Stateline: Legislative Review 2013

Article Read time:
Stateline: Legislative Review 2013

Stateline's annual Legislative Review looks at policy and politics in the states since legislatures began their work in January. The five-part series will include analytical articles, infographics and interactives.

Part One: Politics

Washington is gridlocked, but state legislators producers a torrent of new laws — especially in the 37 states dominated by a single party. Read the article and view our "50 Ways States Changed America" interactive.

Part Two: Health Care

States prepared for the Affordable Care Act, with debates on Medicaid expansion, health insurance exchanges, and how to increase the ranks of doctors and nurses. Read the article and view our "A Downsized Medicaid Expansion" infographic.  

Part Three: Taxes and Budget

As state revenues finally rebounded, red and blue states pursued starkly divergent paths on taxes and spending. Read the article and view our "No New Taxes? It Depends on Where You Live" infographic.

Part Four: Social Issues

States moved aggressively on hot-button social issues such as gun control, abortion, gay marriage, and immigration. Coming Thursday.

Part Five: Economic Development

States awarded tax breaks to business, touted worker-training programs and even poached jobs from each other. Coming Friday.

1x1placeholder

States Try to Rev Up Job Machines

Quick View
1x1placeholder

States Try to Rev Up Job Machines

States this year awarded tax breaks to businesses, touted worker-training programs and even poached jobs from each other to boost their economies and create work for the nearly 12 million Americans still unemployed.

1x1placeholder

Social Issues Divide States

Quick View
1x1placeholder

Social Issues Divide States

Nowhere has the red/blue divide between the states been more apparent than on contentious social issues such as gun control, abortion, gay marriage, and immigration.

1x1placeholder

Tax and Spend: Legislatures Did Both

Quick View
1x1placeholder

Tax and Spend: Legislatures Did Both

Resurgent revenues prompted tax-cut talk from Bismarck to Baton Rouge — but in some states, the tax breaks never made it to the governor’s desk. In other states, legislators used newfound money to pay for education, roads, or other areas that got short shrift during the recession

1x1placeholder

Majorities Drive Sweeping, Divergent Changes Across States

Quick View
1x1placeholder

Majorities Drive Sweeping, Divergent Changes Across States

Gun curbs? Colorado got it done. Driver’s licenses and in-state tuition for immigrants in the country illegally? Done. A new school-spending plan, an elections overhaul, Medicaid expansion? Done, done, and done.

Explore Stateline
America’s Overdose Crisis
America’s Overdose Crisis

America’s Overdose Crisis

Sign up for our five-email course explaining the overdose crisis in America, the state of treatment access, and ways to improve care

Sign up
Quick View
America’s Overdose Crisis

America’s Overdose Crisis

Sign up for our five-email course explaining the overdose crisis in America, the state of treatment access, and ways to improve care

Sign up
19x9 placeholder

View the 50 Ways the States Changed America in 2013. 
Quick View
19x9 placeholder

View the 50 Ways the States Changed America in 2013. 

Related Multimedia

How Many Jobs Did Your State Create? One-Party Control Leads to Very Different Agendas Legislative Review Infographic: Power Politics Medicaid Expansion and Everything You Need to Know Gun Actions Since Sandy Hook Shooting

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

A student sitting at a table at the end of a library stack.

Article

October 11, 2023 Restart of Student Loan Payments Could Hurt State Economies

Article

September 25, 2023 More Federal Funding Needed to Improve Drinking Water
A person in wader boots stands in shallow water with partially submerged vegetation and dips a yellow ruler into the water. Bushes and a blue sky with clouds fill in the background.

Issue Brief

December 4, 2023 How States Can Develop Blue Carbon Programs

MORE FROM PEW

A person in wader boots stands in shallow water with partially submerged vegetation and dips a yellow ruler into the water. Bushes and a blue sky with clouds fill in the background. How States Can Develop Blue Carbon Programs
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and ship approach two wind turbines in clear ocean waters under sunny blue skies. At COP28 Climate Summit, Local Leaders Take Center Stage
Getty Images Small Businesses in PA Support State Retirement Savings
A person wearing a helmet and harness climbs a ladder on a metallic wind turbine tower. How States Are Advancing Clean Energy
Composite image of modern city network communication concept

Learn the Basics of Broadband from Our Limited Series

Sign up for our four-week email course on Broadband Basics
Quick View

How does broadband internet reach our homes, phones, and tablets? What kind of infrastructure connects us all together? What are the major barriers to broadband access for American communities?

Pills illustration
Pills illustration

What Is Antibiotic Resistance—and How Can We Fight It?

Sign up for our four-week email series The Race Against Resistance.
Quick View
Pills illustration

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also known as “superbugs,” are a major threat to modern medicine. But how does resistance work, and what can we do to slow the spread? Read personal stories, expert accounts, and more for the answers to those questions in our four-week email series: Slowing Superbugs.