News from the States
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.
