States set for a season of big moves

Regardless of who sits in the governor's office or which party controls the legislative levers of power, the agendas emerging in states across America this month are taking shape, in part, as a rebuke to Washington's ruling class.

Even as the Bush administration focuses on big goals regarding matters such as Iraq and Social Security reform, the states are moving ahead with assertive agendas of their own on issues ranging from healthcare to the environment and even national defense.

Party politics certainly play a role. Many of the most activist states lean Democratic and are more likely to be unsettled by a conservative Capitol Hill. Add to that a few governors wanting to set the stage for possible presidential bids, and it's not all that unusual for states to step out in front of Washington. Even so, there is the mounting sense that, if states want something done in the next four years, they might have to do it themselves.

"For the first time in a while, states haven't been invited to the table," says David Hedge, a political scientist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. "This has been a far more centralized president and a far more centralized Congress."

To be sure, in these early days of an economic recovery, many states find themselves simply trying to deal with budget forecasts and proposals - albeit with an improving picture. "Larger states are still in survival mode," says Nicholas Jenny of the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, N.Y. "States are just starting to peek out from retrenchment mode."

Yet even the often-mundane talk of appropriations and rainy-day funds has taken on a national edge. States see a coming storm in the rising cost of American healthcare, and many believe they can no longer wait for Washington to lead the way. Maine has already passed a form of universal healthcare. Tennessee tried, but has had to scale back its effort because it doesn't have the money.

This session, New Mexico and Massachusetts will consider two of the most ambitious plans to broaden healthcare coverage. Other states are looking at ways to reduce prescription-drug prices. Lawmakers in Texas and Maryland want to make it legal to import drugs from Canada - something that has yet to move forward nationally. Mississippi's governor wants to cut prescription-drug costs by limiting "frivolous" lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies.

Among other moves percolating in statehouses:

• Following California's lead, Maine, Oregon, and Washington State will consider proposals to regulate greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming - a stance the Bush administration has repeatedly resisted.

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