RURAL HEALTH AFFORDABLE HOUSING HUMAN SERVICES · quick and easy use with the busy state official in mind,CSG’s State Official’s Guides focus not only on the issues affecting

October 2002

RURAL HEALTH AFFORDABLE HOUSING HUMAN SERVICES

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Now more than ever, state leaders need timely information and analysis on critical policy issues. Designed forquick and easy use with the busy state official in mind, CSG’s State Official’s Guides focus not only

on the issues affecting states today, but seek to prepare state officials for the emerging trends of tomorrow.

State Official’s Guides provide:

• Summary of the Issues: Who is affected and how?• Access to key research and data: When and how will it affect your state?• Overview of state policies and actions: What are states doing?• Critical analysis by state practitioners and CSG staff: How can states respond?• Talking Points card for state officials on the go• Key reference materials for additional information

4 state government news october 2002

featuresfeatures

associate editorGary Moyers

graphic design coordinatorSusie Bush

contributorsMichele Bushong • James Carroll

Keon Chi • Laurie ClewettChad Foster • Ed Janairo

Karen Marshall • Trudi MatthewsMagdalena Mook • John Mountjoy

Jenny Sewell • Allison SpurrierBill Voit • Chris Whatley

Laura Williamsproofreader

Nancy J.Vickersreprint permissions

Susan Haney(859) 244-8235

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www.csg.org

on the coverThe 2002 General Election could bring about amajor shift in the balance of power nationwide.

Cover by Susie Bush

elections

A balancing act 8Key state races in Election 2002 could impact parties’ power bases.

by Amy Lindon

housing

No place like home 14Governments take action to develop affordable housing.

by Laurie Clewett

human services

‘No wrong door’ 17Oregon adopts innovative approach to human services.

by Jim Sellers

environment

Building capacity in Asia 24State environmental initiative exports best practices.

by Karen Marshall and Amanda Mays

state foresight

Facing the future 26State foresight is a key tool in planning for upcoming challenges.

by Suellen Keiner, David Rejeski and Carly Wobig

energy

Alternate power 28States lead the movement toward renewable energy sources.

by Barry Hopkins, Carolyn Orr and Scott Richards

health

Surmounting the challenges 30Rural health policy: Stretching resources in tough times.

by Trudi Matthews

page 8

page 14

October 2002

page 28

the council of state governments 5

states news 6• California bill would bar abortion rollback• Licenses denoting noncitizens criticized• West Nile: On the move• States scramble to fill gaps

trends alerts 34States face worker shortage crisis.

by James Carroll and David Moss

excellence in action 35CSG activities and events, and those of affiliates and other associations, are highlighted.

perspective 38Learning to handle the media.

by Alan Rosenthal

conference calendar 39Meetings and conference activities of CSG, affiliates and other associations are listed.

headquarters2760 Research Park Drive

P.O. Box 11910Lexington, KY 40578-1910

(859) 244-8000

washingtonJim Brown, General Counsel

and DirectorHall of the States

444 N. Capitol St. N.W., Suite 401Washington, DC 20001

(202) 624-5460

easternAlan V. Sokolow, Director233 Broadway, 22nd Floor

New York, NY 10279(212) 912-0128

midwesternMichael H. McCabe, Director

641 E. Butterfield Road, Suite 401Lombard, IL 60148

(630) 810-0210

southernColleen Cousineau, Director3355 Lenox Road, Suite 1050

Atlanta, GA 30326(404) 266-1271

westernKent Briggs, Director

1107 9th Street, Suite 650Sacramento, CA 95814

(916) 553-4423

council officesDaniel M. Sprague, Executive Director

departmentsdepartments

Executive Committee

ChairSenate President Pro Tem John Chichester, Va.

PresidentGov. Parris Glendening, Md.

Chair-ElectRep. Dan Bosley, Mass.

President-ElectGov. Mike Huckabee, Ark.

Vice ChairSen. John Hottinger, Minn.

Vice Presidentvacant

executive committeeSen. David Adkins, Kan. • Sen. Richard Alarcon, Calif. •Assemblywoman Elaine Alquist, Calif. • Rep. David Alukonis, N.H. •Ms. Mollie Anderson, Director, Department of Personnel, Iowa • Sen.Manny M. Aragon, N.M. • Mr. Karl Aro, Executive Director,Department of Legislative Services, Md. • Sen. Rich Bagger, N.J. • Ms.Linda Renee Baker, Secretary, Dept. of Human Services, Ill. • ChiefJustice Robert Bell, Md. • Treasurer Marshall Bennett, Miss. • Mr. CarlBianchi, Director, Legislative Services, Idaho • Sen. Pam Brown, Neb.•Sen. Brenda Burns, Ariz.• Attorney General Steve Carter, Ind. • Rep.Robert M. Clayton, III, Miss. • Sen. Steve Cohen,Tenn.• Rep.TerryColeman, Ga. • Rep .John Connors, Iowa • Sen. Jim Costa, Calif.•Rep.Toni Crosby, N.H.• Rep. Susan Crosby, Ind.• Ms. Brenda Decker,Director, Divison of Communications, Neb. • Rep. Carol Donovan,Mass.• Treasurer Jim Douglas,Vt. • Treasurer Dan Ebersole, Ga. •Judge Susan Ehrlich, Ariz.• Sen. Hugh Farley, N.Y. • Lt. Gov. CharlesFogarty, R.I. • Speaker Tim Ford, Miss.• Sen. Karen Fraser,Wash. • Rep.Joe Green, Alaska • Sen. Herb Guenther, Ariz.• Rep. Joe Hackney,N.C.• Sen. President John Hainkel, La.• Sen.Toni Nathaniel Harp,Conn. • Sen. Douglas Henry,Tenn.• Assemblyman Lynn Hettrick,Nev.• Sen. Lyle Hillyard, Utah • Gov. Bob Holden, Mo. • Mr. LamarHolland, Assistant Director, Ga. State Finance & InvestmentCompanies • Rep. Deborah Hudson, Del. • Judge Robert Hunter,N.C.• Gov. Mike Johanns, Neb. • Rep. Douglas Jones, Idaho • Ms. LiliaJudson, Executive Director, Division of State Court Administration, Ind.• Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, Idaho • Ms. Elisabeth Kersten, Director,Senate Office of Research, Calif. • Member Robert Kieffer, QuebecNational Assembly • Sen. Sue Landske, Ind.• Gov. Mike Leavitt, Utah •Mr. Edward Lurie, Director, Senate Research, N.Y. • Sen. Lisa Madigan,Ill .• Sen. Carl Marcellino, N.Y. • Sen. John J. Marchi, N.Y. • Rep. JohnMartinez, Conn. • Gov. Judy Martz, Mont. • Sen. Kenneth McClintock,Puerto Rico • Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller, Jr., Md. • Gov.Ruth Ann Minner, Del. • Sen. Angela Monson, Okla. • AttorneyGeneral Mike Moore, Miss. • Sen. Stephen Morris, Kan. • SpeakerThomas B. Murphy, Ga. • Sen. David Nething, N.D. • Ms. Jane Nishida,Secretary, Dept. of Environment, Md. • Mr. John Olsrud, Director,Legislative Services, N.D. • Gov. George Pataki, N.Y. • Gov. Paul E.Patton, Ky. • Secretary of State Sharon Priest, Ark. • Mr. VirgilPuskarich, Executive Director, Local Government Commission, Pa. •Sen. Pam Redfield, Neb. • Ms. Mary Regel, Administrator, Div. ofInternational Development,Wis. • Lt. Gov. Jack Riggs, Idaho • Sen.Claire Robling, Minn. • Rep. Roger Roy, Del. • Mr.Tom Ryder, Ill. • Sen.Steve Saland, N.Y. • Sen. DiAnna Schimek, Neb. • Assemblyman RobinSchimminger, N.Y. • Lt. Gov. Gary Sherrer, Kan. • AssemblymanRobert Straniere, N.Y. • Sen. Robert Thompson, Pa. • Secretary ofState Ron Thornburgh, Kan. • Mr. Eric Tolbert, Director, Div. ofEmergency Management, N.C. • Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin,W.Va. • Rep. Joe Toomy, La. • Sen. Donne Trotter, Ill. • Sen. RichWardner, N.D. • Ms. Kathy Waters, Division Director, ArizonaSupreme Court • Mr. Jeff Wells, Counsel, Dept. of Labor andEmployment, Colo. • Sen. Jeff Wentworth,Texas • AssemblymanRobert C.Wertz, N.Y.

STATE GOVERNMENT NEWS, ISSN 0039-0119, October2002,Vol. 45, No. 9 — Published monthly with combined issues inJune/July and Nov./Dec. by The Council of State Governments, 2760Research Park Drive, Lexington, KY 40511-8410. Opinions expressedin this magazine do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Councilof State Governments nor the views of the editorial staff. Readers’comments are welcome. Subscription rates — In the U.S., $45 peryear. Single issues are available at $6 per copy. POSTMASTER:Send address changes to State Government News, Sales Department,P.O. Box 11910, Lexington, KY 40578-1910.

Advertising — Black and white, two-color and full-color advertisingavailable. For complete circulation and advertising information, contactthe advertising department at (800) 800-1910. Mailing lists are avail-able for rent upon approval of a sample mailing.

Copyright 2002 by The Council of State Governments. Periodicalspostage paid at Lexington, Ky., and at additional mailing offices.

page 6

page 35

state trendsstate trends

demographics

The trendy side of demographics 20by the CSG policy staff

• Diversity: Race and ethnicity• Environment:Today and tomorrow• Agriculture: Integrating development plans• Infrastructure: Farther and farther apartpage 20


states news: find the latest news on CSG’s Web site – www.csg.org

The California state Assembly isexpected to pass a bill forbidding the statefrom outlawing abortion should theSupreme Court ever overturn its 1973 Roev. Wade decision. The ReproductivePrivacy Act, which passed the Senate inJuly and has the strong support of Gov.Gray Davis, forbids the state to “deny orinterfere with a woman’s fundamentalright to bear a child or to choose or obtainan abortion.” The bill is largely symbolic,since the Roe v. Wade decision alreadyprevents states from imposing any dra-matic restrictions on abortions. California

would become the first state to pre-emp-tively change its laws to head off SupremeCourt action to change Roe v. Wade,according to activists on both sides. Thebill also allows medical professionals whoare not licensed physicians to conduct“non-surgical abortions,” administeringchemicals such as the pill known as RU-486 that terminates pregnancies. Thiswould make California the first state tomake a major distinction between surgicaland drug-related abortions. Such drugsare legal in California, but currently mustbe administered by a physician.

California bill would bar abortion rollback

The West Nile virus is spreading withremarkable speed. Three years after mak-ing its first U.S. appearance, in New York,it had spread to 33 other states bySeptember. This year, after being largelyconfined to a thick band of East Coaststates, the virus has swept rapidly west,reaching as far as South Dakota and Texas.In late August, it struck with a vengeancein Louisiana, infecting at least 58 residentsand killing four – prompting Gov. MikeFoster to declare a statewide emergency.The westward expansion caught officialsfrom the Centers for Disease Control

(CDC) by surprise; they expected the trailof human infections to follow the migrato-ry patterns of birds. Fewer than 1 percentof humans who are infected actually getsick, and it does not spread from one per-son to another. But in a small percentage ofcases, particularly those involving the eld-erly, it can be fatal. The virus causes flulikesymptoms within three to 15 days and canlead to a dangerous inflammation of thebrain. The CDC predicts that West Nilewill continue its flight westward and even-tually spread to every state, with the possi-ble exceptions of Hawaii and Alaska.

Smokers in states with high cigarettetaxes are eluding the tax man by orderingtheir smokes over the Internet from compa-nies based in Kentucky and other low-tax

states. While the increased sales are bring-ing added tax revenues to Kentucky, thepractice is costing other states and comingunder increased scrutiny from the U.S.General Accounting Office, the investiga-

tive arm of Congress. An April 2001assessment from Forrester Research Inc.estimates that Internet tobacco sales in theUnited States will exceed $5 billion in2005 and that high-tax states will loseabout $1.4 billion in revenue. Under a 1949federal law known as the Jenkins Act, cig-arette dealers are required to report out-of-state sales to the buyer’s state tobacco taxadministrator. The GAO suggested in itsreport that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobaccoand Firearms take over enforcement of thelaw that requires an out-of-state buyer’s taxauthority to be notified. The GAO suggeststhat ATF should take over enforcementpartly because of the FBI’s heightenedfocus on terrorism.

Smokers ordering online to escape taxes

West Nile: On the move

The Iowa Civil Liberties Unionwill ask Gov. Tom Vilsack torescind a decision to issue driver’slicenses that single out foreignnationals. The licenses are marked in red capital letters:“Nonrenewable – documentationrequired.” Transportation officialshave said the license notices areintended to curb identity theft andprevent terrorism. Under an Iowastate law passed earlier this year,foreign nationals must showImmigration and NaturalizationService documents to obtainlicenses. Previously only a SocialSecurity number and a work per-mit were required. Now foreignnationals must show papers that

document when they entered thecountry and how long they areallowed to stay. Their licenses arevalid only as long as their immi-gration status remains legal, with amaximum term of two years.Twelve states – California,Colorado, Florida, Iowa,Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota,New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania,South Carolina and Virginia –have passed laws or implementednew administrative rules thatchange the way non-citizens’licenses are handled. Nearly allmake obtaining a license more dif-ficult for immigrants, but two –South Carolina and New Mexico –have expanded the categories ofpeople who are eligible.

Licenses denotingnoncitizens criticized


Treasurers and other state officialswith influence over more than $1 tril-lion of public pension assets saidthey would work together to fosterintegrity in corporate America in thewake of the scandals that have costthese pension plans tens of billions ofdollars. Representatives from 14states and one city, Hartford, Conn.,agreed to “work proactively to cleanup corporate corruption and bringabout a renewed faith in the financialmarketplace.” They met in August atthe New York headquarters of TIAA-CREF, the giant manager of collegeand nonprofit retirement funds.

Cash-strapped states are imple-menting fees and modest tax hikes toraise money to offset the most dra-matic drop in revenues in a decade.Yet in this election year – and after adecade of big tax cuts – lawmakersare loathe to raise unpopular incomeor sales taxes. Instead they’ve beentweaking and jiggling budgets – nip-ping expenditures here, boosting feesthere. In Wisconsin, speeding-ticketand court-filing fees are jumping 30percent. Thirteen states are raisingfees for such things as driver’s licens-es and car registrations. In California,everything from cigarettes to satel-lite-TV service to space launches maysee higher taxes. At least 18 stateshave raised cigarette taxes. Six stateshave tried tax-amnesty periods thatlet deadbeats pay off their tax debtswith no penalty. Many states scram-bled to avoid raising taxes, insteadraiding rainy-day funds or usingtobacco-settlement money to balancetheir budgets. So far, lawmakers havekept tax hikes relatively small: Just16 states raised taxes more than 1 per-cent for fiscal year 2002.

Alaska, Illinois, Mississippi,Pennsylvania, Tennessee and WestVirginia were selected to take part inimplementing President Bush’s NoChild Left Behind Act. A total of 28states applied for the program, calledFollow the Leader, which was madepossible by a June $3.5 million U.S.Department of Education grantreceived by the Education LeadersCouncil. The nonprofit educationgroup, made up of several educationalreform partnerships, hopes to have theremaining 22 states involved in theprogram by January 2003. For the sixstates, this means having access tostate-of-the-art technology that willallow educators on all ends of thespectrum to better adhere to state edu-cation standards and to improve theschool system. States across the coun-try each have their own standards theyare required to follow. No Child LeftBehind was passed last January, and isa major education initiative whichputs in place a five-year program toensure that every student in every

classroom across the nation performsat state education standards. Underthe new federal law, states in Followthe Leader will be required to give allstudents in grades three through eightstandardized tests in reading andmathematics at the end of the schoolyear. States are also required to giveparents a report card that breaks downthe performance of students at everyschool in the state.

Six selected for federal programOfficials pledgepension protection

States scramble to fill gaps

A federal appeals court ruled forthe first time that a state can limithow much political candidates canspend, even if they are not receivingpublic funding. Lawyers involved in

the Vermont case said the questionultimately will have to be decided bythe U.S. Supreme Court. In a 2-1 rul-ing, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals upheld a 1997 Vermont lawlimiting spending by gubernatorialcandidates to $300,000. Act 64 setslower spending caps for other stateoffices as well, down to as little as$2,000 for House hopefuls. The lawwas challenged by the VermontRepublican Party and the VermontRight to Life Committee. In 1976,the Supreme Court held that statesmay not limit how much a candidatemay spend unless the campaign isfunded by taxpayer money. But the2nd Circuit said that ruling ignores“how the campaign funds race hasaffected public confidence and repre-sentative democracy.”

Court okays limiting campaign spending


electionselections

recent look at political party Websites reveals the urgency for commu-

nicating strong party alignment in theupcoming November elections.

For example, the Democratic NationalCommittee recently launched the “Every Vote Counts” Web site(http://www.democrats.org/everyvotecounts/) where chairman Terry McAuliffeexplains, “Every Vote Counts’ is designedto increase participation and make our gov-ernment more representative of and moreresponsive to the people it serves. It will tar-get those citizens who have historicallybeen left behind by the political process andvictimized by barriers to civic activism.”

The Republican National Committee,while encouraging voter turnout on its site(http://www.rnc.org), has a prominentthank-you message to voters in the 2000election: “The elections held in Novemberof 2000 were critical to Republican effortsto participate in the redistricting process.Maintaining control of key governorshipsand legislative bodies was essentialbecause even a small number of raceswon or lost throughout the country wouldhave drastically altered the redistrictinglandscape. The success of the RepublicanParty at the state and local level inNovember of 2000 ensured that GOPinterests will be well represented duringthis round of line-drawing. The GOP

AA

Key state races in Election2002 could impact parties’power bases

BY AMY LINDON

A balancing actEast

Republican Democrat IndependentPennsylvania Delaware MaineNew York New JerseyConnecticut New HampshireMassachusetts VermontRhode Island Virgin Islands

Republican Democrat IndependentIllinois Indiana MinnesotaKansas IowaMichiganOhioSouth DakotaWisconsinNebraskaNorth Dakota

Midwest

Republican Democrat IndependentArkansas AlabamaFlorida GeorgiaOklahoma KentuckyTennessee MississippiTexas MissouriLouisiana North Carolina

South CarolinaVirginiaWest VirginiaMaryland

South

Republican Democrat IndependentArizona Alaska MinnesotaColorado CaliforniaIdaho HawaiiMontana OregonNevada WashingtonNew Mexico GuamUtahWyoming

West

Key

no election

not running by choice

term limited

2002 Gubernatorial races(Source: The Book of the States 2002)


O’Brien, and former state Sen. WarrenTolman. The Massachusetts General Courtis clearly a Democratic Party domain – 80percent of state senators and 85 percent ofthe state House members are Democrats –so the GOP is expected to fight hard forcontrol of the state’s top executive spot.

In New Hampshire, Republican busi-nessman Craig Benson defeated formerstate senator Bruce Keough, with formersenator Gordon Humphrey third in thecostliest campaign in state history. In theDemocratic gubernatorial primary, stateSen. Mark Fernald defeated state Sen. BevHollingworth.

In New York, Democrats nominatedstate Comptroller H. Carl McCall tooppose Gov. George Pataki (R) inNovember. McCall, seeking to become theEmpire State's first African American gov-ernor, became the de facto nominee whenhis only opponent, former Clinton housingsecretary Andrew Cuomo, son of formergovernor Mario Cuomo, dropped out.

In Pennsylvania, Acting Gov. MarkSchweiker ascended to the office after TomRidge was appointed national homelandsecurity advisor, and is not running inNovember. That leaves state AttorneyGeneral Mike Fisher seeking to keep thetop spot under Republican control. He willbe battling former Philadelphia mayor EdRendell, the Democratic nominee.

The Pennsylvania Senate has a slightRepublican majority: 58 percent of senatorsare Republican, and with 25 senators up forthe vote, there is a chance the Democratscould gain the upper hand. The state Houseis also quite balanced – Republicans have amajority of five in the 203-person House –but the Nov. 5 election of all 203 memberscould bring a swing there.

In Rhode Island, where Gov. LincolnAlmond (R) is term-limited, DonaldCacieri, retired chief executive of CooksonAmerica, defeated businessman JimBennett to claim the GOP nomination. Inthe Democratic race, Myrth York, theparty's gubernatorial nominee in 1994 and1998, defeated state attorney generalSheldon Whitehouse, 39 percent to 38 per-cent, with nearly all precincts reporting.

In Vermont, Democratic Lt. Gov.Douglas Racine will battle to keep partycontrol of the governor’s seat againstGOP candidate State Treasurer JamesDouglas and Independent candidate

enters the 2000 redistricting cycle in itsstrongest position in decades.”

The nation’s two major political partieshave reason to communicate so strongly themessage of the importance of voting.According to The Book of the States 2002,Democrats currently control 21 governor-ships (11 are at stake in this year’s elec-tions), 46 percent of state senate seats and51 percent of state house seats; Republicanscontrol 27 governorships (23 of which areat stake this year), 46 percent of state senateseats and 48 percent of state house seats.Independent officers hold two governor-ships and 13 state senate seats and 15 statehouse seats. Several state legislative races –notably in Texas and Washington – willdetermine which political party gains con-trol of the balance of power. A slightincrease one way or the other will throw offthe precarious balance, which could play alarge role in determining the winner of the2004 presidential race.

A look at this year’s election from aregional perspective identifies severalraces to watch.

East

Maine’s Independent governor, AngusKing, is term-limited. Former state Rep.and current U.S. Congressman JohnBaldacci is the Democratic nominee, andthe Republicans have former state legisla-tor Peter Cianchette on the ballot. For thefirst time since 1995, it is likely that therewill be a major party representative in theexecutive seat.

The Maine Senate, evenly dividedbetween Democrats and Republicans, hasall 35 seats before the voters in November.Two Republican seats are uncontested; allother seats have party competition. A fewwins either way by one party will tip thebalance of power in the Senate, and couldhave an even greater impact if that sameparty wins the governorship.

Massachusetts Acting Gov. Jane Swift isnot running for the seat, and the GOP –hoping to maintain control of the governor-ship – is banking on 1994 senate candidateMitt Romney, chair of the Salt Lake CityOlympics. The Democratic primary washeld Sept. 17, and the large field includedformer Clinton labor secretary RobertReich, state senate president ThomasBirmingham, state Treasurer Shannon

Cornelius “Con” Hogan. The VermontSenate has all 30 seats open for election,and the current balance is nearly evenwith 16 Democrats and 14 Republicans.All seats face party opposition with theexception of two Republicans.

Midwest

There is no governor’s race in Indianathis year, but the 100 seats in the House ofRepresentatives will be on the ballot. Thebalance tilts slightly in favor of theDemocrats (53 Democrats to 47Republicans), but in the 29 uncontestedraces, 19 seats belong to Republicans.

The Illinois governor’s race will pitAttorney General Jim Ryan as the GOPcontender against Democrat RodBlagojevich. A scandal-plagued term bysitting GOP Gov. George Ryan could cer-tainly be a factor as the Democrats seekmore control in Illinois.

Michigan Gov. John Engler is term-lim-ited, and the Republicans are looking to Lt.Gov. Dick Posthumus to fill his seat.Democrats want to see current AttorneyGeneral Jennifer Granholm becomeMichigan’s first female governor. TheMichigan House is nearly balanced with 56Republicans and 53 Democrats, and all areup for election this November. Only oneseat is uncontested and it belongs to aRepublican. Republicans dominate theSenate, 22-14.

In Wisconsin, state Attorney GeneralJim Doyle defeated Rep. Thomas Barrettand Dane County (Madison) ExecutiveKathleen Falk in the Democratic primary.The winner will oppose Gov. ScottMcCallum (R). Doyle, the only Democratto win and hold state office during the 14years that Tommy Thompson (R), now sec-retary of health and human services, wasgovernor, began the race with a clear lead.Barrett, a 10-year veteran of the House witha base in Milwaukee, and Falk, who soughtto appeal to female voters, closed the gap inthe final weeks of the campaign. Doylewon with 38 percent to Barrett's 34 percentand Falk's 27 percent. A sidelight in the pri-mary was the effort of Ed Thompson, thebrother of the former governor, to attract 6percent of the total primary vote on theLibertarian Party line. That would qualifyhim for public financing in a Novembercampaign in which his support could be


South

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is seeking hissecond term in a much-publicized raceagainst the Democratic nominee, whowas decided in the Sept. 10 primary. OnSept. 11, Bill McBride and Janet Renowere locked in a tight race, with the out-come still in doubt. The Legislature holdsfull races in both predominantlyRepublican houses.

Georgia incumbent Democratic Gov.Roy Barnes is seeking re-election against

win. Republicans are hopeful that formerprosecutor, businessman and lawmakerTim Pawlenty will win. FormerDemocratic Congressman Tim Penny hasbeen recruited to run for the IndependentParty. Control of the House is on the ballot:currently 51 percent of the House isRepublican and 49 percent is Democratic.All 134 seats are on the ballot, and threeDemocrats are running unopposed.Minnesota’s Senate is slightly tippedtoward Democrats (58 percent). All 67seats will be decided in November.

large enough to affect the outcome. TheWisconsin Assembly is stronglyRepublican, but the Senate is controlled bythe Democrats (18-15). Of the 17 Senateseats up for election, all but two Republicanand one Democratic seats are contested.

Minnesota’s Gov. Jesse Ventura is notseeking re-election, giving both theDemocrats and the GOP hope that theirparty can control Minnesota’s top execu-tive seat. Democrats are counting on RogerMoe, the longest-serving state senatemajority leader in Minnesota history, to

Rep

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tal # of

Senate Seats Up R

epub

lican

Dem

ocr

at

CT 15 21 36 36 51 100

DE 8 13 21 21 26 15

ME 17 17 1 35 35 69 81

MA 8 32 40 40 24 136

NH 13 11 24 24 256 143

*NJ 20 20 40 0 20 20

NY 36 25 61 61 51 99

PA 28 20 48 25 104 99

RI 6 44 50 38 15 85

VT 14 16 30 30 83 62

165 219 1 385 310 699 840

EASTSENATE

Inde

pend

ent

To

tal # of

House Seats Up

151 151

41 41

1 151 151

160 160

1 400 400

40 0

150 150

203 203

100 75

1 146 150

3 1542 1481

HOUSE

Rep

ublic

an

Dem

ocr

at

Inde

pend

ent

To

tal # of

Senate Seats Up R

epub

lican

Dem

ocr

at

IL 32 27 59 59 56 62

IN 32 18 50 25 47 53

IA 30 20 50 25 56 44

KS 30 10 40 0 79 46

MI 22 14 36 38 56 53

MN 27 39 1 67 67 69 65

NE 24

ND 32 17 49 25 69 29

OH 20 12 1 33 17 59 40

SD 24 11 35 35 50 20

15 18 33 17 56 43

264 186 2 452 332 597 455

MIDWESTSENATE

Nonpartisan Unicameral

Inde

pend

ent

To

tal # of

House Seats Up

118 118

100 99

100 100

125 125

109 110

134 134

0

98 50

99 99

70 70

99 99

1052 1004

HOUSE

WI

2002 Legislative races (Source: The Book of the States 2002)

Key

no election


Republican Sonny Perdue. The GeorgiaGeneral Assembly’s Senate (57 percent)and House (58 percent) are primarilyDemocratic.

Maryland incumbent Democratic Gov.Parris Glendening is prohibited from seek-ing re-election due to term limits. His lieu-tenant governor, Kathleen KennedyTownsend, is the leading Democratic con-tender and will be facing Republican Rep.Bob Ehrlich in November. All House andSenate seats are on the ballot, but the

Democrats have a stronghold in theGeneral Assembly.

In Missouri, there is even party distribu-tion in the Senate, and 17 of 34 seats willbe up for election. The House, which has aDemocratic majority (87-76), has all 163representatives on the ballot.

North Carolina has no gubernatorialrace this year, but the entire 120-memberHouse is up for election. Sixty-two repre-sentatives are Democrats and 58 areRepublicans. Twenty-three Democrats in

the House are running unopposed, and 31Republican seats face no opposition.

In Oklahoma, Democrat Gov. FrankKeating is term-limited, and restaurateurVince Orza will be the Democratic con-tender facing Republican Steve Largent forthe gubernatorial seat. Half of the heavilyDemocrat Senate will be running for elec-tion, and all of the fairly evenly split Houseis running. Currently, there are 48Republicans and 53 Democrats in theHouse. However, 22 Democrats will run

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SOUTHSENATE

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House Seats Up

HOUSE

HOUSE

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AK 14 6 20 17 27 13AZ 15 15 30 30 36 24CA 13 26 39 20 29 50CO 17 18 35 17 37 28HI 3 22 25 25 19 32ID 32 3 35 35 61 9MT 31 19 50 25 58 42NV 12 9 21 11 15 27NM 18 24 42 0 28 42OR 16 14 30 15 33 27UT 20 9 29 15 50 25WA 24 25 49 24 48 50WY 20 10 30 15 46 14

235 200 435 487 383

WESTSENATE

Inde

pend

ent

To

tal # of

House Seats Up

40 40

60 60

79 80

65 65

51 51

70 70

100 100

42 42

70 70

60 60

75 75

98 98

60 60

870 871

AL 12 23 35 35 37 68

AR 8 27 35 18 30 70

FL 25 15 40 40 77 43

GA 24 32 56 56 74 104

KY 20 18 38 19 34 66

LA 13 26 39 0 32 71

MD 14 33 47 47 35 106

MO 18 16 34 17 76 87

MS 18 34 52 0 33 86

NC 15 35 50 50 58 62

OK 18 30 48 24 48 53

SC 25 21 46 0 71 53

TN 15 18 33 17 38 61

TX 16 15 31 31 72 78

VA 22 18 40 0 64 34

6 28 34 17 25 75

269 389 658 371 804 1117

105 105

100 100

120 120

2 180 180

100 100

103 0

141 141

163 163

3 122 0

120 120

101 101

124 124

99 99

150 150

2 100 0

100 100

7 1928 1603WV

unopposed and, on the GOP side, 24Republicans run unopposed.

Tennessee Republican Gov. DonSundquist is term-limited, and VanHilleary is seeking to retain Republicanownership of the governor’s seat. FormerNashville mayor Phil Bredesen will bemaking the run for the Democrats.Bredesen only lost by 10 percentage pointsagainst Sundquist in the last election and isexpected to be a strong contender again.

The Texas governor’s race will pit sittingGOP Gov. Rick Perry against Democraticoilman and banker Tony Sanchez – Texas’first Hispanic major party nominee – in amuch-publicized race. Perry took over thetop seat when George W. Bush becamepresident. The Senate and House are rela-tively evenly balanced and a few party winsin one direction will tip the balance. Sevensenate seats are guaranteed to go to unop-posed Democrats and three Republicancandidates face no competition. The House(78 Democrats to 72 Republicans) is also

closely matched. However, with theRepublicans guaranteed 32 seats due tolack of opposition and the Democrats onlyguaranteed 28, it will be interesting to see ifthe balance tips to the GOP.

West

Democratic Alaska Gov. Tony Knowlescannot run again due to term limits, but hislieutenant governor, Fran Ulmer, will havethe Democratic Party nomination for theseat. U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski is theRepublican nominee. Despite its heavilyRepublican voting tendencies, Alaska hasnot elected a Republican nominee as gov-ernor since 1978.

Arizona Republican Gov. Jane Hull isprohibited from seeking the governor’sseat because of term-limit legislation, andRepublican Rep. Matt Salmon andDemocratic Attorney General JanetNapolitano defeated opponents on Sept.10to earn the right to face off for the seat. Theevenly split Senate (15 Democrats and 15Republicans) has all 30 spots up for elec-tion, and one party win will tip the scales.Five Democratic incumbents have noopposition and six Republicans are unop-posed. Republicans hold a 36-24 majorityin the House, close enough to make theseraces important for the balance of power inthis western state.Hawaii Gov. Benjamin Cayetano (D) is

term-limited, meaning Lt. Gov. MazieHirono, businessman Andy Anderson orstate legislator Ed Case will be theDemocratic contender for the Novemberrace. The nominee was chosen in the Sept.21 primary. Linda Lingle, who lost toCayetano by only 5,000 votes in the lastelection, is the GOP candidate. The HawaiiSenate has only three Republicans in afield of 25 seats and all are up for election;the House has 32 Democrats to 19Republicans with all 51 before the voters.

In Idaho, incumbent Republican Gov.Dirk Kempthorne will be facing DemocratJerry Brady and Libertarian Daniel L.J.Adams. Kempthorne won 65 percent of thevote in the primary.

Oregon’s Democratic Gov. JohnKitzhaber is term-limited, and TedKulongoski, a former state attorney generaland state Supreme Court justice, seeks tomaintain Democratic control of the execu-tive spot. GOP candidate Kevin Mannix has

run on his conservative stance on abortionand tax cuts. The Republicans have a slightadvantage in the legislative assembly (53percent of the Senate and 55 percent of theHouse is Republican) and party control is inthe balance. Fifteen of 30 Senate seats areup before the voters, and only oneDemocratic seat faces no opposition. All 60House seats will go before the voters, and


Results you want

• California: A measurewould allow persons legallyeligible to vote to registerand vote on Election Day,and increases the penaltyfor voter fraud.

• Colorado: A measure wouldallow persons legally eligi-ble to vote to register andvote on Election Day, andincreases the penalty forvoter fraud. Another initia-tive would reduce theamount of money individu-als and political committeescan contribute to candidatesand political organizations,and also limits the amountparties can contribute tocandidates.

• Hawaii: An initiativewould require candidatesin senate or representativedistricts to become a qual-ified voter in their respec-tive districts prior to filingnomination papers.

• New Mexico: Voters willchoose whether or not toremove certain prohibi-tions against people cur-rently denying them theright to vote.

• Oregon: A measure wouldchange the requirements torun for office and reducethe age requirement to servein the state legislature from21 to 18.

Source: Initiative and Refer-endum Institute

Campaign and election reformmeasures

Accuracy on the Internet isimperative in post-election cov-erage. Since 1998, those need-ing accurate, centralized elec-tion coverage have visited TheCouncil of State Governments’(CSG) Web site athttp://www.csg.org. For the2002 elections, CSG will againbe posting results as theybecome available. The out-comes of executive branchraces will be given in a central-ized area and will include party control data. Informationregarding party control of thestate house and the senate seatswill be presented in a map for-mat, pie chart and as a tabularlisting. Historical election datawill also be given so visitorscan track party control over a30-year time frame. CSG’sexpert staff will present ananalysis of the 2002 races. CSGwill also track the results ofselect ballot initiatives thathave cross-state implications.

eight of these are guaranteed to Democratsdue to lack of opposition. Only one Houseseat is guaranteed to the Republicans.

Washington has no governor’s race thisyear, but the balance of power is very muchin jeopardy as 24 of the 49 Senate seats areup before the voters. Of these seats, fiveRepublicans five Democrats are runningunopposed in Senate races. Currently, thereare 24 Republicans and 25 Democrats – afew wins either way could swing the bal-ance. The Washington House is in the samesituation – all 98 seats are up in a House

with 48 Republicans and 50 Democrats.Fourteen Republicans are running unop-posed in House races; 10 Democratic racesare unchallenged. Wyoming Gov. JimGeringer is term-limited, and GOP con-tender Eli Bebout, a former state legislator,hopes to keep the seat in Republican hands.The Democrats are looking to former U.S.attorney Dave Freudenthal to win the seat.The Wyoming Senate and House are heav-ily Republican.

Initiatives and referendums

Election 2002 will offer voters in 30states the chance to decide 153 statewideballot measures – the lowest number since1986 and a 40 percent drop over the num-ber in the 2000 general elections.

On the ballot this year will be 47 initia-tives (advisory questions, memorials,statutes or constitutional amendmentsplaced by citizens); 102 legislative refer-endums (governmental propositions sub-mitted to the people for their approval orrejection); and four popular referendums(citizens may refer specific legislationenacted by their legislatures for the votersto accept or reject).

“The low number can be attributed toseveral reasons,” said M. Dane Waters,president of the Initiative andReferendum Institute. “Increased regula-tion on the initiative process has made theprocess more difficult to use and so,fewer people can actually place an initia-tive on the ballot. Also, many groups arewaiting to see how redistricting willaffect the mid term elections and themakeup of state houses and Congress. Ifthe results are favorable to them they willtry and use the traditional legislativeprocess before attempting an initiative.”

According to CSG’s The Book of theStates, 2002, the statewide initiativeprocess is constitutional in 24 states.Legislative referendum is a constitutionalprocess in all states.

Ballotwatch.org, which tracks state ini-tiatives, reports that drug policy reformmeasures (Arizona, Michigan, Nevada andOhio), education reform acts (California,Colorado, Florida and Massachusetts) andelection reform measures (Colorado,Hawaii, New Mexico and Oregon) havedrawn some of the most intensive nationalattention – and involvement by national

advocacy groups. “These two topics (drug policy and edu-

cation reform) seem to always draw intenseinterest for several reasons,” said Waters.“First, the drug policy reform movement ispitting state’s rights against the federalgovernment. Their push for medical mari-juana, for example, has riled the federalestablishment and has even drawn the ireof the DEA, who is actively campaigningagainst the drug reform initiatives. As toeducation, this subject always drawsintense scrutiny and money because inalmost every case the NEA and otherteacher’s unions are spending substantialsums in either support of or opposition tothese measures. Additionally, education-related issues always seem to interest thevoters because how their kids are educatedis of extreme interest to them.”

Waters said the involvement of nation-al advocacy organizations in state elec-tions is typical.

“National groups typically get involvedin initiatives of interest to them,” he said.“The NRA has spent money in support oropposition to ballot measures just as theNEA, NORML, U.S. Term Limits (USTL)and the Humane Society of the UnitedStates (HSUS). Many of these groups – likeUSTL and the HSUS, actually are the primeorganizers and movers behind the initia-tives. These groups can’t get their reformthrough the state legislatures or through thefederal government, so they turn to the ini-tiative process in the states as the mecha-nism to get the reform they want.”

Tax reform is generating huge interest inMassachusetts. In one of the more poten-tially far-reaching initiatives on the ballot,citizens will have the opportunity to repealthe state’s income tax in November.

Voters are also revisiting term-limitslegislation in three states. California vot-ers will decide whether or not to exemptdistrict attorneys from the term-limitslaws. Colorado voters will decide theissue of term-limits exemptions for attor-neys general, while Idaho voters willdecide whether or not to reinstate termlimits for state, county, municipal andschool district officials that were abol-ished by the state legislature.

— Amy Lindon is the associate director forpublications at The Council of StateGovernments.


Drug policy reform measures

• Arizona: The measurewould create a medicalmarijuana registry card sys-tem allowing medical useand possession of the drug.It would also set penaltiesfor various drug-relatedcrimes and would makepossession punishable by acivil fine.

• Michigan: If passed, newpenalties would be estab-lished for drug kingpins.The measure would requiretreatment instead of jailtime for common posses-sion offenses, and wouldestablish a new commissionto oversee administration ofdrug-related laws.

• Nevada: This decriminal-ization measure wouldeliminate the possession ofthree ounces or less of mar-ijuana by people 21 andover as a cause for arrest.

• Ohio: The measure wouldestablish new penalties fordrug kingpins, and wouldrequire treatment instead ofjail time for many commondrug possession offenses.

• South Dakota: An initia-tive is on the ballot tolegalize the cultivation ofindustrial hemp.

Source: Initiative and Refer-endum Institute


housinghousing

ncreasingly, many Americans find thedream of homeownership – or even

decent, safe rental housing – out of reach.Across the country, more and more peo-ple are calling the lack of affordablehousing a crisis, and there is growingmomentum for action by all levels ofgovernment.

This is in spite of the fact that thenation’s housing sector showed “remark-able resilience” in 2001, according to TheState of the Nation’s Housing 2002, areport issued in June by HarvardUniversity’s Joint Center for HousingStudies. Home sales and production,home-improvement spending and levelsof homeownership all reached record lev-els last year.

“Although the United States is amongthe best-housed nations in the world,housing affordability continues to be aconcern, particularly for lower-incomehouseholds,” said Amy Bogdon, directorof housing research at the Fannie MaeFoundation, in a recent online discussion.“One of the negative consequences of arobust economy over the past decade hasbeen the rapid increase in housing pricesand rents in many parts of the country,offsetting the benefits of rising incomes.”

Last May and June, the foundation sur-veyed 1,004 randomly selected adultsnationwide to assess their views onaffordable housing. Thirty-seven percentof respondents said the lack of affordablehomes for low- and moderate-incomeworking families is a very big or fairlybig problem. Respondents ranked it as abigger problem than unemployment,crime and pollution, putting affordablehousing second only to affordable healthcare (43 percent) as a concern. Working

families themselves ranked affordablehealth care and housing about evenly (39and 41 percent, respectively).

“The only comparable issue in theminds of most working Americans isaffordable health care, which hasemerged as a major public-policy matterover the past decade,” said GeoffreyGarin, president of Peter D. HartResearch Associates. Garin’s firm helpedconduct the survey. “This raises thepotential that affordable housing willemerge as a dominant public-policy issuein the years ahead.”

Indeed, in some parts of the country, italready has. In Massachusetts, for exam-ple – where housing costs have skyrock-eted in recent years – affordable housinghas emerged as a key issue in the 2002legislative session and gubernatorial race.

According to the MassachusettsAssociation of Realtors, the average sell-

ing price of a single-family home duringthe first quarter of this year was$309,807. In Boston, it was $441,060.“We are facing a serious affordable hous-ing crisis here in Massachusetts,” saidState Treasurer Shannon O’Brien.

Nationwide, the average selling priceof an existing single-family home in 2001was $185,300, according to the NationalAssociation of Realtors. However, theaverage sales price varied considerablyby region, with a high of $243,500 in theWest, $190,500 in the Northeast,$171,100 in the South and a low of$152,200 in the Midwest.

These figures are consistent with theresults of the Fannie Mae survey, whichshowed the affordability problem is mostsevere on the Pacific Coast and in theNortheast. Fifty-five percent of those sur-veyed on the Pacific Coast said afford-able housing is a very or fairly big

II

Governments take action todevelop affordable housing

BY LAURIE CLEWETT

No place like home

Affordable housing initiatives on the state level are providing opportunities for potential homeowners.


problem, compared to 40 percent in theNortheast, 34 percent in the South and 29percent in the Midwest.

Thus, even in the more affordableregions, about a third of respondents saidhousing costs are a major issue. Likewise,the problem is most acute in big cities(where 42 percent called it a very or fairlybig problem), but is still significant in sub-urbs (38 percent) and small towns or ruralareas (30 percent).

Calls for federal action, continued devolution

In recent months, affordable housinghas gained increased attention at thenational level. For example, the U.S.Conference of Mayors released a set of rec-ommendations this spring “to address thecountry’s affordable housing crisis.” Theconference also endorsed the recommenda-tions of The Millennial HousingCommission, a bipartisan congressionalcommission on affordable housing policythat issued its final report in May. TheNational Council of State HousingAgencies (NCSHA) also applauded therecommendations, which are available atwww.mhc.gov.

“The report’s themes of deregulationand devolution of existing programs andcreation of new tools to augment andleverage existing resources should res-onate with Congress and lead to signifi-cant improvements in our national housing policy,” said Barbara J.Thompson, NCSHA executive director.

Since the mid-1970s, much federalhousing policy has been devolved to stateand local governments. States and cities are largely responsible for administeringmajor federal programs such as the Home Investment Partnerships Program,the Community Development Block Grant, HOPE VI and the Low-IncomeHousing Tax Credit. The commissionwants to reform these and other existingprograms to increase state and local flexi-bility. It also proposed more tools for stateand local governments to provide afford-able housing, such as rental productionprograms, a state-administered homeown-ership tax credit, and tax credits designed topreserve the supply of affordable housing.

A second congressional commissionrecently reported on the specific housing

and health-care needs of seniors, whichwill become an increasingly importantissue as the baby boomers age. The finalreport of the Commission on AffordableHousing and Health Facility Needs forSeniors in the 21st Century is available atwww.seniorscommission.gov.

Low-income seniors are especially vul-nerable to high housing costs, even whenthey own their homes. “Fully 8.4 million[40 percent] of the nation’s 21 million eld-erly households fall into the lowest-incomegroup,” according to The State of theNation’s Housing 2002. “Overall, 1.8 mil-lion lowest-income homeowning seniors –including 1.2 million that own their homesoutright – pay more than 50 percent of theirincomes for housing,” the report found.

State solutions

In addition to administering federal pro-grams, states can take a variety of otheractions to help ease the housing crunch.Some measures are designed to subsidizeor lower individuals’ housing costs or tohelp them buy homes. These programs pro-vide financial assistance, and many also

include financial and homeownershipcounseling.

In Illinois, for example, State TreasurerJudy Baar Topinka announced details ofthe “Our Own Home” program in June.The statewide initiative is designed to helpborrowers with poor credit or no creditobtain conventional mortgages, or to helppeople who have missed a couple of mort-gage payments but have resumed makingpayments. The treasurer’s office pledges togive participating banks up to 10 percent ofthe home’s value if the borrower defaultson the loan.

“Banks take a greater risk in loaningmoney in these situations,” Topinka said,“but this new law provides financial insti-tutions with an incentive to offer more rea-sonable loan rates and help people withoutputting themselves at unnecessary risk.”

The initiative, which was based on statelegislation signed into law last August, isdesigned to give high-risk borrowers alter-natives to using “predatory” lenders.According to the Harvard report, predatorylending – essentially financial institutionsenticing people with no credit or poorcredit histories into high-cost loans – is


an increasingly severe problem in the“sub-prime” lending market.

But high housing costs are not just aproblem for poor people or those withbad credit. An increasing number of mod-erate-income people also have troublefinding homes or rental housing they canafford. In response, cities and states havestarted programs targeting certain publicemployees, including teachers, policeofficers and firefighters.

For example, Louisiana Treasurer JohnKennedy, who is also chairman of thestate Housing Finance Agency,announced a program in May to providelow-interest home loans to teachers.North Carolina has a similar TeacherMortgage Program, administered byTreasurer Richard Moore’s office, whichalso offers down payment assistance.California, Connecticut and Mississippihave similar programs.

Aside from actions to help individuals,states can also take actions to increase thesupply of affordable housing. Some com-mon methods include offering developerstax credits or other incentives and issuingbonds. In November, the electorates inMaine and California will vote on hous-ing bonds of $10 million and $2.1 billion,respectively.

In July, the Massachusetts Legislatureapproved a $508 million housing bondbill. However, Acting Gov. Jane Swiftvetoed the bill, which also changed thestate’s “antisnob” zoning law, becauseshe thought the changes would decreasethe affordable housing supply. The debateis likely to continue when the Legislatureconvenes in January.

Another common initiative is to estab-lish an affordable housing trust fund.According to Mary Brooks of the Centerfor Community Change, there are 38state-level housing trust funds in 34states. Brooks heads the center’s HousingTrust Fund Project, and is the author ofHousing Trust Fund Progress Report2002: Local Responses to America’sHousing Needs.

According to the report, the number oftrust funds operated by city and countygovernments is also increasing. There are142 city trust funds in New Jersey alone,and 42 city funds in 21 additional states.Forty counties in Pennsylvania, and 17other counties nationwide, have afford-

able housing funds. The National LowIncome Housing Coalition is spearhead-ing a national campaign calling for a sim-ilar federal fund.

“Housing trust funds have quadrupledsince 1990,” Brooks said. These funds arepopular because they combine a dedicat-ed source of money with local flexibility.State-level funds receive revenue frommore than two dozen sources, includingthe following: real-estate transfer taxes,interest from real-estate escrow accounts,unclaimed property funds, deed-record-ing fees, bond and fee revenues, stateincome taxes, unclaimed lottery earningsand general funds.

“I was impressed with the breadth andthe nature of housing needs that are beingaddressed through housing trust funds,”Brooks said in July, after her survey wasreleased. State and local governments usethem to finance a variety of standardaffordable housing programs, such asgrants, loans, rental assistance, home-ownership programs or services for thehomeless. The funds also finance pro-grams for farm workers, people with verylow incomes, and people with disabilitiesor special needs. Brooks said trust fundadministrators are also beginning toaddress innovative issues such as sustain-able development, transit-oriented devel-opment, and the relationship betweenhousing and overall land-use policy.

Now that many states have trustfunds, “I expect to see states taking anumber of different steps to encourageand help local jurisdictions create theirown trust funds,” Brooks predicted.Pennsylvania, Washington and Missourihave all passed legislation allowingcities, counties and/or towns to use doc-ument-recording fees to create afford-able housing trust funds. New Jersey hasallowed local jurisdictions to levy feeson developers since 1985, which havebeen used to fund 142 municipal trustfunds throughout the state.

Trust funds nationwide provide at least$750 million a year for affordable hous-ing efforts. But according to Brooks, “thedemand for the funds that exist in housingtrust funds far exceeds what is available.The capacity and interest in addressingneeds far exceed the resources we’recommitting to them.”

However, not everyone agrees that

state or local governments should domore to address housing affordability.Housing costs have been an issue in NewHampshire’s race for governor, accordingto Foster’s Daily Democrat. Two candi-dates reportedly favor replacing the prop-erty tax with an income tax as the mainsource of school funding, in order torelieve the burden on homeowners.Another, however, believes that govern-ment regulation is partly to blame forhigh housing costs, and that the state canbest help by "getting out of the way."

Though people may disagree on thecauses of and solutions to high housingcosts, there is no doubt that in many partsof the country, affordable housing isalready a prominent political issue.

— Laurie Clewett is a research analyst atThe Council of State Governments.

ResourcesInformation Clearinghouse:

The Housing and CommunityDevelopment Knowledgeplex athttp://www.knowledgeplex.org.

State and Local HousingOfficials: National Council of State Housing Agencies at http://www.ncsha.org; theCouncil of State CommunityDevelopment Agencies athttp://www.coscda.org; and theNational Association of Housingand Redevelopment Officials athttp://www.nahro.org.

Federal Government: U.S.Department of Housing andUrban Development athttp://www.hud.gov.

Research: Fannie MaeFoundation at http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org; andthe Joint Center for HousingStudies, Harvard Universityhttp://www.jchs.harvard.edu.

Advocacy Groups: NationalLow Income Housing Coalitionat http://www.nlihc.org; and theCenter for Community Changehttp://www.communitychange.org.


wave of persuasive arguments forstructural change is capturing the

attention of human services leadersacross the country. And the multipleneeds of clients are pushing Oregon andother jurisdictions to do more than justget their feet wet.

To grasp why states are riding thewave, consider a client whose circum-stances, although startling, are not all thatunusual. Betty, 63, lives in rural centralOregon and worked most of her adult life.For years, her former husband’s insurancepolicy covered her medical expenses.

Today, Betty is a client of the statehuman services agency, because multiplesclerosis prevents her from working. Shecares for two grandsons, one of whomhas disabilities. They live in a 30-year-old trailer that, lacking a furnace, hassometimes been heated with a propanebarbecue grill.

For people like Betty, Oregon’s public-policy answer could be reduced to abumper sticker: “No wrong door.” Thismeans that instead of having to visit up tofive offices for food stamps, Medicaid,disability, housekeeping and other servic-es, clients like Betty can go to a singlefull-service office.

“We’re making it too hard on ourclients,” Bobby S. Mink, director of theOregon Department of Human Services,told his state’s lawmakers last year.“People who come to us are already understress. We shouldn’t be making it worse.”

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber proposedthe “No wrong door” concept to the 90-member Oregon Legislature, which afterhearing from all parts of the human serv-ices community approved it with onlytwo “no” votes. “If we asked them, I sus-

pect most people would be surprisedhuman services weren’t already integrat-ed,” Kitzhaber said.

Besides collapsing five field systemsinto one, Oregon is moving to a teamapproach in which multiple-needs clients– those receiving three or more servicesconstitute 46 percent of Oregon’s cases –see one intake worker, work with a leadcase manager and work from a singlecase plan. The objective is for a team toassist the whole person or householdrather than dealing only with isolatedproblems, and perhaps eliminate the needfor services altogether.

“Oregon is unique in terms of size andapproach,” said Jerry Friedman, execu-tive director of the Washington, D.C.-based American Public Human ServicesAssociation (APHSA), an organization ofstate and local human-services profes-sionals. “Oregon is redesigning its

statewide system of human servicesrather than establishing a pilot project,which is most often the case.” As one ofonly four states (the others are Montana,North Carolina and Vermont) with somany human services delivered by a sin-gle agency, Oregon was a prime candi-date for statewide integration.

“Oregon’s reorganization is probablythe most comprehensive that’s currentlyin process or even contemplated,” saidSusan Robison, a Colorado-based legisla-tive consultant now updating her 1989report about approaches to reforminghuman services.

The Oregon agency serves about850,000 people annually, or one in four ina state with a population of 3.4 million. Itdelivers cash assistance and self-suffi-ciency, Medicaid, child-welfare andvocational rehabilitation services, andservices for seniors and people with dis-

human serviceshuman services

AA

Oregon adopts innovativeapproach to human services

BY JIM SELLERS

Clients of Oregon’s human services are now able to visit one location to handle all their needs.

‘No wrong door’


abilities. It contracts with counties forpublic health, community mental health,and alcohol and drug services.

National attention is focusing moreand more on integrated human services.Mink spoke last summer to a nationalhuman-services conference about effortsin Oregon. The Baltimore-based Annie E.Casey Foundation, meanwhile, plans tobuild a Web site to highlight successfulmodels of integrated human services.Mark Ragan, senior fellow at theRockefeller Institute of Government, isdoing the site visits for Casey and has visited integrated-service sites in placessuch as San Mateo County, Calif.; El Paso and Mesa counties, Colo.; Anoka and Dakota counties, Minn.;Montgomery County, Ohio; Kenosha andRacine counties, Wis.; and in Nebraska.

“One thing I’m struck by is that noneof this looks like rocket science,” Ragansaid. “What it looks like is a lot of work.”

It is also a battle against federal fund-ing history. Across the country, separatelocal agencies grew out of discrete feder-al funding streams. “The result was dif-ferent agencies competing for limitedresources,” said Friedman. “The multipleentry points and multiple eligibility crite-ria left clients to navigate for themselves.

“But people are realizing clients don’tcome to the attention of a human-servicesagency only because they have empty wal-lets, that no one agency is capable of meet-ing the multiple needs of clients,” he said.

This isn’t a new concept.Thirty years ago the Oregon Legislature

created a single human services agency.“Service integration” wasn’t the cause thatit is today, but the concept appeared iden-tical. One Oregon legislator said in 1971that integrating human services “wouldeliminate bouncing persons from pillar topost.” Another told his colleagues, “Whatwe have is absolutely ridiculous. Weshould have treatment teams made up ofwelfare, employment, vocational rehabili-tation and other workers.”

But the Oregon agencies that cametogether 30 years ago maintained theirseparate budgets, personnel policies, fieldstaffs and employee cultures.

Oregon lawmakers took another runat the issue in 1991, creating eight inte-grated demonstration projects that grewover the years to about three dozen andyielded solid experience for statewiderestructuring (State Government News,January 1994).

“I told my colleagues we’re 30 yearslate,” said state Rep. Jackie Winters, whochaired the committee that debated the2001 reorganization bill and carried it onthe Oregon House floor. “You can’tbounce families with multiple needs fromplace to place to place. It’s inefficient, forone thing. It’s a tragedy, for another.”

When Oregon officials hired an inde-pendent contractor to conduct focusgroups, clients served by no-wrong-dooroffices consistently said they receivedbetter services.

The team approach also boosts staffeffectiveness by bringing together moreexpertise. This creates a range of benefits.

In one office, case-workers tell howteamwork allowed aworker to successfullylink welfare appli-cants with opportuni-ties for paid-caregiverwork. The occasionalclient who wants togame the system hasmore trouble becausecaseworkers compare

notes across disciplines. “These changes are vital to the success

of consumers who use human services, tothe confidence of taxpayers who count ongovernment effectiveness, and to the sat-isfaction of agency employees whoseexpertise we want to retain,” said Gov.Kitzhaber.

Initially, some employees in Oregoninterpreted the changes as a professionalslap in the face. But Mink assured them,“This isn’t a problem with our employ-ees. The fragmented system puts up bar-riers to our people doing their best work.”

One of Oregon’s earliest “No wrongdoor” alternatives to the traditional wayof doing business was the Rogue FamilyCenter, an office north of Medford thatbrought together state, county and pri-vate human services agencies. HankCollins, who heads county human serv-ices there, said some employees initiallyhad reservations. “But once they got outand began to work you couldn’t pullthem out of it,” he said.

In a survey last spring, 74 percent ofthe Oregon agency’s employees whoresponded said they believed integratedservices would result in improved out-comes for clients.

Technology remains a barrier, howev-er. Over the years, the separate disciplinesbuilt independent computer systems thatdon’t “talk” to each other, and it wouldcost millions to build a new integratedsystem. “I want Expedia.com for humanservices,” said Mink, referring to theWeb-based travel site that draws scheduleand fare data from disparate airline sys-tems. Oregon is one of six states testingsoftware that would enable workers tocapture all client information on desktop-computer screens.

What are the ingredients for successfulintegration? Ragan said he found suc-

Gov. John Kitzhaber

cessful integration projects had commonelements. Among them were strongadministrative leadership and solid political support, a sense of shared mis-sion across the collaborating agencies, acommon office location to ensure goodcommunication, a simple governance structure, resources devoted to team-building, connectedness with the localcommunity and significant local controlover how delivery systems were organ-ized. “It’s almost like, ‘State legislators,get out of the way and give local staff andcommunity partners as much authorityand responsibility as possible.’ WhereI’ve seen this happen, I’ve seen peoplepick up the ball and run with it.”

Although Oregon’s restructuring wonoverwhelming bipartisan support, one

shouldn’t conclude the change is easy.Rep. Winters, who watched the 1971Legislature’s work from her post in theexecutive branch, says “the protectionistbarrier” of confidentiality was advancedthis time as it was 30 years ago. “It’s nodifferent from what we do in the medicalcommunity,” she says of gaining patientpermission to share information, “andthey solved that years ago.”

Critics also said human-services agen-cies had “co-located” in different parts ofthe same offices years ago, and it hadn’tworked. Proponents responded that co-locating still-separate agencies falls shortof no-wrong-door offices where staffswork in teams.

Some have said the change is movingtoo fast. “True,” said Gov. Kitzhaber,

“the speed is greater than what we wouldusually see in a large state agency. Byputting some staff members on the taskfull time, spending long hours in plan-ning and making this a top priority, theagency is managing to compress intothree years a process that otherwisewould take far longer.”

Friedman said the Oregon effort isworth watching. “It’s a bold, aggressiveand very interesting effort that’s goingon in Oregon. I think there are lessons tobe learned for the rest of the country,” he said.

— Jim Sellers is the media-relations man-ager in the Oregon Department ofHuman Services.


After speaking to a national confer-ence about restructuring Oregonhuman services, agency directorBobby S. Mink heard from some peo-ple in his audience. “Bob,” said one,“we should give you our CourageAward.” Mink disagreed with theimplied compliment – “It isn’t likesaving someone from a fire” – butagreed that making major organiza-tional change relies on adhering to aset of principles. Among them:

• Seize the moment: Oregon’s effortcame as the state was moving intorecession. “You have to recognizethere’s never a perfect time to makesignificant change. If you wait forthe perfect time, it’ll never comeand you’ll miss opportunities.”

• Focus on the change: “If you’re notwilling to devote 80 percent ofyour time to the change effort, itisn’t going to happen. You’ve gotto have a competent executiveteam to whom you can delegateday-to-day operations.”

• Promote accountability: “One ofthe things that got the Legislature’sattention was improved accounta-bility. We needed to do a better jobfor our clients, and we needed to

have an administrative structurenot fragmented by a half-dozenpersonnel, facilities, contractingand information systems shops.”

• Involve the unions: “Unions inthis state want to do the best jobfor the people they’re serving.”Labor was involved early in planning and designing therestructured agency, as well as inpreparing curriculum for manage-ment classes. “They want goodmanagers as much as I want good managers.”

• Champion the champions: “Youhave to champion the people whoare championing the change.”Mink recruited champions for lead-ership roles, and awardedDirector’s Excellence Awards toemployees at all levels whoadvanced the vision. “If someoneisn’t committed to the vision, theleader has to be brave enough tomove them. I did that.”

• Listen to your critics: Minkresponded to employee e-mail;empanelled a group of advocatesand consumers; continues to meetregularly with a group of electedofficials and partners; and directed

his regional managers to set uplocal advisory committees. “Behumble enough to accept advicefrom everybody.”

• Train your managers: Promotingpeople doesn’t automatically makethem managers, and offering train-ing programs that don’t support thevision can undermine yourprogress. “There shouldn’t be onetraining program that doesn’t havethe fingerprints of the vision allover it.”

• Don’t wait for technology. “Whatyou need to focus on is theemployee and stakeholder mind-set. Don’t let the lack of informa-tion systems funding be an obstacle. It’s a problem, but youcan overcome it with mindset.”

• Expect difficult days: “You’ve readabout the difficulty of change inmanagement textbooks. Multiplythat by 10.”

• The vision will energize you:“What keeps you going is thepower of the vision. When we lookback 30 years from now, this willbe one of the major things that hap-pened in Oregon in the first part ofthis century.”

A recipe for change

ne of the most notable demographicevents in the United States in recent

years is the increase in racial and ethnicdiversity. Shifts in immigration patternsand high immigration rates are not onlyincreasing the number and changing thecomposition of the nation’s ethnic andcultural groups; they are changing basicideas about race and ethnicity.

In recent decades, changes in U.S.immigration policy coupled with interna-tional political and economic conditionshave resulted in a large influx of immi-grants from different parts of the world –most notably Latin America and Asia.

Discussions and ideas about race in theU.S. have traditionally focused on a Blackand White model. At the beginning of the21st century, however, this model nolonger reflects the nation’s reality. Theracial categories routinely used by theCensus Bureau now include Black/AfricanAmerican, White, Asian, American Indianor Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian/OtherPacific Islander, and Some Other Race. Inaddition, the Census Bureau tracks twoethnicities: Hispanic/Latino and Non-Hispanic/Latino.

One noted trend marked by the 2000Census is the increase in the number ofHispanics/Latinos. Nationwide, Hispanicsmake up about 12.5 percent of the total

population. About 75.1 percent is White,12.3 percent is Black/African American,3.6 percent is Asian, and 6.5 percent isAmerican Indian or Alaskan Native, NativeHawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, or“some other race.” (These percentagestotal more than 100 percent because theCensus Bureau does not use “Hispanic” asa racial category.)

This increase in the number ofHispanics is due largely to changes inimmigration patterns and high levels ofimmigration. Immigrants now come tothe U.S. primarily from Latin Americaand Asia, not Europe. In 2000, 28.4 mil-lion people (10.4 percent) in the U.S.were foreign-born. Fifty-one percent ofthe foreign-born population came fromLatin America, 25.5 percent from Asia,15.3 percent from Europe, 9.9 percentfrom the Caribbean, 6.6 percent fromSouth America, and 8.1 percent fromother regions.

There is also significant diversity with-in each of these racial and ethnic cate-gories. “Hispanic” may include peoplewith origins in Mexico, Puerto Rico,Cuba, Central America, South America orSpain. “Asian” may mean people whoare or whose ancestors are from Japan,China, India, Pakistan, Korea, Vietnam,Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, or others.

“Black” may include people whoseancestors have been in the U.S. for hun-dreds of years, as well as people born inAfrica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean,or others. “White” refers to people whoseorigins are in Europe, the Middle Eastand North Africa.

Though broad generalizations aboutracial and ethnic groups may be informa-tive, policy-makers need to be aware of thedifferences such generalizations conceal.

In addition, regional and local differ-ences mean that each city, county, stateand region faces different demographicrealities, and thus different challengesand opportunities. The nation’s foreign-born and native Hispanic population isconcentrated in the West and the South,with three-fourths living in California,Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois,Arizona and New Jersey combined.

Although U.S. immigration policy maychange in coming years, especially in thewake of Sept. 11, 2001, the country’s racialand ethnic diversity is expected to increasein the future. Given increased globalizationand projected worker shortages in certainsegments of the U.S. labor market, immi-gration – both legal and illegal – is expect-ed to continue to play an important role inthe U.S. economy.


State TrendsState Trends

OO

The trendy side of demographicsAmerica has always been a land of change, but the last century in particular has seen themost dramatic shifts in its population: not only who they are, but where they live, how theywork, and when they die. America’s population is aging, more diverse, more educated andmore suburban. The shifting demographics of the United States not only matter to censustakers and product marketers, but also are a significant component of how states provideservices from health care to education and from driver’s licenses to criminal justice. In thismonth’s State Trends, CSG policy staff members examine significant changes in demo-graphics and how those changes affect certain areas of state government.

COMPILED BY CSG’S TRENDS RESEARCH AND RESONSE GROUP

Diversity: Race and ethnicity


critical issues, emerging trends and best practices in state government State TrendsState Trendscritical issues, emerging trends and best practices in state government

How can state officials determinewhether events glimpsed today are blipson their policy screens or harbingers ofmajor future drivers of environmentalstatues and regulations? This problemhas no clear answer, but part of the solu-tion involves demographics.

While predicting what environmentalchoices will confront future generationsis uncertain, demographic changes arelikely to set much of the framework with-in which future policy options are chosen.As population concentrations evolve, thebreadth and depth of associated environ-mental impacts will follow. As affluencevaries, so will the collective ability tofocus resources on environmental protec-tive and restorative measures. While bio-diversity, climate change, sustainabledevelopment and natural resource deple-tion dominate current environmentaldebates, tomorrow’s environmentalissues must incorporate future demo-graphic factors.

State agency, legislative and judicialofficials are forced to make decisionsevery day that affect present and futuregenerations. A growing list of demo-graphic data, however, is being releasedfrom the 2000 Census that may havesome effect on future environmental pol-icy decisions. What follows is a briefreview of some recent demographicinformation – only a portion of which isenvironmental in nature – that may affectthe types of environmental choices facingfuture generations.

According to the 2000 Census:• Population growth was higher in the

West and the South and lower in theNorth and the East from 1990 to 2000.Every state’s population grew, amajority of Americans (54 percent)lived in the 10 most populous states,and the percentage of Americans liv-ing in metropolitan areas is now up tomore than 80 percent.

• Between 1990 and 2000, the numberof Hispanic residents increased by 57percent to 35.3 million, and half of allHispanics lived in just two states:California and Texas.

• The U.S. has more residents 80-and-over and has a population that is olderthan much of the rest of the world.

What links these three results? It ispossible that as the U.S. populationbecomes increasingly concentrated inmetropolitan areas, state and local gov-ernments will be forced to focus evenmore on land use and development issuesto respond to increasing populationdemands for housing, infrastructure, nat-ural resources and services. The myriadof environmental issues contributing todirecting metropolitan growth will likelygrow to dominate state and local land-useplanning even more than today.

States with higher populations maybecome increasingly focused on sustain-ing levels of economic performance andenvironmental practices. Conversely,states with shrinking population baseswill find it more difficult to continueenvironmental compliance staffing andactivities given lower general tax rev-enues available.

As Hispanic and other ethnic groupsgain political influence as a result of theirgrowing population, the substance of

environmental policy-making willchange. This could include more consid-eration of agricultural environmentaleffects – where a large percentage ofHispanics currently find employment –and may affect issues from water rightswith Mexico to air quality concerns inlarger southern and western states.

As more people live past the age of 65,an increasing percentage of every tax dol-lar generated may have to be spenttoward the maintenance of a retired pop-ulation, thereby edging out resources thatcould be otherwise devoted to environ-mental protection.

State officials are and should be present-ly engaged in identifying and integratingdisparate demographic developments intoenvironmental policies. Ours is a mobilesociety where demographic changes will,no doubt, continue to be increasingly rapid.Being alert to these developments – con-necting the dots – has to be a fundamentalpractice of state government, if not fortoday, certainly for tomorrow.

Environment: Today and tomorrow


State TrendsState Trends

rural America require elected officials todevelop integrated rural-developmentplans that include economic, educationand health issues.

Rural areas seeing increases in popula-tion are generally located in areas of thecountry that are encountering sprawl.However, urban growth and developmentare not a threat to national food and fiberproduction. Farms in metropolitan areasare an increasingly important segment ofU.S. agriculture, making up 33 percent ofall farms, 16 percent of all cropland andproducing 30 percent of the output. It isimportant to understand that due toincreasing contact with suburban neigh-bors and rising land values, these farmersoften have to change their operations toproduce higher-value products andundertake an urban-marketing orienta-tion. It is the expansion of large-lot sub-divisions in rural areas that threatenprime farmland and consume much moreland per house than does urban growth.Sprawl is a public issue in every region –over 3 million acres are converted annually – highlighting the growingimportance of farmland preservation inplanning and zoning decisions.

knowledge indicate a need to strengthenfood safety and security initiatives.

At an average age of 54, farmers aregetting older while the number of minor-ity owners and employees continues toincrease. The farms themselves havebeen changing dramatically, both in num-ber and size. Farms have been undergo-ing consolidation, with the average sizeincreasing from 420 acres in 1980 to 475acres in the 1997 Census. Total number offarms has decreased almost 20 percent inthe same time period, to just over 2 mil-lion today. Twenty-five percent of thenation’s largest farms produce 75 percentof the products.

The profitability crisis encountered bythe small- and middle-sized farms isreflected in the journey-to-work datafrom the 2000 Census. Commuting dis-tances are getting longer, and more peo-ple are driving alone. Commutingincreases are coming from rural areas,

where people are driving longer distancesacross less-congested roads. Most arerural residents who are commuting tojobs in suburban metro areas. Even withurban jobs for rural residents, the Censusalso showed that rural communities con-tinue to decline in population. Farm-dependent and rural counties that are notadjacent to metro areas appear to have adifficult challenge in finding ways todiversify their economies to createemployment opportunities that attractnew workers. The changes occurring in

The demographics of rural Americaare the demographics of farmers, retirees,commuters and food consumers. Theindustry responsible for the production offood from “gate to plate” is America’slargest industry. As of 1999, each farmerfeeds 96 other Americans and 20 foreign-ers, on 21 percent of the U.S. landmass.Americans are consuming more fruit,vegetables and grain products, eatingleaner meat, and consuming recordamounts of sweeteners and fats. Eachperson in America now eats more totalfood, more snacks, bigger portions andmore calories than they did 20 years ago.

In general, as income rises, consumerseat more meat with a wider variety of eth-nic foods, and demand more value-added,convenience foods. According to the U.S.Department of Agriculture’s NationalStatistics Services, Americans eat moremeals away from home, with 2000 fig-ures showing that approximately 45 per-

cent of the retail food dollar goes to foodeaten away from home. The price of thatfood continues to drop as a percentage ofdisposable income, with food expendi-tures at just over 10 percent in 2000.Farmers received approximately 23 per-cent of each retail dollar spent, but thelinkage between farm and retail pricescontinues to weaken, evidenced by thefact that the grain used to make breakfastcereal costs less than the carton that holdsit. Increasing globalization of the foodsupply and reduced home preparation

Agriculture: Integrating development plans


critical issues, emerging trends and best practices in state government State TrendsState Trendscritical issues, emerging trends and best practices in state government

Demographic trends in the U.S. pointto a consistent decentralization of resi-dential life. Therefore, cities will contin-ue to lose ground to suburbs and rapidlydeveloping communities on the peripheryof metro areas. As these areas capture themajority of economic and populationgrowth, the shifting population trendsfueling this movement of people and cap-ital are also contributing significantly toan increase in traffic congestion acrossthe country.

Currently, urban areas account for over72 percent of the U.S. population. Theseareas contain 23 percent of the total milesof roadway in the U.S., yet these roadsaccount for over 61 percent of all milesdriven in the U.S. On the whole, totaltravel for all motor vehicles increased to2.7 trillion miles in 2000, an increase of150 percent for the 30-year period since1970. Over the next 20 years, the U.S.

population is projected to increase by 50million, from 280 million to 330 million,and the number of registered and com-mercial vehicles is projected to increasesimilarly by 52 million. When consideredalongside a recent report by the TexasTransportation Institute (TTI), whichfound that the average U.S. driver sits instandstill traffic for more than 15 minuteseach day and the nationwide “rush-hour”period has grown by more than 55 per-cent since 1982 to seven hours each day,these numbers and future projectionspoint to a worsening trend.

As urban sprawl increases, jobs, hous-ing and services grow farther apart.Development patterns that require an auto-mobile trip for every errand force us todrive more every year to accomplish thesame things. In fact, according to a pastreport by the U.S. Department ofTransportation on travel behavior, more

than 70 percent of driving growth through-out the 1980s and early 1990s was causedby sprawl-related factors such as increasesin trip lengths, commute times and tripstaken, as well as switching to driving fromother forms of travel.

As many states are forced to addressissues of sprawl resulting from shiftingpopulation and suburban growth, an issuethat repeatedly rises to the surface is howto deal with the increasing level of trafficcongestion being seen on today’s road-ways. At odds, however, is the best wayto reduce congestion without sacrificingfuture mobility.

While traffic congestion problemsprompt many to point toward the simplesolution of increasing urban roadways,many question whether a larger highwaysystem would be the best solution.Supporters of increased investment inpublic transit maintain that transit is bet-ter for the environment and more energyefficient than automobile use. However,transit has one fatal shortcoming; rela-tively few people use it. In the U.S., tran-sit accounts for a very small fraction ofpassenger miles traveled while automo-bile use accounts for 99 percent of allpassenger miles traveled.

One thing is certain: major planningand investment in transportation infra-structure improvements will be neces-sary. As many people exercise their freedom to work, live, and travel wherethey choose, they also enjoy the freedomthat driving brings. Therefore, until asimilarly attractive and viable alternativecomes along, don’t expect traffic conges-tion to go away anytime soon.

The biggest concern for states will bethe loss of productivity that occurs withcongestion. The recent TTI report alsofound that in 2000, congestion cost theU.S. economy over $58.5 billion dollarsin lost productivity and $9 billion inwasted fuel. As congestion problemscontinue to increase, states will have tobecome more involved in transportationissues that have historically beenaddressed at the federal level. Future suc-cess in addressing transportation conges-tion issues will require cooperationacross governmental boundaries.

Infrastructure: Farther and farther apart

The SEI program is sponsored by theU.S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment through the U.S.-AsiaEnvironmental Partnership. US-AEP is apublic-private initiative that promotesenvironmentally sustainable developmentin Asia. US-AEP works in four programareas – policy, urban, industry and tech-nology cooperation – and embodies amodel of cooperative development thatencourages U.S. and Asian partnerships,engaging key decision-makers who affecteconomic change and environmentalawareness in Asia and the U.S. With awide range of partners – governments,nongovernmental organizations, acade-mia and the private sector – US-AEP hasbecome a flexible, responsive and costeffective vehicle for delivering timelyanswers to environmental questions.

The SEI projects are demonstratingthat the approaches that work for CSG’smembership – multi-level and multi-state

collaboration, public/private partnershipsand sustainable practices – also workwell in Asia.

“I have always felt imposed by theUSA because of its sheer size. However,when the Colorado-Malaysia programbegan, I could not help but feel that ‘It isonly Colorado after all.’ I think the suc-cess of this program … will have beenbecause of this strategy,” said ThayaKulenthran, president of GreenfieldsConsulting in Malaysia.

“Interorganizational collaborationbetween groups in Minnesota has beenenhanced. For example, our advisoryboard is unique in that it is the only forumthat brings together the economic development, environmental, trade and nonprofit sectors in Minnesota. Ourinvolvement has also enhancedMinnesota’s reputation as a serious andsuccessful player in the internationalenvironmental arena,” said Kevin


environmentenvironment

CSG’s State EnvironmentalInitiative exports best practices

BY KAREN MARSHALL AND AMANDA MAYS

Building capacityin Asia

The changing Asian culture is emphasized by traditional architecture sitting beside a modernhigh-rise building

or nearly a decade state governmentagencies have accepted the challenge

posed by The Council of StateGovernments’ State EnvironmentalInitiative to transfer the environmentaland economic development practicesthey perform so well at home to an inter-national landscape. Since 1994, stateshave led and assisted their counterparts in11 Asian countries with 44 projectsdesigned to improve environmental management in the industrial and urbansectors. SEI projects involved the devel-opment of policies and action plans, pilotdemonstrations, distributorships, trainingworkshops, feasibility studies and exten-sion centers. States have adapted theirprograms to complement Asian political,cultural and demographic characteristicsat every jurisdictional level.

The 24 states that applied successfullyto the SEI grants competitions havedeployed more than $5 million of programfunding and invested more than $11 mil-lion of their own resources in the cause.

“On the one hand, SEI brings to thedeveloping world community a consis-tent assistance of the U.S. government tothose emerging countries. On the otherhand, it helps U.S. companies expandtheir business globally. SEI Grant is aperfect place where the two countriesmeet on the basis of mutual benefit,” saidTran Luong Son, International Fellow atthe Kenan Institute.

FF


O’Donnell, Industry Advisor, MinnesotaTechnology, Inc.

The SEI program took the partnershipapproach one step further by sponsoringspecific consulting teams to solve partic-ular problems with the host countries.The lead state agencies organize teamsof government, NGO, academic and pri-vate sector players to provide a uniqueand targeted set of skills to tackle the sit-uation presented to them in Asia. Theteams then collaborate with specificpartners in the host country to fine-tuneand implement a project that willachieve the desired results.

Learning to fish

The SEI projects have conducteddozens of training workshops on subjects

such as environmental accounting, mate-rials productivity, air and water qualitymonitoring, public education and wastemanagement. However, to ensure that thetraining “sticks” and is passed on tofuture personnel, many projects incorpo-rate train-the-trainer techniques and in-country extension centers to providecontinuing professional development forthe Asian partners. Projects led byCalifornia, Hawaii, Tennessee andWashington have established extensioncenters at De La Salle University in thePhilippines, Chulalongkorn University inThailand, Hong Kong PolytechnicUniversity and the Philippines IndustrialTechnology Development Institute.

Seeing is believing

Pilot or technology demonstrations areimportant components for many of theSEI projects, providing potential usersthe chance to “kick the tires” on environ-mental equipment and processes theymay be interested in purchasing. The gen-eration of characterization and perform-ance-test data under local conditions overan extended period of time builds confi-dence in the available technologies andthe U.S. companies that back them.

The policy arena

As the implementers of extensive envi-ronmental policies, state-led teams haveprovided policy frameworks for topicssuch as environmental management sys-tems, greening the supply chain andmodel energy performance contracts. Thegrant-funded projects have developed amedical waste-management plan forNepal, an air-quality management planfor Chiang Mai, cleaner production plansfor four industrial organizations in

Malaysia and a business plan for cleanenergy in Taiwan. The partnerships haveactivated sister lakes, city andstate/province agreements to work at alllevels of government.

“Success and publicity with the US-AEP/CSG activity also helped us receivea two-year grant from the Office ofEnergy Efficiency and RenewableEnergy within the U.S. Department ofEnergy to pursue further studies in thePhilippines,” said Jim Dorian of theHawaii Department of Business,Economic Development and Tourism.

Conclusion

Key to the success of these projectshas been flexibility, relationship building,partner investment and sincere interest inachieving long-term solutions – factorsthat are often missing from big businesscontractual arrangements. CSG looks for-ward to continuing and expanding theengagement of the states and their envi-ronmental businesses as Asia pursues acleaner environment.

— Karen Marshall is a senior environ-mental policy analyst at The Council forState Governments and Amanda Mays isa research associate at The Council ofState Governments.

SEI grants to states 1994-2002Region Grant State Investment Number of States

SEI government partnersAgency U.S. Asian

Federal 6 15State 42 8Local 12 5

"We must get away from theold way of thinking and realizethat economic developmentand the environment are twosides of the same coin – forone to be strong, the othermust be just as strong. If weare to improve the quality oflife for our citizens – whetherin Maryland or in Asia – wemust improve our economyand protect the environmentand public health.The State ofMaryland has been honored toparticipate in this initiative.Our activities have ranged fromhelping to bring solar power toIndonesia and the SolomonIslands to working with thepeople of Thailand on air andwater quality issues, enablingMaryland to export our envi-ronmental technology, shareour environmental expertise,and enhance the quality of lifefor our fellow nations."

— Maryland Gov. and CSG president Parris N. Glendening.

$624,560$556,851

$1,612,072$2,598,790$5,392,273

$2,943,389$845,000

$3,519,165$3,973,402

$11,280,956

64

15934

East Midwest Southern WesternTotal:

sk high-level public officials howmuch time they are able to spend

thinking about long-term issues, and theanswers often range from “none” to “a fewmoments in the shower this morning.” Thefuture is simply too distant to commandmuch attention given the day-to-dayimperatives of government. As most peo-ple in government and business know toowell, operational issues continually pre-empt strategic thinking.

There are two fundamental problemswith avoiding long-term thinking and plan-ning. First, strategic thinking and actiontakes time. History shows that many of oursignificant public achievements in the pastdid not fit neatly into one-year budgetcycles or the two- to- four-year politicalcycles that normally shape governmentactions. Building the interstate highways,expanding the right to vote and securingsafe food and water have required decadesof work and cooperation by multiple par-ties, plus effective intergovernmental plan-ning (a list of the 50 GreatestAccomplishments of Government can befound at: http://www.brookings.org/-

comm/reformwatch/rw02.htm). By limit-ing our planning and budgeting cycles toshort increments, we effectively makesome long-range goals both unachievableand unthinkable. Rather than working on“desirable” long-term goals, we focus con-stantly on “doable” short-term actions.

Second, the world is simply moving toofast and has become too interconnected totolerate myopic government. If no publicinstitution is explicitly tasked to think long-term, or if public agencies do not conductregular foresight exercises, the future cansurprise us in painful ways, and it will.Without foresight, government is constant-ly playing catch-up and is forced to adapt –often poorly – to changes in technologies,demographics or economic conditions,rather than proactively shaping programsthat will produce better social, environ-mental and economic outcomes.

These challenges are especially acutefor state and local agencies. On one hand,

they are expected to deliver great achieve-ments; on the other, they often lack theresources needed to develop long-termstrategies. Our federalist system increas-ingly requires better intergovernmentalforesight, not just transferring money fromfederal agencies to state and local levels.

Beginning in 2001, the Foresight andGovernance Project at the WoodrowWilson International Center for Scholarsworked with the National Academy ofPublic Administration and The Councilof State Governments to design and con-vene a workshop to explore state andregional foresight capacity. The workshop brought together over a dozenpractitioners who shared their experiences in dealing with long-termissues and grappled with the follow-ing questions:

• What tools and analytical techniquescan we use to better understand the future?


state foresightstate foresight

AA

State foresight is a key tool in planning for upcoming challenges

BY SUELLEN KEINER, DAVID REJESKIAND CARLY WOBIG

Facing the future

Rick Minard from the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies, Mark Pritchett from theCollins Center of Public Policy in Florida, and Donna Fletcher of EPA listen to a presentation onHomeland Security issues by Randall Yim, Director of the National Preparedness Team at theGeneral Accounting Office.

“The sense of the future isbehind all good politics.Unless we have it, we givenothing either wise or decent to the world.”

— C.P. Snow


• How can we encourage policy-makersto pay greater attention to long-termissues?

• How can we better communicate withthe public and other constituenciesabout future issues?

• How should we evaluate foresightactivities?

• What next steps can we take toimprove intergovernmental foresight?

The workshop participants identified thetracking of key trends as a crucial foresightfunction and discussed a variety of tech-niques that could be applied to this task,ranging from modeling to literature sur-veys. According to Tom Covington,Executive Director of the North CarolinaProgress Board, “Doers need informationabout potential changes for their specificcommunities; we use GIS and other graph-ics to show decision-makers how condi-tions will change in the future, as well asfinancial projections about what futuretrends will cost local agencies and taxpay-ers.” Participants agreed that the processof developing long-range plans is oftenmore important than the printed docu-ments. The planning process has other,often overlooked, implications. Forinstance, Oregon found that managementtraining was needed to help state employ-ees learn how to implement the OregonBenchmarks by articulating goals, devel-oping strategies and choosing measures ofperformance.

Getting the attention of the policy-mak-ers and alerting them to important informa-tion is a considerable challenge, because“there is a box of material dumped at theirdoor daily,” observed Michael Childress,Director of the Kentucky Long-TermPolicy Research Center. Policy-makersmay reject reports and recommendationsthat seem to be biased; so forecasters mustprotect their credibility by presenting fore-casts or scenarios in neutral terms andavoiding taking advocacy positions vis-à-vis issues. However, recommendations thatare too general are not useful and will bediscarded immediately unless they can bedistilled to a few concrete facts.Uncertainty plagues most foresight workand can be dealt with by using scenarios orpresenting ranges for forecasts.

Workshop participants also shared bestpractices for communicating with thepublic. All agreed that forecasters have a

special role to educate the public aboutupcoming challenges. Like policy-mak-ers, the public and the media need easilyunderstood explanations. Peopleresearching long-range issues need aportfolio of approaches that can keep thepublic engaged and the policy-makersaccountable. For example, Oregon’sBenchmarks report publicly the grades ofOregon agencies each year on progresstoward their goals.

Another panel addressed the hardestquestion: how do forecasters know if theyare making a difference? The rewards oflong-term planning are usually not appar-ent until years have passed, nor can imme-diate, tangible results from strategic plansbe demonstrated. Utah has initiated“Governor’s Awards” for quality growthand uses the media to recognize awardwinners. Utah’s planners use the number ofapplicants for the award as an indicator ofthe difference they are making.

Beyond the obvious trends, the events ofSept. 11 demonstrated that all levels ofgovernment need to be better prepared forthe unexpected. Deborah Spagnoli of theOffice of Intergovernmental Affairs at theWhite House spoke to the group about theessential role of state and local govern-ments in combating terrorism and ensuringhomeland security. She emphasized thechallenges to improve communicationamong local and state governments in allfour priority areas for homeland security:first responders, secure borders, bioterror-ism and information sharing. Randall Yim,Director of the National PreparednessTeam at the General Accounting Officepointed out that “when threats are so dif-fuse and unstructured, ‘hyborgs’ (hybridorganizations) like terrorist groups can bemore adaptable to change than standardgovernment agencies.”

At the end of the workshop participantsdiscussed the need for a State-RegionalForesight Consortium that would bringtogether and support public officials whocarry out strategic planning and long-rangepolicy analysis at state and multi-state lev-els. The Foresight Consortium wouldestablish a “community of practice”uniquely focused on building the capacityof these government entities to identify andplan for long-term challenges. TheConsortium would also build links toappropriate federal entities and create a

national network to accomplish the follow-ing goals:

• Build greater support for long-termplanning – Educate public officials,opinion leaders, and citizens about thevalue of long-term planning; showhow integrated foresight efforts canresult in improved policy-making;share success stories; and explain howlong-term planning has helped com-munities, states and regions deal suc-cessfully with coming challenges.

• Highlight critical issues – Spot trendsand emerging issues by scanning keyinformation sources (governmentstudies, periodicals, research journals,private and academic think tankreports, etc.); collect and disseminatereports by Consortium members; ana-lyze critical issues; and provide weblinks to articles, studies, researchreports and/or contacts for additionalinformation.

• Disseminate foresight tools and bestpractices – Build skills by sharinginformation on successful tools, tech-niques, and methodologies for conducting long-range planning,including models, geographic infor-mation systems (GIS), public involve-ment approaches, and emerging forecasting methodologies.

• Identify and address commonresearch needs – Support Consort-ium members as they work withappropriate agencies and organiza-tions to research emerging and futureissues of common concern.

• Develop methods to evaluate long-range planning – Assess the effec-tiveness of long-range planning andwork to integrate these measures intoperformance-based management ofpublic agencies.

For more information, please see:http://www.globalforesight.org/stateforesight.htm

— Suellen Keiner is the director of theCenter for the Economy and Environmentat the National Academy of PublicAdministration. David Rejeski is the direc-tor of the Foresight and GovernanceProject at the Woodrow Wilson Center forScholars and Carly Wobig is the specialassistant to the director.

fforts to increase the use of renew-able energy in the United States

have drawn little attention over the lastdecade, but recent events are providingevidence of a shift in policy that wouldenhance the use of alternative sources.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,resulted in a growing interest in reducingthe United States’ reliance on foreign oilreserves. State officials are expressingconcerns over the transportation and stor-age of nuclear waste, and the environ-mental consequences of coal and oilexploration. Both the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission and the U.S.Congress are considering proposals thatwould enhance the role of renewables inelectricity production. States are develop-ing policies and incentives to assist in thecommercialization of renewable energy.

Transforming to a ‘super’ grid

In order for any renewable energyproject to be successful, it must be able toconnect to the electrical grid and sellpower. These suppliers can also be con-sumers (referred to as net metering). Thecurrent electric power system is designedfor one-way power flow, where power istransmitted from a central generatingplant to the consumer. This configurationbecomes more complicated with theintroduction of power from thousands ofsystems into the grid.

A transformation of this huge, central-ized power system to a “super-grid” thataccommodates smaller, distributed ener-gy systems will be necessary. This willrequire more sophisticated technologies

and standards for the operation and safe-ty of interconnections between distrib-uted resources and existing electricpower systems. Currently, connectivitystandards vary widely. Many electrical-grid operators have rules that make con-nection or sale by intermittent powersources difficult. According to E3Energy, these disparate rules mean thatdistributed generation systems have high-er costs because they must be custom-designed for each utility. New rules proposed by FERC are designed to pro-vide fair access for power generators.

Efforts are underway in several statesto facilitate the deployment of renewablesources of energy. Some approachesemployed by states to promote renewableenergy development include RenewablePortfolio Standards (RPS), net meteringregulations, public benefit funds andfinancial incentives.

• Renewable Portfolio Standards.Thirteen states have implementedRPS. This flexible, market-based

policy requires that a certain percent-age of a utility’s generating capacityor sales come from renewablesources. Utilities can use a variety ofsources to meet this obligation: Theycan generate the renewable electrici-ty themselves; they can purchasefrom another generator; or they canpurchase credits from others whohave exceeded the standard. Theimportant point is that utilities canchoose the option. RPS, coupledwith state and federal subsidies, havebeen credited with making Texas oneof the leading wind producers in thecountry. Texas’ RPS called for newrenewable-capacity targets of 400megawatts by 2005 and 2,000megawatts by 2009. Currently, Texashas over 1,000 megawatts of windpower installed, putting it well aheadof schedule. Similarly, Nevada’sRPS mandates that 15 percent of thestate’s electricity come from renew-able sources by 2013.


energyenergy

EE

States lead the movementtoward renewable energysources

BY BARRY HOPKINS, CAROLYN ORR AND SCOTT RICHARDS

Alternate power

Solar energy, tapped from panels on buildings, is one of the more well-known alternative energy sources.


• Net metering. Regulations permit-ting customers who generate elec-tricity using renewable sources tosell excess energy back to their localutility have been adopted by thirty-five states. Net metering involves asingle, bidirectional meter that tracksthe flow of electricity both to andfrom the customer. Most states placea limit on the amount of electricitythat can be sold back to the utility,usually under 25 kilowatts for resi-dential units and under 100 kilowattsfor commercial and agriculturalunits. Ohio and Iowa do not have asize limit, but California has set itslimit at 1000 kilowatts, enough topower over 200 homes.

• Public benefits funds. Fifteen stateshave developed state-level renew-able energy programs that use a systems benefits charge to supportpublic benefit funds, which invest inrenewable technologies. The chargeis usually very small and applied toall customers based on energy con-sumption. Typically, public benefitsfunds support four key areas: low-income energy assistance, energyefficiency improvements, renewableenergy development and clean ener-gy research and development.California has the highest level offunding, around $135 million peryear. By 2012, these funds will gen-erate more than $4 billion for thedevelopment of renewable energy.

• Financial incentives. States haveemployed a number of financialincentives to help stimulate therenewable market. Some states seethe renewable energy industry asessential to their economic develop-ment and have developed industrialrecruitment plans offering incen-tives. Michigan created theNextEnergy Zone, a 700-acre, state-owned economic development areafor renewable energy. In Gov. JohnEngler’s announcement, he exempli-fied how political leaders attitudestoward renewable energy are begin-ning to shift, saying the state’s goalis to accelerate the commercializa-tion of these technologies andbecome the world headquarters forrenewable energy. Ohio established

similar goals when Gov. Robert Taftrevealed the state’s Third FrontierProject, a 10-year, $1.6 billion planto promote high-tech research. Overthree years, $100 million will gotoward making Ohio a leader in fuelcells. Other states are focusing onbiomass and rural developmentopportunities.

Renewable biomass fuels such as poul-try litter, switchgrass and corn used to co-fire electrical generators providevalue-added market opportunities forfarmers and economic developmentoptions for rural communities. The U.S.Department of Agriculture has estimatedthat biomass fuels could replace half ofthe nation’s gasoline consumption andthat 17,000 jobs are created for every bil-lion gallons of ethanol produced. Corn-derived ethanol is blended with gasolineat levels of between 5 percent and 85 per-cent, and diesel from soy or animal fat isalso available. Marketing of corn andsoybeans through ethanol or diesel pro-duction increases the demand and thevalue of our nation’s top row crops.

The Chariton Valley Biomass project,funded by the U.S. Department ofEnergy, IES utilities and Iowa StateUniversity, currently uses switchgrassfrom over 4,000 acres of Iowa farmlandwith coal for co-firing a generator.Producing from 3 to 5 tons of switchgrassper acre provides an income of up to $200per acre for farmers.

In California, a number of incentivesexist as part of the state’s continued effortsto increase biomass usage for power. Gov.Gray Davis has offered $11 million ingrants to encourage farmers to take part inthe conversion of agriculture biomass toenergy. Landfills using gas to produceelectricity have access to over $600,000 inincentive funds. California is also a part ofa multi-state effort to develop a small,modular generator able to use a variety ofbiofuels. Inland Empire Utilities Agencyin Chino is converting manure from 3,700dairy cows into 210,000 cubic feet of bio-gas per day. This fuels the generation of500 kilowatts of energy per day. Not onlyis this project an environmental success,preventing four tons of salts and nitratesfrom entering the watershed daily, it alsoproduces 135 tons of organic fertilizer andis economically sound.

Iowa milk producer Roger Decker isusing the manure from his cows to gener-ate 130 kilowatts of electricity, enough topower 20 homes per day.

Even wind power creates value-addedmarkets for rural communities. In addi-tion to lease payments for wind genera-tors, some communities report increasesin tourism dollars when tour groups visit“wind farms.”

New technology is bringing renewableenergy closer to being economicallycompetitive with conventional alterna-tives. Government involvement – onboth the state and federal levels – will bea necessary catalyst to drive the move-ment forward.

— Barry Hopkins is the lead infrastructurepolicy analyst; Carolyn Orr is the leadagriculture analyst; and Scott Richards isthe chief environmental policy analyst atThe Council of State Governments.

In September, the differencesbetween House and Senateenergy legislation were stillbeing resolved in conference.Senate Energy and NaturalResources Chair Jeff Bingaman(D-NM) and House Energy andCommerce Committee ChairBilly Tauzin (R-LA) are over-seeing the Conference Report.The Senate included aRenewable Portfolio Standardrequiring 10 percent of a utili-ty’s energy come from renew-able resources, while the Houseversion did not include this pro-vision. Other differencesinvolve tax credits for wind-and wood-burning energysources. While both versionsextend the 2003 deadline for a1.5-cent per kilowatt-hour taxcredit, the versions differ on thedollar amount of the tax break.Also under consideration is arequirement for the federalgovernment to derive 7.5 per-cent of its energy from renew-able resources by 2010.

Federal energy bill

ven in times of plenty, rural areasendure insufficient funding and per-

sonnel for health care services. Now withtougher economic times and shrinkingresources, state and local officials arefinding innovative ways to overcome thepersistent challenges that rural healthcare in America faces.

That was the overriding message of arecent workshop on rural health policysponsored by the User Liaison Program(ULP) of the Agency for HealthcareResearch and Quality for state and localpolicy-makers in the summer of 2002.Policy-makers and national experts at themeeting discussed emerging challenges toproviding rural health care in light of cur-rent budget realities. With the July 2002release of the U.S. Department of Healthand Human Services Rural Task Forcereport, “One Department Serving RuralAmerica,” new weight is being given tothe needs of rural health policy at both thefederal and state levels (see sidebar).

What makes rural America different

More than 20 percent of the Americanpopulation lives in rural areas, yet mosthealth care services are located in urbanareas. Between 1990 and 2000, the popu-lation living in rural areas grew from 61million to 65 million people, according tothe U.S. Department of Agriculture’sEconomic Research Service. However,most of this growth was concentrated in a

small number of counties adjacent tourban areas. Geographic isolation anddiffuse populations present unique chal-lenges to policy-makers concerned withusing scarce resources to meet the needsof rural residents.

The smaller, more dispersed popula-tion of rural areas in comparison to urbanareas makes any service provision moreexpensive due to complex logistics andthe difficulties of achieving economies ofscale. Compounding this problem, ruralcommunities tend to be poorer, areincreasingly diverse ethnically, have ahigher proportion of seniors and havelimited economic opportunities. Thesefactors all increase the need for healthand social services.

In spite of the persistent stereotype thatrural areas are dominated by agriculture,the truth is that rural America is increas-ingly dependent upon other sources ofincome. Health care is a significant por-tion of rural economies, making up asmuch as 20 percent of income andemployment, according to the HHS Rural

Task Force report. Rural leaders increas-ingly recognize that maintaining healthcare and other key services is critical for


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Perc

ent

1996 1997 199

Figure 1: Ho

*Thirteen percent of hospitalshave available data

Source: Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI)

healthhealth

EE

Rural health policy:Stretching resources in tough times

BY TRUDI MATTHEWS

Surmounting the challenges

Health needs for rural America are being examined at all levels of government.

attracting and maintaining economicopportunities in rural communities.

Key issues in rural health policy

State leaders identified a number ofchallenges for rural health care in theirstates. State Rep. Robert Cannell ofArizona sees lack of affordable healthinsurance as a particularly difficult prob-lem for his state’s rural areas, where thereis little or no access to managed care,drug coverage or Medicare HMOs.Arizona’s hospitals and other providersmust also deal with a greater proportionof illegal immigrants and high levels ofuncompensated care.

Dr. David Palm, program coordinatorof Nebraska’s Health and Human ServicesSystem, said providing mental healthservices was a big challenge in Nebraska.“Of 535 communities, 90 percent haveless than 2,500 people, and 70 percenthave less than 1,000,” Palm said. “Wedon’t have a critical mass for services.”

Another priority for Nebraska is tobuild a comprehensive, coordinated pub-lic health system. Public health services,such as immunizations and infectious-disease surveillance, were previouslycontracted out to a variety of organiza-tions with gaps in services in some areasand duplication of services in others.“Without the capacity to assess environ-

mental risks, infectious disease outbreakscould be a nightmare,” said Palm.

Nancy Tyler, Counsel for WestVirginia’s House of Delegates, findsworkforce shortages and medical mal-practice insurance costs to be the biggestthreats to West Virginia’s rural health caresystem. “West Virginia is losingproviders,” said Tyler. “And there are nospecialists in major portions of the state.”

Russ McDaid, Deputy Director of the Governor’s Policy Office inPennsylvania, echoed Tyler’s sentiments.“We have gone beyond a maldistributionto legitimate shortages in our rural areas,”said McDaid. Regarding the impact of themedical liability crisis in Pennsylvania,McDaid said, “One more malpracticeclaim for some providers and they are outof business, because they operate onrazor thin margins.”

The Oklahoma Department of Healthis unique in that it serves exclusively thenon-urban areas of the state. Although thestate coordinates efforts with city healthdepartments in Tulsa and Oklahoma City,the urban areas manage their publichealth systems separately. From this van-tage point, Stephen Ronck, DeputyCommissioner for the Oklahoma StateDepartment of Health, sees personalhealth care services, especially prenatalcare, as a key priority for his agency.“Processing plants in Oklahoma’s ruralareas have attracted a lot of immigrantlabor,” said Ronck. This reality has meant“higher infant mortality rates in the stateand has put pressure on the public healthsystem to respond.”

Access, affordability and rising health care costs

The job market and financial resourcesof rural communities often result in moreuninsured and underinsured individuals,according to the HHS Rural Task Forcereport. “Financial access is a real con-cern, with health care costs on the rise,”said Nebraska’s David Palm. “The out-look does not look good financially and itis especially hard on rural areas.”

Rural workers are almost twice as like-ly to receive minimum wage as urbanworkers, according to the Rural PolicyResearch Institute. Greater rates of pover-ty and unemployment, a higher proportion

of low-wage, less-skilled jobs, and small-er-sized businesses mean that employer-sponsored insurance is often not offeredand reliance upon public health insuranceis higher. Rural areas also have more sen-iors who cannot afford or do not haveaccess to prescription drug coverage.

North Carolina has used its enhancedMedicaid managed care programs, AccessII and III, to enhance access, control costsand improve care. Access II uses primarycare case management with disease man-agement and care coordination as addedcomponents. Access III also includes anintegrated delivery system. Initial datafrom North Carolina show lower emer-gency room costs, lower increases in costsoverall and better outcomes in Access IIand III, than in the traditional primarycare case management program, Access I.


98 1999 2000*

spital margins based on typeTotal margin

CAH group (all)Small rural hospitals (never CAH)Other rural hospitals

On July 25, 2001, Secretaryof HHS Tommy Thompsoncharged all HHS agencies withenhancing services to ruralAmerica. To carry out theSecretary’s charge, HHS creat-ed a Rural Task Force thatbrought together officials fromits agencies in a unified effortto develop strategies for remov-ing barriers and improvingservices to rural communities.

One year later, Thompsonreleased the Rural Task Force’sreport, “One DepartmentServing Rural America,” out-lining the challenges facingrural areas as well as providingrecommendations to HHS forimprovement. Thompson alsoannounced the availability of$46 million in grant funding toimprove health care and socialservices for the 65 millionAmericans living in rural areas.The report, grant informationand more on HHS’ Rural Task Force is available atwww.ruralhealth.hrsa.gov.

HHS Rural Task Force


Based on this success, North Carolina isexpanding Access II and III statewide toinclude rural areas, according to PamSilverman of the Cecil Sheps Center at theUniversity of North Carolina.

Arizona is tackling the issues concern-ing the affordability and access to insur-ance in a number of ways, according toRep. Cannell. Arizona has been approvedfor a Health Insurance Flexibility andAccountability (HIFA) waiver from HHSthat will cover parents of childrenenrolled in the State Children’s HealthInsurance Program. Other recommenda-tions include self-insuring state employ-ees, which would be particularly benefi-cial to state employees in rural areas.Arizona is also looking at forming ahealth care group for individuals andsmall businesses with the state paying thecost of reinsurance.

Texas passed three pieces of legisla-tion in 2001 (SB 789, SB 1536 and HB2700) to expand the use of telemedicinefor Medicaid recipients in rural areas.With enhanced reimbursement inMedicaid for telemedicine services,Texas is seeking to increase access to spe-cialty care while avoiding unnecessarypatient transfers, reducing long traveltimes, and maintaining the financialhealth of local providers, according toNora Cox Taylor of the Texas Health andHuman Services Commission.

Another challenge facing states is thefinancial viability of rural providers.“Rural hospitals have the same basic cost

structure as their urban counterparts,”said McDaid. Yet, rural hospitals typical-ly must spread fixed costs across fewerpatients, resulting in much lower operat-ing margins. In addition, Medicare pays47 percent of rural hospital care com-pared to 36 percent for urban areas,according to the Medicare PaymentAdvisory Commission’s June 2001report. Because Medicare payments gen-erally do not allow for inefficiencies inensuring minimum access to services, thehigher volume of Medicare patients hurtsrural providers disproportionately.

Medical malpractice costs are alsoproblematic for rural hospitals in stateslike Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Nevadaand Mississippi. A significant jump inmalpractice insurance premiums canmean the difference between profitabilityand eventual bankruptcy.

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997authorized the Medicare Rural HospitalFlexibility Program (Flex). This programencouraged statewide planning, allowedcost-based reimbursement to hospitalsthat meet Critical Access Hospital (CAH)criteria, encouraged the development ofrural health networks, enhanced fundingfor emergency medical services and sup-ported quality improvement programs inrural health systems.

The Flex program and particularlyCAH designation have significantlyimproved the financial health of manyrural hospitals. (See figure 1) But, evenwith the Flex program, rural hospitals stillface tremendous financial challenges.“Decreases in federal funding mean thathospitals above critical access designa-tion, but that are not tertiary, face more ofa challenge to survive,” said Tyler.

Another avenue for strengthening ruralhospitals is through rural networks.Networking helps smaller rural providersshare resources and achieve economies ofscale, thus lowering costs throughincreased volume or spreading of fixedcosts across a larger group. Examples ofrural networking include outsourcing oflaundry services, housekeeping, billingand collections and other services; jointcontinuing medical education, trainingand credentialing of providers; andshared employee benefits and providernetworks. “We have strong rural net-works that share resources and our hospi-

tal system has a group purchasing systemthat saves money,” said Tyler. WestVirginia is starting a rural health associa-tion, to add its voice to public policy dis-cussions that concern rural areas.

Under the Robert Wood JohnsonFoundation Turning Point initiative,Nebraska spent two years assessing itspublic health system and developing astate public health plan. The result was alegislative initiative passed in May 2001,LB 692, which established a statewide,coordinated system of multi-county publichealth departments.

Public health functions, such as diseaseprevention, health promotion, and diseasesurveillance, have traditionally beenunderfunded by the states. However, withnew emphasis and additional funding forterrorism preparedness, states are reexam-ining their public health infrastructure toensure that they have the capacity torespond effectively to attacks. For ruralareas this has meant a renewed focus onpublic health functions and increasedavailability of emergency medical servic-es. Previously, financing problems haveslowed the development of EMS systemsand 911 capabilities in rural areas. A vari-ety of federal grant programs and the fed-eral Rural Hospital Flexibility Programhave helped to provide funding forenhanced EMS in rural areas.

Rural workforce shortages

According to HHS, only 9 percent ofphysicians practiced in rural areas in2001 despite the fact that more than 20percent of the population lives in ruralareas, and rural populations contain ahigher proportion of elderly individuals.Rural areas have also traditionally reliedon international medical graduates formany underserved areas. With increasedscrutiny of visas for foreign visitors fol-lowing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, theflow of international medical graduateshas slowed with as much as a 20 percentdrop possible, according to Dr. TomRicketts of the Sheps Center.

The current shortage of nurses, phar-macists and other practitioners hits ruralareas particularly hard. These areas donot have the funds to increase wages oroffer more benefits to attract and retainhealth care workers in rural areas.

AHEC – Area Health Edu-cation CenterCAH – Critical Access HospitalEMS – Emergency MedicalServicesHHS – U.S. Department ofHealth and Human ServicesMUA – Medically UnderservedAreaMUP – Medically UnderservedPopulationHPSA – Health ProfessionalShortage Area

Rural health glossary


as a reduction in the stigma associatedwith seeking mental health services.

Facing budget challenges

The current budget shortfall in manystates has forced state officials to thinkoutside the box when it comes to meetingrural health needs. “We are in wait-and-see mode,” said Ronck. “We are notadding anything new unless there is fed-eral money to do it.” On the other hand,he added, “People in public health are theunsung heroes who strive to help peoplein their communities. They don’t worrytoo much about dollars and cents.”

Russ McDaid echoed Ronck’s senti-ments. “Nothing stimulates the imagina-tion as a difficult budget year,” saidMcDaid, “We need to be intellectuallyinnovative.”

— Trudi Matthews is the chief health policy analyst at The Council of StateGovernments.

and retention of health care workers,through health career programs and community-based clinical training.Scholarships and tax credits are otherpolicy options for alleviating rural healthworker shortages.

For mental health services, there is amix of approaches. In Nebraska, the stateand the Center for Rural Affairs have part-nered to provide training on rural issues tohotline workers and mental health work-ers. Wyoming’s state hospital has devel-oped a practice circuit for its staff psychiatrists to extend services around thestate. Oregon has a telemedicine partner-ship with the Oregon Health SciencesCenter, primary care clinics and mentalhealth providers in remote areas of thestate. In the Upper Peninsula region ofMichigan, the approach integrated pri-mary care and mental health services byrelocating behavioral health staff fromoutpatient clinics to family practice clin-ics. This shift resulted in increased refer-rals and reduced costs for services as well

Because of the chronic shortages ofmental health workers in rural areas, mostrural residents receive mental health serv-ices from their primary care providers.More than 90 percent of psychiatrists andpsychologists work in urban areas, accord-ing to Dennis Mohatt of the Mental HealthProgram of the Western InterstateCommission for Higher Education.

States are looking at an array ofoptions to deal with the workforce chal-lenges in rural areas. Pennsylvania, likemany other states, has a loan forgive-ness/repayment program for physicians,nurses and other practitioners who prac-tice in rural areas. McDaid stressed thatthe use of physician extenders – physi-cian assistants, certified nurse practition-ers and the like – are especially importantin rural areas to alleviate the shortage inprimary care providers. States may con-sider offering loan programs to otherhealth professionals besides doctors.

Some states are using their AreaHealth Education Centers for recruitment

■ States with up to 15 certified CAHs■ States with 16-30 certified CAHs■ States with 31-55 certified CAHs■ States that are not participating or are not eligible to participate

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NH MA RI CT NJ DE MD DC

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Certified Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) September 2001

The states with approved states plans are shown in blue along with the number of the number ofcertified CAHs. Some states — AL, AZ, CT, MD, SC, UT have submitted a state plan, but do notcurrently have any certified critical access hospitals. Source: North Carolina Rural HealthResearch Program. Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of NorthCarolina at Chapel Hill, September 2001.

The User Liaison Program(ULP), a division within theAgency for Healthcare Researchand Quality (AHRQ) of the U.S.Department of Health andHuman Services (HHS), synthe-sizes and disseminates objectivehealth policy research for stateand local policy makers so theycan make more informed deci-sions. The ULP program servesas a bridge between state andlocal policy-makers and thehealth services research commu-nity by holding workshops andaudio teleconferences, provid-ing web-based tools and infor-mation for policy-makers, andby bringing back to the Agency research questions from policy-makers. For more information on the ULP pro-gram, go to its Web site athttp://www.ahrq.gov/news/ulpix.htm or send an email [email protected].

AHRQ User LiaisonProgram


The need for state employees to fill the gap left by retiringemployees is already a problem, and the composition of thecurrent workforce signals an employee shortage crisis in amajority of states in the near future.

Budget cuts have forced new spending limitations on manystate agencies. Twenty-seven states have enforced mandatoryhiring limitations or outright hiring freezes. If these hiring lim-

itations remain in effect for a signif-icant period of time, the lack of newstate employees would perpetuatethe state worker shortage crisis.

Recent data collection shows theeffects of the hiring limitations withrespect to the percent of vacant posi-tions in state government. The CSGsurvey shows that more than 11 per-cent of state government jobs arevacant. More than half the statesresponding cited vacancy ratesabove the national average, includ-

ing Alaska at 21.6 percent and South Carolina at more than 16percent. With its turnover rate of more than 9 percent, SouthCarolina could have 15,000 open positions next year if its hir-ing freeze remains in effect. Furthermore, if an estimated 30percent of the South Carolina state workforce retires in 2006,the state could be on the verge of a major staffing crisis.

Some good news for states appears in the 10.6 percentturnover rate for state employees in 2002. While the rate is nothigh by industry standards, it dropped from 2001 to 2002. Still,because of hiring freezes in many states, the turnover rateshows a reduction in the number of employees. Thus, theseconditions have the potential to aggravate future state workershortage problems.

While 75 percent of the states have long-term plans toaddress this state personnel crisis, states should continue tomonitor workforce statistics and reevaluate their personnelstrategies regularly. Sharing creative approaches to solving thisproblem across state borders can strengthen the state work-force as a whole. CSG is partnering with NASPE to produce aTrendsAlert report that will provide a state-by-state review ofbest practices to facilitate this process.

James Carroll is the Southern regional coordinator for TheCouncil of State Governments, and David Moss is a researchanalyst for The Council of State Governments.

he National Association of State Personnel Executivesestimates that state governments could lose more than 30percent of their workforce by 2006. Although many

states have yet to experience a worker shortage, a recent sur-vey by The Council of State Governments reveals several fac-tors – the rate of employee retirement, the composition of thecurrent state workforce and budget problems – that combinewith current labor conditions toforeshadow a crisis.

The number of state employeeseligible to retire varies widelyamong the states, with some hav-ing significantly high rates. Atleast three states could lose over 40percent of their workforce almostimmediately, if early-retirementworkers are included. Despite lownumbers in some states, more than21 percent of the entire state gov-ernment workforce could retirethis year.

Estimates regarding the future rates of employee retirementare even higher. Analysts calculate these rates based on thecomposition of the present workforce and factors such as theaverage age and years of service of current employees.According to survey data, at least 10 states (Iowa, Kansas,Montana, North Dakota, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma,Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington) risk sufferingsevere worker shortages within 10 years.

Like the private-sector workforce, the average age of thestate government workforce is steadily climbing. The babyboomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964) comprisesthe largest portion of the U.S. labor force. In fact, the nationalaverage age of the state government workforce falls in the cen-ter of this generation’s age range.

Average years of service can be a double-edged sword forany public or private sector organization. The workforce gainsexperience and institutional knowledge each year, but as a sig-nificant portion of the qualified workforce begins to seekretirement, a less-experienced workforce remains. The data forthe average years of service by state employees highlights theimpending state worker shortage problem. The national aver-age is 11.2 years, but states should plan now for this number toincrease steadily. The Midwest leads with the most experi-enced workforce – every state in the region reported an aver-age of more than 10 years.

trendsalert

TStates face worker shortage crisis

BY JAMES CARROLL and DAVID MOSS

The average age of the state government workforceis steadily climbing.


Lieutenant Governors get new face(s)!

excellence in action: spotlighting CSG activities, events, resources and affiliated organizations.

The National Lieutenant GovernorsAssociation begins this year with newofficers, a new Web site and more than 20new lieutenant governors to be elected inNovember.

“It is my goal over the next year tostrengthen NLGA and increase its valueto our members and conference associ-ates by providing a forum for discussionof key issues, an exchange of best prac-tices and a greater profile for LieutenantGovernors overall,” said 2002-03 NLGAChair Charles J. Fogarty, lieutenant gov-ernor of Rhode Island.

To that end, NLGA is showcasing anew Web site at http://www.nlga.us. ThisWeb site strives to efficiently serve thediverse needs of lieutenant governors byposting key information on topics com-monly handled by those in the office.Updates will include the topics of eco-nomic development, elections, leader-ship, fiscal forecasts, health care, parlia-mentary procedure and much more.

As a result largely of term limits andretirements, at least 20 new lieutenantgovernors will be elected in the upcom-ing election. “To increase the strength ofthe organization and to provide profes-sional resources immediately to thesemembers, NLGA will reach out to thesenew lieutenant governors, encouragingthem to join and become active mem-

bers,” said Fogarty. New lieutenant gov-ernor training will occur December 2-3,2002, and Director Julia Hurst will pro-vide details ([email protected]).

The NLGA officers for 2002-03include: Chair – Lt. Gov. Charles J.Fogarty, Rhode Island; Chair-elect – Lt.Gov. Karl Ohs, Montana; Treasurer – Lt.Gov. Brad Owen, Washington; EasternRegion Chair – Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell,Connecticut; Midwestern Region Chair –Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson, Iowa; SouthernRegion Chair – Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck,Mississippi; and Western Region Chair –Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, Nevada.

NLGA 2002- 03 Officers: Chair-elect Lt. Gov.Karl Ohs of Montana, Southern Region ChairLt. Gov. Amy Tuck of Mississippi, Chair Lt.Gov. Charles J. Fogarty of Rhode Island, andEx-officio officer Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin ofOklahoma.

NEMA holds bioterrorism teleconferenceOn August 13, 2002, CSG joined with

the National Emergency ManagementAssociation (NEMA), to host a “NationalTeleconference on Bioterrorism: Lessonsand Practices in Cooperative Planning forBioterrorist Events.” During the 90-minuteteleconference, experts from the fields ofemergency management and public healthdiscussed best practices, integrated plan-ning, response, communication and othercritical issues facing health officials, emer-gency managers and first responders at thelocal, state, and national level.

Former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmoreopened the conference, referencing his

work as Chair of the advisory panel toassess domestic response capabilities forterrorism involving weapons of massdestruction (also known as the GilmoreCommission). Afterward, moderatorGeorge Foresman, Deputy Assistant to theGovernor for CommonwealthPreparedness, Virginia, led a discussionamong the four panelists: Jerry Hauer,Assistant Secretary (Acting), Office of theAssistant Secretary for Public HealthPreparedness, U.S. Department of Healthand Human Services; Peter LaPorte,Director, District of Columbia EmergencyManagement Agency; Mary Selecky,

Secretary, Washington State Department ofHealth and President-Elect of theAssociation of State and Territorial HealthOfficers (ASTHO); and MichaelChamness, Director, Illinois EmergencyManagement Agency.

Atranscript of the teleconference, speak-er slides and biographies, and an issuesbrief summarizing the highlights of theteleconference are available on the telecon-ference website: http://www.csg.org/bioterrorismteleconference.htm. For moreinformation contact Jenny Sewell, CSGhealth policy analyst, at (859) 244-8154 [email protected].

Midwest holdsannual meeting

Midwestern states’ legislativeservice agency directors and stafftook part in several interactiveand informative sessions duringtheir annual meeting, held Sept.27-28 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Nonpartisan legislative sup-port personnel from the regionexamined strategies for new-leg-islator orientations, as well asissues related to transitioning toelectronic publication and usingstatistics in research. The annualmeeting also featured profession-al development and skill-build-ing opportunities.

Iowa Legislative ServiceBureau Deputy Director RichardJohnson and Committee ServicesAdministrator John Pollak host-ed this year’s group of attendees.The meeting provides a uniquechance for counterparts fromacross the region to network inan informal setting and discusskey issues they are facing.

For more information on theLSA’s annual meeting, contactJackie Kocinski in the CSGMidwestern Office at (630) 810-0210 or [email protected].


excellence in action: spotlighting CSG activities, events, resources and affiliated organizations

Thanks to the Wiland-Bell Productions atCulver Studios in California, the CSG-WEST Committee on Aging previewed thenational public TV special, “And Thou ShaltHonor,” at its July 18 forum on family caregiving in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The 15-minute preview put a human face on the 54million individuals in America who arecaregivers for family or friends. Viewerswere treated to emotionally charged, real-life stories from caregivers around thenation, all put in the context of the medical,financial and legal framework of care giv-ing. Actor Joe Mantegna hosts the full two-hour program, which is scheduled to air onPBS at 9 PM (EST) on Wednesday, October9. For information on how to order copies ofthe tape and book, “The CareGiver’sCompanion,” call 1-(888) 845-8280. Bulkdiscounts are available.

Other speakers at the CSG-WEST forum,Family Caregivers and the Elderly: What

Can States Do to Help, included Gary Barg,editor of Today’s Caregiver magazine, andGail Gibson Hunt, Executive Director ofthe National Alliance on Caregiving. TheAmerican Association of Retired Persons’Linda Fisher reported on how the multicul-tural sandwich generation is coping withfamily care giving. Lawmakers also heardfrom model Western caregiver programs inCalifornia and Washington. A summary ofthe family care giving forum will be avail-able from CSG-WEST this fall.

Washington Rep. Mary Skinner chairsthe Committee on Aging and New MexicoRep. Nick Salazar serves as vice chair. Infollow-up action, the Committee on Agingsent letters to key congressional leadersurging them to double the amount of exist-ing federal funding to $250 million per yearso states can support their own programs tohelp caregivers with services, respite careand training.

CSG-WEST committee previews PBS special

Western lawmakers learn media toolsOn July 16, more than 75 western law-

makers gathered at the CSG-WEST annualmeeting in Lake Tahoe to participate in aforum on the impact of the media on statelegislatures. At the top of their agenda wasthe question: Are the Media Out to GetYou? A panel of media experts and work-ing journalists squared off in a friendly, butspirited discussion of an issue on the mindsof lawmakers everywhere. Panelistsincluded Fred Brown, recently retired polit-ical correspondent for The Denver Post,Mike O’Callaghan, Executive Editor of theLas Vegas Sun (and former governor ofNevada) and Idaho Public TV producerJoan Cartan-Hansen.

Legislators also reviewed a recent study

prepared for the American JournalismReview, which found that the number ofjournalists who cover statehouses is downin the nation and in the West. Both reportersand legislators saw their respective jobs asserving the public, but in very differentways. Both groups agreed that in an erawhen more authority and more moneyreside in the hands of the states, decliningstatehouse coverage is bad news for demo-cratic institutions.

CSG-WEST’s Committee on the Futureof Western Legislatures hosted the mediaforum. Idaho Sen. Bart Davis chairs thecommittee and Alaska Rep. Eric Croft isvice chair. A summary of the media forumwill be available this fall from CSG-WEST.

‘Health Policy Highlights’ available from CSGHealth Policy Highlights is a free

weekly e-mail service for all state offi-cials and CSG Associates. This is a greatsource for the latest information on healthpolicy issues affecting state governments.Health Policy Highlights provides its

recipients with:• Links to health policy news articlesfrom around the country• National and state reports on criticalhealth issues• Links to websites relevant to state

officials• Information on upcoming CSG activities

To register for Health PolicyHighlights, e-mail Michele Bushong,CSG health policy analyst, [email protected].

New CSG seriesHealth literacy – the ability

to read, understand and act onhealth information – is essentialfor anyone trying to navigatetoday’s complicated health caresystem. To be health literate,one must possess the reading,listening, reasoning and prob-lem-solving skills necessary tomake informed choices abouthealth and health care.Research, however, points over-whelmingly to the conclusionthat large numbers of patients donot possess these skills.

In September 2002, TheCouncil of State Governmentspublished its State Official’sGuide to Health Literacy – thefirst of CSG’s new series on crit-ical policy issues relevant tostate officials. The Guide reportsthe results of CSG’s NationalSurvey on Health LiteracyInitiatives, supporting andexpanding on these results usingdata from academic researchand the private sector. CSG’sState Official’s Guide definesthe problem, identifies the play-ers, highlights innovative pro-grams and promising stateapproaches, and offers state policy-makers a number ofquestions and data sources fordetermining the degree to whichlow health literacy affects theirrespective states.

For more information aboutthe report, contact Jenny Sewell,CSG health policy analyst, at (859) 244-8154 [email protected].


The AutomotiveAftermarket Indust-ry Association is atrade associationrepresenting suppli-ers, distributors,retailers, programgroups, manufactur-ers’ representatives,trade publications,educators, and ven-dors in all segments

of the aftermarket industry. The $250 bil-lion industry maintains, repairs and acces-sorizes vehicles after they are sold to theirowners by a car or truck dealer.

“AAIA’s government affairs programattempts to work with legislators to ensurethat vehicle safety and emissions systemsare maintained properly; and that competi-tion is preserved such that car owners continue to have access to the most con-venient, affordable and effective vehicle aftermarket in the world,” stated AaronLowe, AAIA’s vice president of govern-ment affairs.

AAIA has three top legislative and reg-

ulatory priorities this year:• Periodic motor vehicle safety inspec-

tion is one of AAIA’s major state leg-islative priorities. Currently, 19 stateshave mandatory safety inspection pro-grams where motorists must have thebasic safety features (i.e. brakes,lights) tested every year to ensureproper operation. Studies performedby the Missouri State Highway Patroland the National Highway TrafficSafety Administration indicate thatsuch programs have a significantimpact on reducing crashes caused bycomponent defects. AAIA is interest-ed in maintaining state safety-inspec-tion programs in those states that currently have them and in promotingadoption of these critical programs instates that do not currently have them.

• Maintaining competition in the vehi-cle repair and parts market is a keycomponent of AAIA’s government-affairs mandate. A threat to the currentcompetitive environment in auto partshas been legislation introduced inmany states to restrict the market for

generic autobody or aftermarket crashparts. A number of states haveattempted to restrict the use of theseparts based often on unfounded alle-gations regarding their quality. AAIAcontends that any move to restrictcompetition will significantly increasethe cost of auto insurance and vehiclerepairs to consumers.

• Proper use and disposal of productsused to service motor vehicles is animportant priority for the aftermarket.AAIA has worked to ensure that legis-lation and regulations encouragerather than discourage good environ-mental stewardship by both servicefacilities and individuals who work ontheir own vehicles.

The AAIA is a relatively new associa-tion, resulting from the consolidation of theAutomotive Parts and AccessoriesAssociation, founded in 1968, and theAutomotive Service Industry Association,founded in 1922. It is headquartered inBethesda, Md. For more information, con-tact Aaron Lowe, vice president of govern-ment relations, at (301) 654-6664.

CSG associate profile: Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association

Aaron Lowe

Against the backdrop of Niagara Falls,senior state officials from across the north-east convened in Buffalo, N.Y., Aug. 4-7for the Eastern Regional ConferenceAnnual Meeting. Transportation, bordersecurity, economic development, educa-tion and health care were among the issuesdiscussed by attendees.

“As always, the ERC Annual Meetingproved a terrific opportunity to networkwith colleagues from across the regionand hear from experts in major policyareas,” said ERC co-chair AssemblymanRobin Schimminger of New York. “Itwas a joy welcoming ERC to my home-town of Buffalo.”

Delegates also attended policy sessionson campaign finance, welfare reform,criminal justice, and water policy. In addi-tion to discussing policy, attendees had theopportunity to participate in skills work-

shops. One session, “So, you think you’refunny?” helped state officials inject humorinto their public speaking. Another skillsworkshop focused on legislative processesby featuring a panel of officials role-play-ing through a hypothetical, controversiallegislative dilemma.

Legislators said they enjoyed the oppor-tunity not only to improve their skills andto network, but also to foster regionalalliances on common issue areas.

“The policy challenges that we faceare not unsimilar around the Northeast,”said ERC co-chair Sen. Carl Marcellinoof New York. “Sharing solutions to ourcommon problems is very useful, andworking together to push regional priori-ties at the federal level is a proven for-mula for success.”

Delegates also listened to speeches fromsome of today’s leading thinkers. Richard

Florida, author of the bestseller TheCreative Class, discussed economic devel-opment in the New Economy. PulitzerPrize-winning author David Halberstamdelivered an address on the themes of post-Sept.11 America. Former Buffalo BillsHall of Fame Coach Marv Levy discussedleadership lessons.

As always, the ERC Annual Meetingwas a family affair. Spouses and childrenwere treated to an activity-packed pro-gram that included rafting and tripsacross the border to the Canadianprovince of Ontario.

ERC holds annual meeting


perspective

sonalize the news. Instead of covering dull committeemeetings and wordy deliberations, statehouse reporterswill take an “ordinary person,” anecdotal approach.Another way is to emphasize the negative. Political scien-tist Thomas Patterson has found that negativity in the news

has been on the rise since the 1960s. So,while statehouse coverage is on the decline,negatives are on the increase.

Nothing emphasizes the negative morethan investigative reporting, which has beenascendant since Watergate. For editors andreporters, legislators are fair game; they arebig game. “We want to look for misbehavioron the part of legislators,” said veteranreporter Brown, “even though it isn’t misbe-havior at all.” But, as the journalistic sayinggoes, “If it bleeds, it leads.” In other words,a good story for a reporter is a bad story forthe legislature.

Reporters express admiration for certainindividual legislators, but they are cynicalabout the legislature, the legislative processand the overall system. According toO’Callaghan, “Reportorial displeasure is

directed at the legislature – not the legislator.” Journalistsquestion the legitimacy of all institutions, especially polit-ical ones. And they are suspicious of anything they can’tsee, points out panelist Layton. There is much that theycan’t see, because the legislative process is not visible to asingle eye. It does not take place only in committee, incaucus or on the floor. It is going on everywhere – insideand outside the capitol building. If reporters cannot see it,they conclude that legislators are up to “no good” and areacting adversely to the public interest.

No single story inflicts damage on the institution. It is thesuccession of negative, cynical and simplistic stories thattakes a toll on the legislature. The issue, therefore, is nothow adroitly individual legislators manage their relationswith the media. It is how individual legislators can bypassthe press to explain their institution to the public and helprebuild public support for the legislature.

— Alan Rosenthal is a professor with the Eagleton Instituteof Politics at Rutgers University.

Whenever two or more legislators get together, their con-versation often turns to the media. When a few hundred leg-islators got together at the CSG-WEST Annual Meeting inLake Tahoe, a three-hour session focused on legislator-pressrelations. Five panelists, all journalists, offered their per-spectives to the assembled legislators.

The journalists had a tough audience. Fewlegislators are complimentary about themedia. For those legislators attending CSG-WEST, the session afforded them an opportu-nity to express their displeasure with theirtreatment by the media.

During the time set aside for discussion, anumber of legislators told how they had been“beaten up” by “gotcha journalism.” A Utahveteran told how a reporter had misrepresentedhim. One panelist, Mike O’Callaghan, execu-tive editor of the Las Vegas Sun and formergovernor of Nevada, asked the legislator if hemanaged to win re-election after such misrep-resentation. The legislator had. In defense ofthe press, O’Callaghan said, “No single story isgoing to beat a good legislator.”

While mischief to individuals is serious,the damage done to the legislature as an institution is grave.The session at CSG-WEST did not address institutional harmdirectly, but it did cast light on the nature of the legislatures’problems with the press.

Charles Layton, a contributor to the AmericanJournalism Review, reminded the audience that the press isa competitive business that needs readers and viewers tosurvive. There is little interest by editors in and less news-paper space for state news. Moreover, with newsroombudget cuts, fewer full-time reporters are covering legisla-tures in state capitals. Newspapers are now learning whattelevision learned 25 years ago. According to Vic Biondi,broadcast media consultant, people just aren’t interested ingovernment. So, commercial television no longer coversthe statehouse – except for parachuting in occasionally forsome more sensational story.

How, then, does the press appeal to people who aren’tinterested in news about state government or the state legislature? Obviously, the press has to make the newsentertaining. One way, according to panelist Fred Brown,former statehouse reporter for the Denver Post, is to per-

Learning to handle the mediaBY ALAN ROSENTHAL

“No single story isgoing to beat a good

legislator.”


henry toll fellowship programhenry toll fellowship programconference calendar

This calendar lists meetings as desig-nated by CSG’s Annual MeetingCommittee. For details of a meeting,call the number listed. “CSG/” denotesaffiliate organizations of CSG. VisitCSG’s Web site, www.csg.org, forupdates.

Other meetings have value to state offi-cials. Purchase a meeting listing bycalling 1 (800) 800 - 1910 or [email protected]. Expose your meetingsto thousands in the state governmentmarket through an advertisement, aWeb listing, or a banner ad in In theNews, CSG’s weekly electronicnewsletter. Get your free subscriptionto In the News at www.csg.org.

OCTOBER 2002

October 9-11 — CSG/National Asso-ciation of State Facilities Admini-strators Southeastern RegionalConference — Savannah, GA —Savannah Marriott Riverfront. ContactMarcia Stone at (859) 244-8181 [email protected]

October 27-28 — CSG/National As-sociation of State Facilities Admini-strators Eastern Regional Confer-ence — Albany, NY — Crowne PlazaAlbany Hotel. Contact Marcia Stone at(859) 244-8181 or [email protected]

NOVEMBER 2002

November 14-18 — CSG/FallLegislative Issues Meeting — Destin,FL — Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa. Contact NaiVienthongsuk at (404) 266-1271 [email protected]

November 23-24 — National Asso-ciation of State Treasurers NewTreasurers Symposium— New York,NY — The Roosevelt Hotel. ContactAdnee Hamilton at (859) 244-8174

November 23-26 — State Govern-ment Affairs Council State Leaders’Policy Conference — Scottsdale, AZ— The Phoenician. Contact KellyCummings at (202) 728-0500

November 25-26 — National Asso-ciation of State Treasurers IssuesConference — New York, NY— TheRoosevelt Hotel. Contact AdneeHamilton at (859) 244-8174

DECEMBER 2002December 5-8 — CSG 2002 AnnualState Trends and Leadership For-um — Richmond, VA — RichmondMarriott. Contact Wanda Hines at (859)244- 8200 or [email protected]

December 10-13 — CSG-WESTWestern Legislative Academy —Colorado Springs, CO — DoubletreeHotel. Contact Cheryl Duvauchelle at

(916) 553- 4423 or [email protected] 11 — AFI/ASI JointMeeting — Washington, DC — HyattRegency. Contact Barbara Houlik at(202) 624- 5400

JANUARY 2003January 5-8 – American Probationand Parole Association’s WinterTraining Institute – Salt Lake City,UT – The Grand American Hotel –Contact Kris Chappell at (859) 244-8204 or email [email protected] orsee www. appa-net.org

FEBRUARY 2003February 13-16 – National LieutenantGovernors Association State-FederalMeeting – Washington, D.C. – WillardIntercontinental – Contact Julia Hurst at(859) 244-8111 or email [email protected] www.nlga.us

February 22-25 — National Gover-nors Association Winter Meeting —Washington, DC — Contact SusanDotchin at (202) 624-5327

February 22-26 — NEMA Mid-YearConference, Seattle, WA– Grand HyattWashington - see www.nemaweb.org

MARCH 2003March 2-5 — National Association ofState Treasurers LegislativeConference — Washington, DC —Willard Inter-Continental Hotel.Contact Adnee Hamilton at (859) 244-8174 or [email protected] or seewww.nast.net

MAY 2003

May 15-18 — CSG Spring Meeting— U.S. Virgin Islands — MarriottFrenchman’s Reef. Contact WandaHines at (859) 244-8200 [email protected]

JUNE 2003

June 21-25 — CSG/NationalAssociation of State FacilitiesAdministrators Annual Conference& Tradeshow — Overland, KS —Sheraton Overland Park Hotel.Contact Marcia Stone at (859) 244- 8181 or [email protected]

JULY 2003July 11- 15 — CSG/Ninth AnnualBowhay Institute for LegislativeLeadership Development — Madison,WI — Fluno Center for ExecutiveEducation. Contact Laura Tomaka at(630) 810- 0210 or [email protected]

July 16-20 -- National LieutenantGovernors Association Annual Meeting– Little Rock, AR – Peabody Hotel, LittleRock -- Contact Julia Hurst at (859) 244-

8111 or email [email protected]. Visitwww.nlga.us

July 21- 27 — National Conference ofState Legislatures Annual Meet-ing— San Francisco, CA— Hotel TBAJuly 29-August 1, 2003 – CSG-WESTAnnual Meeting – Honolulu, Ha. –Hilton Hawaiian Village. ContactCheryl Duvauchelle at (916) 553-4423

AUGUST 2003

August 9 - 13 — CSG/Southern Leg-islative Conference Annual Meeting— Ft. Worth, TX —Hotel TBA.Contact Colleen Cousineau at (404)266- 1271 or see www.slcatlanta.orgAugust 16 - 19 — National GovernorsAssociation Annual Meeting —Indianapolis, IN. Contact SusanDotchin at (202) 624- 5327

August 17-19 — CSG EasternRegional Conference AnnualMeeting — San Juan, PR — CaribeHilton. See www.csgeast.org

August 24-27 — CSG/MidwesternLegislative Conference 58th AnnualMeeting — Milwaukee, WI — Hyatt.Contact Mike McCabe at (630) 810- 0210

SEPTEMBER 2003

September 6-10 – NEMA2003 AnnualConference– Seattle, WA- Elliott GrandHyatt - see www.nemaweb.org

OCTOBER 2003

October 23-26 — CSG AnnualMeeting — Pittsburgh, PA — HiltonPittsburgh. Contact Wanda Hines at(859) 244- 8200 or [email protected]

FEBRUARY 2004

February 21-24— National GovernorsAssociation Winter Meeting —Washington, DC — Hotel TBA —Contact Susan Dotchin at (202) 624-5327.

JULY 2004July 11-14 — CSG/MidwesternLegislative Conference 59th AnnualMeeting — Des Moines, IA— Marriott.Contact Mike McCabe at (630) 810- 0210July 18- 25 — National Conference ofState Legislatures Annual Meeting— Salt Lake City, UT — Hotel TBA

July 28 - August 1 — American Leg-islative Exchange Council AnnualMeeting — Seattle, WA— Hotel TBA

July 31-August 3 — NationalGovernors Association AnnualMeeting — Seattle, Washington HotelTBA -- Contact Susan Dotchin at (202) 624-5327

AUGUST 2004August 14 - 18— CSG/Southern Leg-

islative Conference Annual Meeting— Little Rock, AR —Hotel TBA.Contact Colleen Cousineau at (404)266- 1271 or see www.slcatlanta.org

SEPTEMBER 2004

September 25 - 29— CSG Annual Meet-ing — Anchorage, AK — Hotel TBA.Contact Wanda Hines at (859) 244- 8103or [email protected] or see www.csg.org

FEBRUARY 2005February 26- March 1— National Gov-ernors Association Winter Meeting —Washington, DC — Hotel TBA. ContactSusan Dotchin at (202) 624- 5327

JULY 2005

July 30- August 3 — CSG/SouthernLegislative Conference AnnualMeeting— Mobile, AL— Hotel TBA.Contact Colleen Cousineau at (404)266- 1271 or see www.slcatlanta.org

July 31- August 3 — CSG/MidwesternLegislative Conference 60th AnnualMeeting — Regina, Saskatchewan -Canada — Delta Regina. Contact MikeMcCabe at (630) 810- 0210

AUGUST 2005

August 14- 21— National Conferenceof State Legislatures Annual Meeting— Seattle, WA— Hotel TBA

DECEMBER 2005

December 1- 4 — CSG Annual Meeting— Wilmington, DE — Hotel TBA. ContactWanda Hines at (859) 244 - 8103 [email protected] or see www.csg.org

FEBRUARY 2006

February 25-28 — National Gover-nors Association Winter Meeting —Washington, DC — Hotel TBA.Contact Susan Dotchin at (202) 624- 5327

JULY 2006July 22-26 — CSG/SouthernLegislative Conference AnnualMeeting — Baltimore, MD — HotelTBA. Contact Colleen Cousineau at (404)266- 1271 or see www.slcatlanta.org

AUGUST 2006

August 12-18 — National Con-fer-ence of State Legislatures AnnualMeeting — Nashville, TN — Hotel TBA

FEBRUARY 2007

February 25-27 — National Gover-nors Association Winter Meeting —Washington, DC — Hotel TBA.Contact Susan Dotchin at (202) 624- 5327

Richmond,

The Council of State Governments

2002 Annual State Trends and Leadership Forum

December5-9,2002

For registration information visit our Web site at www.csg.org

Documents

RURAL HEALTH AFFORDABLE HOUSING HUMAN SERVICES · quick and easy use with the busy state official in mind,CSG’s State Official’s Guides focus not only on the issues affecting