News from the States

• New York Gets Tough on Gun Control
• California Close to Increasing Minimum Wage
• Public Education about CHIP Eligibility Increases Health Coverage of Children

New York Gets Tough on Gun Control

Governor George Pataki signed into law sweeping gun control legislation in August that requires mandatory trigger locks, a sophisticated tracking system for weapons, and background checks at gun shows. Handgun dealers and manufacturers who sell to dealers in the state must now submit shell casings from the test firing of guns in their inventories to the state’s police forensic lab so that computerized images of the casings can be kept on file. The law raises the legal age for purchasing handguns in New York from 18 to 21, bans all assault weapons listed under a 1994 federal law, and makes it a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison to possess or sell any banned assault weapons. It also requires firearms retailers to include child safety locking devices with all purchases. “This is something the rest of the nation should take a look at,” Pataki stated to CNN.com. “I hope this serves as a model.”

New York is also employing innovative litigation strategies to improve gun safety. New York has become the first state to bring a lawsuit against nine major gun manufacturers, three importers and 12 wholesalers, charging they violate the state’s public nuisance law. The state has accused gun manufacturers of making guns easier to conceal and even more deadly. The goal of the lawsuit is to prevent gun manufacturers from designing weapons that are attractive to criminals. “Instead of using money to create safer weapons, such as guns with internal locking devices or personalized guns that can’t be used by unauthorized users, they’ve spent their resources making guns more powerful, easier to conceal and more deadly,” said David Bernstein of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, to The Christian Science Monitor.

California Close to Increasing Minimum Wage

The Industrial Welfare Commission in California adopted for public comment a wage order that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $6.25 on January 1, 2001 and $6.75 on January 1, 2002. The motion, which was approved on a 5-0 vote, is the first step
towards commission action on a minimum wage increase. Public hearings will be held in late September with a final vote by the Commission in October. The proposed wage order also eliminates a number of exemptions in the current minimum wage (including public employees). For more information contact Jean Ross, California Budget Project at (916) 444-0500, www.cbp.org.

Public Education about CHIP Eligibility Increases Health Coverage of Children

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Covering Kids program recently discovered that parents of nearly two-thirds of the nation’s 11 million uninsured children who are eligible for free or low-cost health insurance through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or Medicaid believe they are not eligible for these programs, leaving 7 million children unnecessarily uninsured. About four of five parents of eligible children said they would enroll their children if they knew they could, but mistakenly believe they don’t qualify. CHIP was created by the government in 1997 to help children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance.

The Mississippi Health Advocacy program has initiated a campaign to encourage CHIP participation. The program, which includes the airing of public service announcements, is working to ensure that the state government gives prospective CHIP applicants the correct information and eligibility requirements. Applications for CHIP enrollment are being taken at shopping malls throughout Mississippi, Head Start centers, schools and businesses with low-income employees. The New York office of the Children’s Defense Fund is also continuing to facilitate enrollment for CHIP through community outreach.