FEDERALISM ISSUES

Straight

WHAT IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST ISSUES YOUR STATE IS HAVING WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT?

ED CLERE

Indiana Representative

MEDICAID “The biggest federalism issue facing my state, certainly one of the biggest federalism issues, relates to the (Affordable Care Act). … I think as state policymakers, we need to keep our focus on where we can make a difference. Medicaid expansion is very controversial, needless to say, but I think we have to remember Medicaid is a program managed by the states. If Medicaid expansion is going to be where we end up, then as a state policymaker I’d like to take a proactive approach and try to find ways to innovate through Medicaid, make Medicaid better,

JEFF THOMPSON

Idaho Representative

FEDERAL LANDS frankly.”

“Federal lands—three-quarters of the state of Idaho, most of the state, is in the ownership of the federal government. We, as well as a lot of states, several states in the Western part of the United States, are drafting legislation and building a coalition to work toward the federal government turning those federal lands back to the states. … States can manage them in more efficient process and the state can participate in more of the revenue being generated from those lands and therefore meaning more education dollars in the actual states.”

SARA GELSER

Oregon Representative

EDUCATION

“We are one of the states that has received a waiver from No Child Left Behind because we want to change the way we do testing in our state. Instead of looking at where a student is relative to a cut score, we want to see how students are doing year over year. … At the same time, we are faced with the loss of our waiver because of concerns about using test scores and payment systems for teachers as a condition of that waiver. The difficulty of having that mandate from the federal government is it doesn’t really give us the room we need to do it the Oregon way.”

ELAINE NEKRITZ

Illinois Representative

TRANSPORTATION FINANCING

“For Illinois, I think one of the biggest federalism issues we face with regard to transportation is primarily transportation funding. These are projects that take years to develop, require years of planning, and yet it seems the federal government approaches it in two- or three-month continuing resolutions. It’s almost impossible for us to look down the road and see what resources are going to be available so we can start making projects come to fruition. That’s been, I think, a very difficult challenge for our Department of Transportation and for our legislature to try to address that.”

JAY EMLER

Kansas Senator 2012 CSG Chair

GUN LEGISLATION

“We passed a bill that prohibits federal enforcement of gun laws within the state of Kansas provided the firearm was made within the borders of the state of Kansas and does not go outside the state of Kansas. … I think the underlying purpose of that legislation was to test federalism. Do states have the ability to control their own firearms or are we subject to the federal regulations? There are currently a couple of cases pending on this particular issue at the federal level. We believe the federal government will probably bring suit on this law now as well.”