State legislatures making progress on major issues that are still stuck in Congress – Washington Examiner

State legislatures around the country have made significant progress passing bills on issues such as immigration, policing and healthcare, even as Republicans in Congress and President Trump have struggled to make similar progress at the federal level.

"States are coming up with innovative ways to address immigration issues in education, healthcare, and economic development that the federal government seems to ignore," state Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Fla., said last week.

As expected, the states aren't all seeing these issues as Trump sees them. Several Republican legislatures, for example, have introduced or passed bills prohibiting sanctuary policies and backing law enforcement, but others controlled by Democrats have pushed their own views on issues like healthcare.

California and New York, for example, have advanced legislation in at least one chamber of their state legislatures to examine the impacts of a single-payer healthcare system.

Still, many states with Republican majorities are managing to make progress on these issues in a way Trump supports, even as he struggles at the federal level to make similar progress.

For example, state bills related to immigration have proliferated. According to a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures, states enacted 90 percent more laws tied to immigration in the first six months of 2017 as compared with the first half of 2016.

Some say that increase is due to the unilateral executive branch action Trump was able to take without the help of Congress and inaction by federal lawmakers. Trump's action and his rhetoric have been credited with a significant drop in attempted illegal border crossings in the first few months since he took office.

Specifically, state legislators in 47 states enacted 133 laws and 195 resolutions related to immigration from January to June. Only Alaska, Massachusetts and North Carolina did not enact immigration-related laws.

The common issues covered by the state laws were sanctuary policies, refugees, education and civics, and in-state tuition, according to NCSL's report.

Some states, including Texas and Mississippi, enacted laws banning sanctuary cities and counties, while others, such as Vermont, passed a law prohibiting state and local law enforcement from sharing information with the federal government regarding a resident's immigration status.

In addition to immigration, roughly a dozen states this year have passed laws intended to increase protections for law enforcement, which are called "Blue Lives Matter" bills, which increase the penalties for assaulting or resisting a police officer.

"One of Donald Trump's pillars is strengthening and supporting law enforcement," Ronnie Lampard, director of the American Legislative Exchange Council's task force on criminal justice reform, told the Washington Examiner. "This is how many states have acted on this, and as a result, many states have passed laws protecting or providing sentencing enhancements and creating protections."

"You have Republicans that control a lot of the states and are in the same party as the president," Lampard continued. "They recognize this is an issue the president campaigned on and traditionally Republicans have favored."

Though many law enforcement groups have backed the president's push for law and order, police organizations and agencies at the federal, state and local level split with Trump over his suggestion last month that officers should be more violent when handling suspects.

"When you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, and I said, Please don't be too nice,'" Trump told police officers during a speech on Long Island, N.Y.

After the president's remarks, the Suffolk County Police Department, which has jurisdiction over part of Long Island, say it won't "tolerate roughing up of prisoners." The International Association of Chiefs of Police also said treating people "whether they are a complainant, suspect or defendant, with dignity and respect" is a "bedrock principle" of policing and justice.

Unlike immigration and policing, states are mostly relying on Congress to act on healthcare, an issue that has dominated the national conversation.

"Without explicit authority given to the states, they won't have the flexibility and authority to implement the changes they need to make to bring down the cost of care and increase access," Mia Heck, who leads the health and human services task force at ALEC, told the Washington Examiner.

But even here, some Democratic-led states have decided to push forward with their own plans to change their individual healthcare systems.

Five states considered bills for universal healthcare or a public option. The California state Senate, for example, passed a bill establishing a commission to study how to introduce universal healthcare in the state.

The New York State Assembly passed legislation establishing a single-payer system for state residents.

Heck said many more states will likely consider a single-payer system if Republicans in Congress fail to pass legislation rolling back the 2010 healthcare law, or the Affordable Care Act, which is often called Obamacare.

"If Congress doesn't act to repeal and replace Obamacare, the policies that are implemented in the next year and two to three years are going to be fundamental in how our healthcare system works," Heck said. "It nothing is done and we continue to go down the road of increased premiums, increased deductibles, then single-payer is going to be an option."

Some states have backed Trump and the GOP-led Congress on imposing work requirements for Medicaid recipients. New Hampshire and Arkansas enacted laws requiring enrollees in their respective Medicaid expansion programs to adhere to a work requirement.

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State legislatures making progress on major issues that are still stuck in Congress - Washington Examiner