Each Friday-well at least most Fridays-I’m going to sum up the big news happening in states around the country. To make it more interesting, I’m naming a State of the Week where the biggest news came from. See something that’s missing? Tell me: arapoport@prospect.org or on Twitter @RaRapoport.
And this week’s State of the Week is … Arizona!
Arizona: A Tale of Two Lawmakers
U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords may have been the only politician in Washington that could generate loud cheers from both sides of the aisle. The Arizona congresswoman captivated the country as she’s slowly begun to recover from a bullet to the head. She was one of 13 people injured in the horrific shooting that left six people dead. When she announced Sunday that she would step down from office to focus on her rehabilitation, an emotional and bipartisan outpouring of support from her colleagues soon began.
Before the president arrived for the state of the union address, her arrival prompted members to chant her name, and Republican Rep. Jeff Flake was often the only GOP member standing as he helped her get up to show support for some of the president’s intiatives. On Wednesday, before she officially resigned from Congress, members passed her passed her bill imposing further penalties on those smuggling drugs across the border in “ultralight aircrafts.” Afterwards, a bipartisan group stood with her as her best friend, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, read Giffords’ resignation letter. (Giffords is still regaining her speech). Speaker John Boehner wasn’t the only one to cry at the loss.
Indiana: Rights, Work and Surrender
After a year of fighting, including recent boycotts from Democrats, Indiana’s right-to-work legislation has now passed the state’s House, leaving little doubt that the measure, supported by Gov. Mitch Daniels and a majority of state senators, will soon become law. Indiana will be the first state in the Rust Belt to pass such legislation, which prevents mandatory union membership and forbids unions from collecting fees from anyone who chooses to opt out. Proponents argue the move will help bring jobs to the state. Such legislation, already in effect in 23 states, has a crippling effect on union power. It’s likely to have an especially big impact on Indiana, where the labor movement has deep roots.
With Indianapolis hosting the Super Bowl, there’s been much discussion of union workers striking and slowing down many of the event’s auxilary festivities. (The game itself is protected; the Super Bowl organizers have no-strike agreements with the relevent unions.) However, Republicans are hoping the bill can hit the governor’s desk as early as this Wednesday, making it law well before gametime and leaving union workers with almost no recourse.
Worth Noting
- Oh Kansas. First Gov. Sam Brownback offered a budget that not only raises taxes on those making under $25,000 (while cutting taxes for the wealthy.) Then we learn state welfare officials have decided to cut food stamp benefits for U.S.-borne children of undocumented workers, leaving hundreds of American children without access to the program.
- Friday, California regulators gave the green light to new rules that will require 15 percent of cars in the state to run without smog by 2025. Auto indusry, get ready for that “electric feel.”
- North Carolina may become the first state to offer reparations to those forcibly sterilized under eugenics laws. The horrifying practice was in place through the 1970s, with 32 states having some form of the law. More than 60,000-disproportionately poor and black-were sterilized before states began