Navigation

Tag, you're it! PSN's website uses tags to categorize content. You are viewing a list of content tagged as Session Review.

Session Review

West Virginia Session Roundup

Christian Smith-Socaris on July 2, 2009 - 11:39am
While not under the fiscal pressures of most states due to rising prices for minerals, the 60 day session proved too fleeting, and the legislature and governor had to use two brief special sessions to complete their work. They did manage to pass some promising election reforms and a solar tax credit, but big reforms of health care didn't materialize and environmental policy moved backward on a couple fronts.

Vermont Session Roundup

Adam Thompson on June 29, 2009 - 1:02pm
Despite the economic downturn, Vermont lawmakers made important gains in several areas, notably in gay marriage, reducing Rx costs, renewable energy, transportation, and an economic stimulus package that utilizes federal stimulus resources.

Nevada Session Roundup

Anonymous on June 29, 2009 - 12:53pm
The contentious 120-day Nevada legislative session was marked by the Governor vetoing approximately 48 bills, 25 of which were overridden by lawmakers.   

Oklahoma Session Roundup

Christian Smith-Socaris on June 29, 2009 - 12:46pm
This was the first session after the Senate switched to a Republican majority, giving the party control of the entire Legislature for the first time in the state's history.  With conservative members firmly in charge, they began the session promising to remake government.  Progressives had good reason to worry that draconian measures were on the way. While there were some bad laws passed this year, a combination of compromise and gubernatorial vetoes meant that conservative gains were evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Legislative Session Roundup: Iowa

Christian Smith-Socaris on June 8, 2009 - 12:44pm
With Iowa lawmakers facing not only fiscal problems similar to many states, but the need to pass flood and tornado recovery bills, lawmakers met both challenges by the end of the session.   However, the rest of the agenda for progressives saw a mix of wins and losses, with most high profile reforms falling short, but many good progressive policies becoming law. And, the leadership of Iowa legislators stepped up to support the Iowa supreme court decision support marriage equality for same sex partners, refusing to advance a proposed constitutional attack on the groundbreaking decision.

Legislative Session Roundup: Idaho

Caroline Fan on June 8, 2009 - 12:43pm
Idaho faced a historically bad budget projection, with projected consecutive negative growth in two years. This challenge resulted in the second longest session of all time, with the federal recovery act allowing significant opportunities for the legislature to use one-time funds to shore up the budget, even as reductions were made to education for the first time in state history.  Without a doubt, this was one of the most contentious sessions in state record.

Legislative Session Roundup: Alabama

Adam Thompson on June 8, 2009 - 12:39pm
While lawmakers from both parties called this year's session "peaceful" and "amazingly productive", some observers, like The Birmingham News, were more likely to criticize missed opportunities.

2009 Maryland Legislative Roundup

Christian Smith-Socaris on June 4, 2009 - 11:40am
Like many states Maryland's largest issue this session was the budget. However, a number of important issues were debated during the 90-day session, including a controversial bill to prevent undocumented residents from obtaining driver's licenses, an attempt to repeal the state's death penalty, and a bill to crack down on worker misclassification.        

2009 South Dakota Legislative Roundup

Christian Smith-Socaris on June 4, 2009 - 11:36am
This year the budget was the major item that lawmakers dealt with, but they also managed to pass a public smoking ban and series of mortgage reforms, among other progressive legislation.

Washington Legislative Session Roundup

Adam Thompson on May 18, 2009 - 4:09pm
The $31.4 billion general operations budget approved by the legislature filleda $9 billion shortfall with federal stimulus money, one-time transfersand more than $4 billion in cuts to education, health and stateprograms.  The budget includes many cuts to health care and educationand slashes $1028 billion from state employee salaries, healthbenefits, and other compensation, resulting in 7,000 to 8,000 lostgovernment and public school jobs.