Archive for the ‘State Legislature News’ Category

From Omaha.com:

It’s probably not the pep talk the 22 new members of the Iowa House’s Republican caucus were expecting.

Still, Kraig Paulsen, the man Republicans picked Monday to be the next speaker of the House, told them that most of what they do in their new jobs will amount to nothing.

“Somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 percent of the work you do as a legislator is a complete and total waste of time,” said Paulsen, House Republican leader. “The problem is you don’t know which is the 20 percent and which is the 80 percent until it’s all over. So you’ve got to do it all.”

That’s the approach he’s taken in his four terms representing northern and western Linn County, Paulsen said last week after a hectic week of shuttling back and forth between his home in Hiawatha, his job as an attorney for trucking firm CRST International Inc. in Cedar Rapids and the State Capitol.

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From DesMoinesRegister.com:

Iowa House Democrats raised nearly twice as much as Republicans in the most recent two campaign reporting periods, but they still lost the vast majority of competitive races in last week’s elections, a Des Moines Register analysis of fundraising data shows.

Of the 27 most competitive races, Democrats raised almost $1.2 million.

Republican candidates collected just more than $654,000 in cash donations, campaign records show.

The outcome of a few close races might yet change after recounts, but it appears that Iowa House Democrats lost 16 seats, shifting their majority of 56 seats in the 100-member chamber to a minority of 40.

The losses included 13 Democratic incumbents. No Republican incumbents seeking re-election lost.

“It was a bloodletting to say the least,” said Rep. Eric Palmer, D-Oskaloosa, who lost his re-election bid to Republican Guy Vander Linden.

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From stateline.org:

By handing over the reins of government to Republicans in many states last week, voters ensured that GOP leaders there will have almost no opposition from Democrats as they look to cut state budgets and jumpstart an anemic economic recovery. Even as divided government makes a comeback in Washington, D.C., it has become rarer in state governments. In 20 states, Republicans now control government at all levels, having won both legislative houses as well as the governor’s office. Before the election, they had total control in only nine. Meanwhile, the number of states controlled by Democrats dropped from 15 to 10, a stunning reversal. Three states, Washington, Oregon and New York, are still awaiting final results.

Two states, Maine and Wisconsin, flipped outright, going from being controlled entirely by Democrats to being controlled entirely by Republicans. No more than six states are likely to have split legislatures, with one party controlling one chamber and the opposite party running the other. The last time there were nearly that few split legislatures was 1982, when eight were split, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

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From Missoulian.com:

Republicans given historic margins in the next Legislature say their focus should be on smaller government and lower taxes – a message reminiscent of 16 years ago when voter resentment of Democrats in Washington, D.C., also gave the GOP huge majorities back in Montana.

Republicans will hold a nearly unprecedented governing majority in the state House that convenes in January, probably as many as 68 seats once a few of the tightest races are certified by election officials. It is among the largest governing majorities either party has ever held in the chamber.

Back in 1994, voter backlash against then-President Bill Clinton and his policies not only ushered in big changes in Congress but also at the Montana Legislature. Republicans were given control of the Montana Legislature for this first time since 1953 – and in a big way – with 67 of 100 House seats and 31 of 50 state Senate seats.

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From NPR:

Republicans don’t just control much of the electoral map. In some cases, they now have the power to redraw it.

Overwhelming victories in statehouses and governors’ races across the country this week have placed the GOP in command of redrawing both congressional and legislative districts to conform with Census results. It’s a grueling and politically charged process that typically gives the party in power an inherent advantage for a decade, allowing them to preserve current strongholds or to put others in play.

Along with gains in governorships this week, Republicans picked up about 680 legislative seats — twice the number Democrats gained in their wave two years ago. For the GOP, it’s a surge that comes at the most opportune time.

“Regardless of what happens in Washington, the Democrats will not soon recover from what happened to them on a state level on Tuesday,” said Chris Jankowski, executive director of the Republican State Leadership Committee’s REDMAP project. “It was significant. It was devastating in some areas. It will take years to recover.”

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From Atlanta Business Chronicle:

The Georgia House Republican caucus Monday renominated Rep. David Ralston to serve as House speaker for the next two years, assuring his re-election to the leadership post in January.

Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, was chosen unanimously by a House GOP majority that grew to 108 members in last week’s elections and added a 109th with Monday’s announcement that longtime Democratic Rep. Alan Powell of Hartwell is switching parties.

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From DesMoinesRegister.com:

At 4 p.m., Republicans in the Iowa Senate will announce their leadership.

Senate Republicans are gathering privately in a caucus meeting today to elect leadership, welcome new members and discuss their priorities for the first session of the 84th General Assembly, staff said this morning.

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From Sun Journal:

Maine Republicans who were just elected to the House of Representatives are preparing to do something they haven’t done in more than three decades: elect a speaker.

And as of Monday, a six-way race for the presiding officer to succeed Democratic Rep. Hannah Pingree of North Haven has taken shape.

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From PostGazette.com:

Republicans who have taken over state capitols across the country are promising to respond to crippling budget deficits with an array of cuts, among them proposals to reduce public workers’ benefits in Wisconsin, scale back social services in Maine and sell off state liquor stores in Pennsylvania, endangering the jobs of thousands of state workers.

States face huge deficits, even after several grueling years of them, and just as billions of dollars in stimulus money from Washington is drying up.

With some of these new Republican state leaders having taken the possibility of tax increases off the table in their campaigns, deep cuts in state spending will be needed. These leaders, committed to smaller government, say that is the idea.

“We’re going to do what families and businesses all over this country have already had to do, and that is live within their means,” said Brian Bosma, a Republican who will soon become the speaker of the Indiana House, alongside a Republican governor, Mitch Daniels, and a supermajority of Republicans in the State Senate.

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