Two Americas in Sharp Contrast; A Conservative States Agenda
In an era of one-party rule, Republicans pass a sweeping state agenda
By John Gramlich, Stateline Staff Writer, Pew Center on the States, a non-partisan, non-profit news agency
Republicans controlled all the levers of government in a staggering number of states this year — and it showed.
Holding a lock on the governorship and both houses of the legislature in 20 states, GOP conservatives advanced an agenda that may change the face of state government for decades. They honored pledges not to raise taxes by enacting huge spending cuts to balance budgets in Florida and Texas. They put tough abortion limits back on the agenda, passing laws in Alabama, Kansas and Oklahoma. Most famously, Republicans in Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin put new restrictions on the rights of public employees, whose protests made national news for a month.
Though Democrats proved powerless to stop those changes, they moved a profoundly different agenda in the 11 states where they enjoy total control of state government. Arguing that budget cuts could only go so far, Democrats pushed tax increases in Connecticut, Illinois and Maryland. Meanwhile, Vermont approved a health care law supported by liberals that could prove far more expansive in scope than the controversial overhaul passed in Congress last year.
These were the results of an historic election last November, one that created vast shifts in power in statehouses across the country. Almost all of it went in the Republicans’ favor. The GOP picked up more than 500 legislative seats, winning their biggest majority of seats nationally since 1928. Republicans snatched 13 House chambers, seven Senate chambers and 11 governorships out of Democratic hands, and in Maine and Wisconsin they wrested control of all three.
Even in some states where Republicans had long held power — such as Texas — they gained such dominant new legislative majorities that Democrats could no longer rely on procedural tactics they had previously used to derail proposals they vehemently opposed.
Turning politics into policy
Suddenly, Republicans enjoyed not only a staggering amount of leverage in state legislatures but also support from discontented voters to make major changes. And in the ongoing fiscal crisis states have been experiencing, many Republicans saw not a calamity but an opportunity to actually shrink government by reducing spending. They dispatched Democratic opposition with ease as they approved major budget cuts alongside long-stalled policy changes that previously couldn’t attract enough votes to pass.
In Oklahoma, where Republicans took control of both the governorship and legislature for the first time ever, the GOP achieved a huge party objective: They rewrote tort rules to limit the damages that lawsuit filers can collect.
In Florida, Republican Tea Party favorite Rick Scott replaced the independent Charlie Crist in the governor’s office and oversaw a dramatic revamping of the state’s Medicaid system. Essentially, Florida is converting Medicaid entirely into a managed care model of service.
Maine’s new Republican leadership took concrete steps toward repealing the state’s Democratic-approved experiment in universal health care, known as Dirigo Health. A spokesman for Governor Paul LePage, another Tea Party-backed executive, pledged gleefully that "Dirigo will be Diri-gone."
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