WHEN WINSTON CHURCHILL mentioned politics just isn’t “a game” however “an earnest business”, he had no trace of how politicians in Albany would make it so profitable. During a particular session shortly earlier than Christmas, lawmakers in New York state voted to approve a 29% pay rise for themselves. Kathy Hochul, New York’s governor, signed the increase into legislation on December thirty first. “I’ve been many times in their districts, and they work very hard, and they deserve it,” she had mentioned of her state representatives. Their annual wage of $142,000 now makes them the best-paid lawmakers in America.
State legislatures hardly ever get the hawk-eyed consideration lavished on Congress, however they are going to be value watching this yr. Those in all 50 states will likely be again in session in 2023, with many returning to work this month. (Four states—Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Texas—have legislatures that meet solely each different yr.) These are good instances for state lawmakers, and never solely New York’s cash honeys. States are flush with money. How their lawmakers select to spend, and which new legal guidelines they push, will provide a lens on the place the nation is heading.
Three massive themes will play out throughout state capitols this yr. First is the persevering with rise of hyper-polarised insurance policies. Red and blue states will push additional aside on voting legal guidelines, abortion, homosexual rights, schooling and taxation. One-party management has quite a bit to do with it. There are 39 “trifecta” states, by which a single get together controls all three branches of presidency (each chambers of the legislature and the governor’s workplace). This permits states to “make decisions and make them relatively quickly”, says Peverill Squire of the University of Missouri, an skilled on legislatures. “The contrast with Washington will be stark.”
Lawmakers in Wyoming just lately proposed a invoice banning the sale of all new electrical automobiles beginning in 2035, with a purpose to shield the state’s oil and fuel trade. It was a riposte to laws handed in…
2023-01-24 16:14:18 Congress is gridlocked. America’s statehouses are very a lot not
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