Legislative trends

Stateline.org has publisheda list of trends emerging from state legislatures this year. Among them:

• Health insurance will be required for all kids in New Jersey. The first-of-its-kind statute imposes the same type of mandatory coverage that Massachusetts’ landmark health-care law requires of adults. A key difference is that New Jersey won’t punish families who don’t comply.

• Smoking bans passed in Iowa, Nebraska and Pennsylvania, making 28 states that prohibit smoking in public places. The strictest dozen states now prohibit smoking in bars, restaurants, casinos and workplaces.

• Illegal immigrants no longer can get driver’s licenses in Oregon, Michigan and Maine, leaving only four states that still allow licenses for illegal immigrants.

• “I Believe” license plates displaying a Christian cross were approved for purchase in South Carolina, sparking a church-state court challenge.

• Record numbers of home foreclosures prompted 29 states to rewrite their mortgage laws. New York and Virginia ordered lenders to give delinquent homeowners extra time before foreclosing; four states made mortgage fraud a specific crime; and seven states passed laws to curb mortgage-rescue scams.

• Five states enacted new restrictions on teenage drivers this spring, leaving only Arkansas, Kansas and North Dakota without special rules for new drivers.