STATELINE
Faster Permits for Free-Range Deer
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Drivers who kill deer in auto crashes in Wisconsin now don’t have to
wait as long to start preparing their critter dinner. The state recently
streamlined the process of acquiring the permit necessary to keep
the game meat. Motorists simply contact a Department of Natural
Resources call center, which can issue a permit by email at
any time of day or night. In the past, motorists were required
to call local police who sent an officer to issue a permit before an
animal carcass could be removed from a crash site. About 26,000 deer
are killed by vehicles every year, according to the DNR. Drivers have 24
hours to request a permit, and still must contact police if crash damage to a
vehicle is $1,000 or more, or if a turkey or bear was involved.
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Pot-Free Parkland
Alexander Hamilton: That’s a Rap
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Founding Father Alexander Hamilton is still making
connections, long after his fatal encounter with
Aaron Burr along the Hudson River in 1804. Two state
senators—Chap Petersen and Donald McEachin, both
Virginia Democrats—claim ancestry with Hamilton,
and now the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury
is the subject of a well-received Broadway musical,
titled simply “Hamilton.” Lin-Manuel Miranda, who
conceived, wrote the lyrics and music for, and stars
in the production, has said his inspiration was the
best-selling biography “Alexander Hamilton,” by the
historian Ron Chernow. The hip-hop connection?
Miranda told the New York Times that he saw in
Hamilton’s difficult childhood echoes of rap stars
Jay Z, Eminem and Biggie Smalls. “I recognized the
arc of a hip-hop narrative in Hamilton’s life,” he said.
And hip-hop was the perfect musical style for a story
set during the American Revolution, because it’s “the
language of youth and energy and rebellion.”
With illegal pot operations on the rise in California’s parklands and forests since voters
approved medical marijuana use in 1996, a new law gives the state Department of
Fish and Wildlife more power to fight back. “Some of these unregulated grow-sites
are responsible for the release of rodenticides, highly toxic insecticides, chemical
fertilizers, fuels and hundreds of pounds of waste dumped into the surrounding
habitats and watershed systems,” Senator Bill Monning (D) said. In addition, at a
time when the state faces historic drought conditions, some growers steal water by
constructing dams or diversions. Monning’s bill, signed recently by Governor Jerry
Brown, sets fines of up to $40,000 for illegally dumping many kinds of hazardous
materials into rivers and streams, and up to $10,000 for removing trees or trapping
and killing wildlife, the Los Angeles Times reported.
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Good Snooze for Students
New Jersey lawmakers sent Governor Chris Christie a bill requiring
a study of the benefits of later start times in middle and high
schools. The legislation, which Christie signed this summer,
comes amid growing concern from health officials that teens
aren’t getting enough sleep. A recent Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention report linked lack of sleep to health
risks—being overweight, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco,
using drugs—as well as failing classes. And the American
Academy of Pediatrics last year reported that later school
start times are more in line with teens’ biological sleep
patterns. Under the law, the Department of Education will
look at the effects of starting school at 8:30 a.m. or later,
as recommended by the pediatricians’ group. Currently,
about 85 percent of
Tears in Their Craft Beers?
New Jersey middle
Colorado is a leader on retail marijuana, but when it comes to beer, some say
and high schools start
the state is stuck in the past along with Kansas, Minnesota, Oklahoma and
before 8:30, according
Utah, all of which limit grocery stores to selling the low-alcohol 3.2 version.
to the CDC. Some
Lawmakers’ efforts over the years to revise the laws, which date to the
school leaders and
1930s, have gone flat. But things could change if the group Colorado
parents say delays
Consumers for Choice gathers enough signatures to put the
could conflict with
question on the 2016 ballot. “Since 1933, we have invented
extracurricular
soft-serve ice cream, rock ’n’ roll, space travel, the Internet
activities and family
and the cellphone, but you still can’t buy real beer or
schedules, but
wine in a Colorado grocery store,” the group’s website
most New Jersey
says. On the other side is Keep Colorado Local,
students no doubt
a group of liquor store owners, craft brewers,
are wondering,
distillers and winemakers who say changing
What took you so
the laws would put jobs and the state’s
long?
$1.15 billion craft brewing industry at
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risk. It might be the voters who make
the last call.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015
12
STATE LEGISLATURES
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STATELINE
License to Fly
Show Me Farmers Keep It ‘Legit’
A new constitutional amendment forever guarantees Missourians the right to
farm—they just need to be sure their crops are “legitimate,” a judge decided.
A public defender for a Jefferson City woman arrested in 2012 for allegedly
growing marijuana in her basement argued that she was protected by the rightto-farm amendment, added to the state constitution last year. The “argument
that growing marijuana in a basement constitutes a ‘farming or ranching
practice’ goes way beyond the plain meaning of ‘farming or ranching practice,’”
the county judge wrote. “Simply put, marijuana is not considered a part of
Missouri’s agriculture.” The judge ruled that the amendment applies
only to livestock and “legitimate” crop cultivation, the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch reports. The voters may get to decide whether
to legalize marijuana, if backers can gather enough signatures
to put the question on next year’s ballot. Meanwhile, the
Jefferson City grower’s case continues.
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Hang Up and Camp
Kids are getting bigger while state park budgets are
wasting away, Stateline reports. Obesity more than
doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents
over the last 30 years, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile,
legislative funding for state parks has dropped by
about 10 percent nationwide in the last five years,
according to the National Association of State Park
Directors. To lure kids away from their phones and
video games and into the parks, several states are
sponsoring camping trips, running conservation
programs or organizing outdoor classrooms
where students learn about wildlife and ecology.
A relationship to nature, with an understanding of
how clean air and clean water are produced are
needed for kids care about doing anything about
the stewardship of the earth,” said Nita Settina,
superintendent for the Maryland Park Service.
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Pennsylvania could become the 27th state with a law on
unmanned aircraft or “drones,” if Senator Mike Folmer’s (R)
bill becomes law. Concerned that people’s constitutional
rights “are being threatened by 21st century technology,”
Folmer’s legislation would put a two-year ban on the use of
the unmanned aircraft by state and local agencies, including
law enforcement, except in emergency situations or when
a warrant is obtained. The bill would allow U.S. military units
to continue to use them for training. In Maine, a new law
allows law enforcement officials, with a warrant,
to use the aircraft if they follow Federal
Aviation Administration requirements
and new state standards. In North
Dakota, a new law may allow
police to outfit their drones with
“less than lethal” weapons, as long
they obtain a warrant and receive
approval from the state’s Unmanned
Aircraft Systems Research Compliance
Committee, which received FAA
authorization. Any use of a weaponized drone
requires FAA approval.
Tops in Transparency
Seven states earned high marks in transparency on the
Sunlight Foundation’s recently updated report card. The
nonprofit foundation, which advocates for openness
at all levels of government, evaluated each state based
on disclosure of lobbyist activity and compensation,
expenditure transparency, expenditure reporting
thresholds and document accessibility. Just like in a
classroom, the states’ grades fall on a classic bell curve,
with seven A’s, 15 B’s, 12 C’s, 12 D’s and—ouch!—four F’s.
States earning
Sunlight’s A grade:
California
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
South Carolina
Wisconsin
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Not Cool at School
This year, the Montana Legislature made it illegal for anyone under age 18
to buy, possess or consume alternative nicotine or vapor cigarette
products. Now, following the legislators’ lead, the Bozeman
School Board has put the alternative tobacco products
on its list of items banned from school grounds, for
students and adults alike—and for good measure,
it added powdered alcohol. Walking into school
with either of the products, like possessing
regular tobacco or drugs, can result in students
being disciplined. The school district’s decision
was unanimous, but the Legislature’s was not.
Representative Denise Hayman (D) said many
parents and coaches were “terrified” about
e-cigarettes because little is known about
nicotine vapor, and adults see it as “a first step,”
according to the Bozeman Chronicle. Opponents,
such as Representative Nicholas Schwaderer (R),
argued vapor cigarettes can help kids quit smoking.
Forty-six states prohibit young people from buying
e-cigarettes.
STATE LEGISLATURES
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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015