citizens.

Case in point?

The Republican budget is so bad that the state's GOP governor -- Jan Brewer -- is actually taking lawmakers of her own party to court. She's accusing her fellow Republicans of forcing her to choose between signing a budget of which she doesn't approve or forcing a government shutdown.

The Republican governor argues in her court filing that legislators have violated the Arizona Constitution by waiting to send her an already approved budget she is likely to veto -- using it as a negotiating mechanism to get their proposal signed into law.

That's a pretty good indication of just how fundamentally uninterested in the business of governing that Republican legislators in the state can be.

That said, it's likely that much of this ridiculousness could be averted if Gov. Brewer were to offer an invitation to include Democratic lawmakers in budget negotiations. Unfortunately, that is a compromise she has steadfastly refused to consider.

Unlike the GOP, Democrats have a plan to protect commitments to education, health care and other basic priorities for Arizonans. You can read it here.

Lately, there has been a lot of optimism about healthcare reform at both the state and federal level. With the Obama administration spearheading a drive for national reform, states like Oregon, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina are implementing their own plans to cut costs and boost coverage.

Arizona, on the other hand, is moving in the opposite direction. The state’s Republican-controlled State House just voted to ban certain federal reform proposals from being implemented in Arizona, putting the state Republican Party on record as an opponent of serious reform. Not a single legislative Democrat voted for the legislation, and with good reason:

Backers of HCR 2014, all Republicans, were not dissuaded by Tucson Democratic Rep. Matt Heinz's observation that the move is premature because there is no specific plan for national health care on the table now. Rep. David Bradley, D-Tucson, was no more successful with his claims that the current health-care system is broken and needs to be fixed.

"I am concerned with the continuing tendency to move further and further toward the socialistic state," said Rep. Cecil Ash, R-Mesa. He said he wants to ensure the United States does not "create a nanny state where every need in life is taken care of by the government."

Of course, it’s astoundingly hypocritical of Rep. Ash, who enjoys taxpayer-financed health benefits as a state legislator, to lecture his uninsured constituents about how lowering healthcare costs is “socialistic.” It’s also a clear illustration of why most state-level reform has been initiated by Democratically-controlled legislatures – and why Arizona voters won’t see any kind of real reform unless they put Democrats in charge in 2010.

Some of the most staunchly Republican areas of California have been abandoned by their Republican legislators.

As California continues grappling with a $24 billion budget deficit, Republicans representing some of the poorest areas of the state are doing everything they can to turn a bad situation into a desperate one for the folks back home:

One in five Merced County adults are out of work, home foreclosures run rampant and anti-poverty programs are stretched to the limit. The county welfare chief calls it California's Appalachia.

This also is a region represented in the statehouse budget brawl almost exclusively by anti-tax Republicans, whose push to downsize government collides with sobering reality -- a greater percentage of their constituents depend on health and welfare programs than anywhere else in California.

One in 12 residents of Merced County have tapped CalWorks, the state's welfare-to-work effort, double the per-capita use in Los Angeles County and five times the percentage in San Francisco.

With legislative Republicans using parliamentary tactics to block every alternative to draconian cuts, the impact will be disproportionately painful for these Republicans’ home communities. And make no mistake – these cuts will be excruciating:

That means eliminating CalWorks, which services 1.4 million statewide. It means killing off Healthy Families and slicing Medi-Cal, affecting more than 2 million people, most of them children. It means cutting home-care workers for the elderly and disabled, and carving deeply into programs for Alzheimer's patients and people with HIV.

If just a few Republican legislators come to their senses and start working with the Democratic majority, they can save the programs their constituents most depend on. But instead, they’re apparently content watch California’s government collapse around them.

Year after year, serious Virginia policymakers try to upgrade the state's infrastructure, and year after year, those efforts are opposed by Republicans in the legislature.

It's clear to most that the state's roads and highways need significant work to handle years of growth, but GOP lawmakers seem fundamentally uninterested in showing any leadership on this crucial issue.

Virginia Governor (and DNC Chair) Tim Kaine has an op-ed in the Washington Post where he outlines what Republican foolishness has cost the state:

To put it bluntly, Virginia -- because of the Republican-led House of Delegates -- has decided that we should not invest more state dollars in transportation. My efforts to get more money for statewide or regional needs have been rebuffed by Republican legislators -- and investment in roads has actually been shrinking. We have made massive cuts to our road program, especially for urban and rural roads that do not qualify for federal funding.

Luckily, voters will get an opportunity to consider the Republican record this fall. Virginia Democrats are ready to lead on transportation and a host of issues -- we just need a majority for an upgrade agenda to get traction.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way:

The Legislature on Thursday put an end to the need for uninsured Oregon children to depend on safety net clinics or emergency rooms for health care.

A health reform bill that cleared the Legislature will provide health coverage for 80,000 uninsured children and an additional 35,000 uninsured low-income adults and put the state on a path toward covering all of its more than 600,000 uninsured residents.

"It is a great day for kids," said Cathy Kaufmann, policy director for Children First for Oregon, which has been lobbying fora decade to insure all children. "To finally cross that finish line is truly phenomenal."

The plan, one of Democratic Governor Ted Kulongoski’s legislative priorities, funds the effort through a tax on private insurance companies and providers. Despite the cost, and despite a recession-induced budget crunch, legislators felt the move was a good value for the state because it unlocks nearly $1 billion in federal matching funds for healthcare – an amount several times higher than the required state investment.

In a further effort to protect Oregon taxpayers from rising health costs, the Senate also voted to create the Oregon Health Authority, with a mandate to explore efficiency and cost-cutting measures across all state health programs. As we’ve discussed previously, state-level health reforms are already saving some states hundreds of millions of dollars, and the new Oregon Health Authority will (hopefully) lead the way to similar savings in Oregon.

Both bills are now waiting for Governor Kulongoski’s signature.

Private charities are needed now more than ever in these tough times – they help millions of families facing every sort of hardship, but the recession has choked off many of the donations that keep charities running. State governments, facing huge budget shortfalls of their own, are in no position to fill the gap, but Oregon legislators have found an innovative way help without costing taxpayers a dime.

The Oregonian explains:

Nonprofits whose real property is exempt from taxation will have a lot less paperwork next year, thanks to a bill that recently cleared the state Legislature.

The organizations will no longer have to list personal property assets as part of their application for tax-exempt status, eliminating the annual Confidential Personal Property Return on tax-exempt property.

The article goes on to profile one local charity which lost $30,000 on administrative costs needed to prepare its property disclosure forms – money that could have done a lot of good in the community. The Democratically-controlled legislature voted unanimously to repeal the disclosure requirement, a move that won’t cost the state anything because the property is already tax-exempt.

The bill now awaits action by Governor Kulongoski.

Nevada lawmakers have passed an important piece of legislation to protect children from abduction when parents are locked in custody battles.

Nevada law already recognizes prior abductions of children as a risk factor for future abductions, but this recognition has not been included in the child custody provisions in the laws regulating the dissolution of marriage.

The new law will keep child abductors from receiving custody or unsupervised visits, except under certain, special circumstances.

Nearly half of all kidnappings in the state involve a prior abduction or serious case of custody interference from a parent.

Two weeks ago, State House Republicans in Texas allowed hundreds of worthwhile bills to be derailed by their single-minded push to disenfranchise thousands of law-abiding voters. Not to be outdone, State Senate Republicans last week refused to reauthorize the Texas Departments of Transportation and Insurance – two of nearly 150 state agencies that literally cease to exist without legislative approval to continue operating.

Faced with such spectacular incompetence, Republican Gov. Perry remarked that he thought he “was watching an episode of ‘Lost,’” while Democratic Sen. Judith Zaffirini rightly noted that “the Republicans cannot govern.” Seeking to repair the damage caused by his erstwhile allies, Gov. Perry has called for a special session:

Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday that he will call a special legislative session to deal with agencies whose fate was left unclear by lawmakers when they adjourned last week. But he declined to say whether it will be this summer or sometime after the March primaries.

"We're in the process now of making the decision," Perry told reporters at a roundtable on national energy legislation.

(…)The governor added that the partisan meltdown over voter ID in the House near the end of the session caused "a number of really good pieces of legislation" to die.

Hopefully, legislative Republicans will use the session to finish the work they abandoned, instead of wasting more time with their pitched ideological battles. Regardless of whether that happens, taxpayers will foot the bill for the special session -– which is unfortunate, because if Republicans had been interested in doing the people’s business two weeks ago, this never would have happened.

Since Louisiana’s next legislative general election is in 2011, the state’s current batch of legislators will be responsible for drawing maps for State House and Senate, U.S. House, and several other state commissions. And with Louisiana likely to lose one of its seven U.S. House seats after the 2010 Census, the fight over how to draw a six-seat map is already underway.

The conservative Louisiana Family Forum – one of the most powerful special interests in the state – fired its first shot back in March, when it released a proposed map that would combine the Democratic-held 3rd district with the Democratic-leaning areas of New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Their plan is clearly a non-starter, partly because of regional rivalries between New Orleans and Baton Rouge legislators and partly because Democrats control both legislative houses, but other groups are beginning to join the fight:

Meanwhile, counter maps are already being created to push back against the Family Forum map. One of those maps made its way onto a Louisiana political blog on Monday. That map sought to retain both the 2nd and 3rd districts by combining most of Melancon’s district with nearly all of Republican Rep. Charles Boustany’s 7th district seat to form a new 3rd district.

Another early idea being tossed around by some Democrats involves creating a six- district map by combining a portion of northern Louisiana’s 4th and 5th districts and dividing the southern parts of those districts among the four remaining districts.

For reference, Louisiana’s current congressional maps are posted online at nationalatlas.gov.

Whatever the final product in 2010, Louisiana’s new maps will likely reflect the precarious political balance in the state. While Democrats narrowly control the legislature, 2010 redistricting bills can be vetoed by Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, and Louisiana legislators’ regional loyalties might have as much impact on the process as their political loyalties. In addition, any redistricting plan must first be approved by the U.S. Justice Department under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

With much of the media focus on 2009's gubernatorial contests, New Jersey Republicans are gearing up to challenge Democrats for control of the General Assembly in that state’s 2009 legislative elections -– and the battle lines are quickly taking shape:

Republicans will be attempting to unseat Democratic legislators in eight districts in Bergen, Passaic, Essex, Middlesex, Mercer, Cape May, Atlantic, Cumberland, Camden and Gloucester counties. Democrats want to unseat Republicans in Atlantic County but mainly intend to protect the seats they control.

Democrats start the contest with a commanding, 48-32 lead in the General Assembly, meaning Republicans must capture 8 seats to force a tie. However, because New Jersey elects two Assembly members from every district, Republicans only need to win 4 districts to accomplish that goal. If a 5th district splits its vote, they will take outright control.

That’s still a tall order, and Democrats are aggressively pushing the message that their economic policies have shielded New Jersey from some of the catastrophic economic troubles faced by other states.

Tomorrow is Primary Day in Virginia, and the stakes are very high for candidates up and down the ballot.

No set of races will be more closely watched than the Virginia House of Delegates, where Democrats need to pick up just six seats to regain control of the House. Republicans have held the chamber for a decade.

Today, the Washington Post looks at tomorrow's elections and weighs the stakes:

Across the state, voters and party leaders are hunting for candidates best positioned to flip the House to the Democrats or keep it in Republican hands in November. It is part of a broader bid by the two parties to grab greater power in Richmond, which could affect everything from snarled Washington area commutes to national debates on labor and energy policy.

Much of Tuesday's attention will be focused on Northern Virginia, which is home to some of the most heated primaries. That will likely hold true as well for the general election.

Every state’s experience in this recession will be different, and it will be important for voters to put their states’ experience in proper context when evaluating their legislators and the budget choices they make. A new report (PDF) from the National Conference of State Legislatures seeks to quantify the challenges faced by state budget-writers, and the results are startling:

For April, which is the significant month for personal income tax collections, NCSL found that collections were more than 40 percent below the prior year’s level in Connecticut, Massachusetts and North Carolina, 43 percent in Michigan and 44 percent in Arizona.

“The fact that more than half the states reported breakdowns in all significant tax categories heightens alarm,” NCSL said.

With company profits down and recession-weary Americans buying less, revenues fell well below expectations in 38 states in 2009, the National Association of State Budget Officers and National Governors Association said in their latest joint report released June 4. NASBO Executive Director Scott D. Pattison said the revenues were below "even the most pessimistic forecasts.”

Writers at Stateline.org have compiled results from a similar report, by the National Governors Association, into an interactive graphic comparing revenue declines in different states for different types of taxes. It’s well-worth looking at for anyone interested in how their state’s budget troubles compare to others.

My home state of Louisiana, for instance, is facing major declines in sales, income, and corporate tax revenues, including the fourth-steepest income tax revenue decline in the country. Iowa, on the other hand, is likely to see a steep decline in corporate revenue partially offset by strong growth in sales tax revenue, with income taxes largely static.

Yesterday, New York's Democratically-controlled legislature overwhelmingly passed SB 5661, which simplifies the process for consolidating local governments. The move is an effort to reduce New York’s highest-in-the-nation property tax burden by eliminating a shadowy patchwork of local bureaucracies. The New York Times explains the extent of the problem:

All told, there are more than 10,000 taxing entities in the state, ranging from special districts that provide volunteer fire departments to those responsible for disposing of duck waste or maintaining fallout shelters. Special districts are especially plentiful on Long Island, where they generate half the special district tax revenue in the state. Many districts are considered by critics to be little more than patronage mills.

Republicans allowed the problem to fester for decades until they lost control of the governorship in 2006 and the State Senate last year. Democrats, in contrast, made consolidation a priority –- and with good reason:

Proponents of consolidation say that those many layers of government are a major reason New Yorkers have the highest local tax burden in the country, helping drive people and businesses out of the state in recent decades. Mr. Spitzer’s commission estimated that taxpayers could save $1 billion a year with changes like consolidating local tax collection and creating a single, state-run jail system.

Once Gov. Patterson signs the bill, which he said he will, consolidation ballot initiatives will only require signatures of 10 percent of registered voters in an effected jurisdiction, or they can be placed on the ballot by county governments. Under existing rules, reformers face a much higher signature-gathering requirement, and in a throwback to 18th century politics, only land-owners can sign consolidation petitions.

After what jubilant supporters can now happily regard as a false start, the state of New Hampshire has legalized gay marriage. From the Dartmouth College student newspaper:

Gov. John Lynch, D-N.H., signed the state's same-sex marriage bill into law Wednesday evening, after the state Legislature approved a compromise amendment to the bill earlier in the day. The amendment stipulates that religious groups and organizations will not be required to support or provide services for same-sex marriages.

When the legislation goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2010, New Hampshire will be the sixth state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage.

The new language passed by an unexpectedly wide margin of 198-176, making New Hampshire the 6th state to establish marriage equality but only the 3rd to do so at the initiative of the legislature.

The state’s Democratic legislative leaders pushed very hard for this legislation, and Governor Lynch took a great political risk in signing it. But whatever the risks, New Hampshire Democrats can take pride in what was accomplished today – as should every New Hampshire resident.

We spent much of last night watching a handful of special elections for legislative seats across the country. Happily, Democrats won all four races.

In the 22nd Senate District of Alabama, Democrat Marc Keahey won a convincing victory in the election to replace longtime Democratic Sen. Pat Lindsey, who passed away in January. Keahey, who currently represents much of the 22nd district in the State House, beat the Republican candidate by 16 percent and nearly 2,400 votes. At just 28 years old, he will become one of the younger members of the upper chamber when he takes over this largely rural, southwestern district.

In the 11th House District of New Hampshire Democrat Andrew White won this special election with nearly 60 percent of the vote after reportedly being outspent “four or five to one” by the Republican candidate.

In New York, Democrats Vanessa Gibson and Marcos Crespo handily won two Bronx-based Assembly Districts (AD-77 & AD-85) after their previous occupants won the election for Bronx Borough President as running mates. Both districts are both overwhelmingly Democratic and were never likely to create suspense.

A little-known fact about Texas government is that nearly 150 state agencies are subject to the Texas Sunset Act, which sets a firm date when those agencies will cease to exist – unless the legislature votes to reauthorize them. In theory, the Sunset Act forces politicians to justify their spending, while making it easier to abolish particularly wasteful agencies.

But yesterday in the State Senate, Republicans allowed the process to go horribly, horribly awry:

The Legislature’s 2009 session ended in a bitter meltdown late Monday as the Senate refused to vote on whether to keep two major state agencies alive, setting up the possibility of a special session within months to revive the transportation and insurance departments.

After refusing pleas from Senate Democrats to continue debate on the two agencies, Republicans pushed through a motion to adjourn the session on a party-line vote of 17-11.

(…)Because the Senate refused to approve a House measure extending the life of the insurance and transportation departments for two more years, both would be scheduled to cease operations by Sept. 1, 2010.

Apparently, even the first day of hurricane season failed to remind Republicans why a Gulf Coast state like Texas needs good roads and properly-regulated insurance. Three smaller agencies were also left to expire.

This debacle comes just days after Republican leaders on the House side allowed hundreds of bills to become collateral damage in their unsuccessful push for an unreasonable voter-ID bill. Even Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who can call a special session to reauthorize the agencies, was baffled by his Republican colleagues, explaining, "If I could tell you that I understood what happened last night, I would be an absolute genius. (…) I thought I was watching an episode of 'Lost.'"

Of course, as one Democratic Senator noted, Perry missed the most obvious explanation:

“The Republicans cannot govern,” said Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo. “What a sad day for Texas. What another sad day for the Texas Senate.”

The U.S. Justice Department has struck down a controversial Georgia election law as a violation of Voting Rights Act:

In a letter released on Monday, the Justice Department said the state's voter-verification program is frequently inaccurate and has a "discriminatory effect" on minority voters in Georgia.

"This flawed system frequently subjects a disproportionate number of African-American, Asian and/or Hispanic voters to additional, and more importantly, erroneous burdens on the right to register to vote," said Loretta King, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's civil-rights division. Ms. King's letter was sent to Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker on Friday.

(…)Justice Department officials said the citizenship match has flagged 7,007 individuals as noncitizens but that many of those matches have been shown to be in error.

"Thousands of citizens who are in fact eligible to vote under Georgia law have been flagged," the Justice Department letter said.

Last month, we spotlighted a recently-passed Georgia law (SB 86) requiring voters to provide citizenship documentation when registering. That law also requires database matching, and we noted at the time that such systems routinely disqualify a high percentage of lawful voters – sometimes as high as 30%. Now we have proof that Georgia’s system would be no different, and the Justice Department acted accordingly.

Hopefully, the Justice Department will soon strike down SB 86 as well.

Over the weekend, legislators in Nevada overturned a veto by Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons of an important piece of equal rights legislation:

The bill provides that domestic partners have the same rights as married couples in matters such as community property and responsibility for debts. It also prohibits discrimination against domestic partners.

The House approved the override by a 28-14 on Sunday, while the Senate approved the measure a day earlier.

North Carolina State Rep. Cary Allred, a Republican legislator from Alamance County, has resigned following an incident in which he allegedly groped a 17-year-old page on the House floor. When describing his reasons for leaving, Allred explained:

“I’m going to take a vacation.”

Other Republicans reported that Allred smelled of alcohol the day of the incident, and the police had pulled him over earlier for driving 102 mph. A preliminary report on the events recently prompted the North Carolina Republican chairwoman to call for Allred’s resignation.

Since the incident, Allred told the state GOP chairwoman she could “go to hell;” announced he was becoming an independent; changed his mind and decided to continue as a Republican (to his caucus’ frustration, one would hope); and announced his “retirement” sometime in September.

Now, with rumors swirling about some “other matter” under investigation by state ethics watchdogs, Allred finally did the right thing by announcing his resignation, effective today. When asked what those latest rumors might refer to, Allred simply said “I don’t know. There’s a lot of complaints” –- a fact which surprised no one.

Allred’s replacement will be chosen by the Alamance County Republican Party, in accordance with state law. There will be no special election.