The January 2012 issue of Governing magazine lists a series of issues facing state legislatures in the year ahead — with many of the topics predictably hitting home in Maryland.
From the article:
This year, state legislatures will be preoccupied in two important ways: They’ll still be digging their way out of the Great Recession, and they’ll still be compensating for federal inaction on a number of issues.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the partisan gridlock on Capitol Hill has had serious ramifications for states. As of mid-December, the House had passed 326 bills in 2011, and the Senate, just 368. That’s the fewest since 1995. Among the perennial issues Congress pushed down the road: a new transportation bill, immigration and tax reform. This leaves states scrambling yet another year to address these critical issues in the absence of the feds.
