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Most States Put Election Returns On Web
In 1994, California put live returns from a statewide election on the Internet, becoming the first state to do so. Since then over half of the states, 28, have joined California in offering online election results, says Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation (CVF). Twenty-nine states are posting a blow-by-blow account of the […]
E-Politics Comes Of Age In Election 2000
Every state is using the Inernet to educate voters about candidates running for state and local office, accordingto the California Voter Foundation (CVF). Delaware and South Carolina weren’t offering anything online earlier in the early stages of the campaign, but by last week both had Web sites containing candidate lists, CVF’s Saskia Mills says. A […]
State Revenues Grow Despite Deep Tax Cuts
State tax revenues rose 5 percent from 1998 to 1999, another bit of statistical evidence of the degree to which states have benefited from the nation’s economic prosperity, the Census Bureau reports. A nonprofit nonpartisan group that tracks state revenue trends, Rockefeller Institute’s Fiscal Studies Program , puts the increase for state tax revenues even […]
Redistricting At Stake In Nov 7 Election
Redistricting may lack the sizzle of affirmative action or tax and budget issues for voters, but the process will play a critical role in shaping the political landscape lawmakers find themselves operating in over the next decade. In most states, the state legislatures elected on Nov. 7 will decide how congressional and legislative district lines […]
Amid State Surpluses And Tax Cuts, Slowdown Looming?
Tax-cut advocates are having a field day in statehouses around the country, emboldened by the lengthiest economic boom in U.S. history. Thirty-six states closed out fiscal year 2000 with surpluses greater than 5 percent of their annual budget, a target recommended by Wall Street analysts, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Of the […]
States Ramp Up Cyber-Enforcement Efforts
Hackers, identity thieves and other malicious individuals are preying on the fast-growing Internet, prompting aggressive state action to maintain Web law and order. Part of the thrust has been legislative, in the form of new and modified laws that spell out unlawful Internet conduct and its penalties. Lawmakers are working in tandem with law enforcement […]
Amidst Fat, Happy Neighbors, Four States Tighten Belts
The axiom about rising tides lifting all boats apparently doesn’t apply to states. Because while much of the country is awash in budget surpluses, Alaska, Louisiana, Tennessee and Wyoming have struggled to surmount shortfalls. The reasons behind their fiscal doldrums vary an outmoded revenue system in Tennessee, fluctuating crude oil prices in Alaska. One similarity […]
States Increasingly Unprepared For Recession, Study Warns
Five of eight states that in early 1999 had sufficient financial reserves to weather a recession have since lost those cushions due to tax cuts, according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities study. Delaware, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan and Minnesota would need to raise taxes if confronted with a recession similar to that of […]
Governors Battle Over E-Taxation
The nation’s governors are deeply divided over whether e-commerce should be subjected to state sales taxes, as is the case with transactions in brick-and-mortar settings. What had been a quietly simmering disagreement has erupted in a public way in recent weeks. Last month, an Internet tax panel chaired by Republican Virginia Gov. James Gilmore gave […]
Tense Alliance Between States, Feds In Microsoft Litigation
Nineteen states and the U.S. Department of Justice have proven to be uneasy bedfellows in an antitrust lawsuit against computer software giant Microsoft Corp. The main reason the states are involved at all is because they believe the Redmond, Wash. firm escaped with a wrist slap in a previous federal suit the states didn’t participate […]
States Plan Further Tax Cuts In 2000
© 2009 National Geographic The economic prosperity most states enjoyed in the 1990s shows no signs of abating in the new millennium, with 12 states and the District of Columbia expecting to cut taxes further in 2000, a National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) survey shows. The 50-state survey shows that a number of […]
Most States Ready to Confront Millennium Bug
With the year 2000 just days away, most states are reporting 90 percent or more of their mission-critical computer systems are Y2K-compliant. Thirteen of the 50 states — Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, and West Virginia — say that their mission-critical computer systems are 100 […]