Policy Area

Tomorrow’s energy policy should look beyond the Middle East to include all of North America. To achieve certainty in an era of volatility and to reach the wealth of untapped energy in the Americas will require new partnerships with regional, national and even continental planning. We need a North-South energy policy — an Energy Policy for the Americas.

Chapter 3 of the 2003 Book of the States contains the following articles and tables:

Many of the state constitutional developments described in recent editions of The Book of the States have continued into the 21st century. Probably the most important of these is the absence of constitutional conventions and new constitutions. Instead, constitutional change is dominated by amendments and is piecemeal rather than comprehensive. Concerns about terrorism and the threat of war will most likely make it difficult to reverse this trend. Also important is the trend away from adoption of amendments designed to limit state governments’ capacity to govern and toward reforms that are arguably designed to make government more representative and efficient.

Congress has failed to act in a timely manner on the reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families block grant. Nonetheless, the next generation of welfare reform is already underway. A slowly growing economy, the end of rapid caseload reductions, massive state and local budget problems, and the constraints of a closed-ended block grant will pose serious constraints on state flexibility and on states’ ability to continue new programs developed under the block grant. At the same time, a larger portion of child-only cases, increased sanction rates, a residual population of longer-term cases and the needs of the working poor will require new programs and more effective services. Although it will be difficult, states have little option but to begin to address these problems without waiting for federal action.

Chapter 4 of the 2003 Book of the States contains the following articles and tables:

When it comes to voters’ reactions to initiatives and referenda on the ballot in 2002, “cautious” was the word of the day. Amidst concerns about war, terrorism and the economy, the voters once again defied party labeling and voted their conscience when it came to ballot measures. In a time of great uncertainty, voters picked through the list of statewide ballot measures and systematically made their feelings known, while at the same time not revealing whether their underlying principles lean more liberal or conservative. The great race to categorize the voters’ political beliefs will once again have to wait for another election day.

The state fiscal boom of the late 1990s was driven by exceptional forces unlikely to be repeated in the years ahead. The bursting of this fiscal bubble has made the current budget crisis far worse than the relatively mild current economic weakness might suggest. Even after the economy recovers, state finances are likely to be tight for the next several years.

Chapter 1 of the 2003 Book of the States contains the following articles and tables: