The States: In Bad Shape

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To cope with the problems of Pennsylvania, the nation's third most populous state, the legislature has logged a grand total of 48 working days over the past six months. On the rare occasions when the legislators do convene, they get so little staff research assistance that decisions must often be based on inadequate information. Moreover, there are just too many lawmakers —253 in all. Not surprisingly, Republican Governor Raymond P. Shafer complains of "a state structure that has become alien to the needs of its citizens."

Yet for all of Pennsylvania's deficiencies, the fact is that most state governments are no better suited to deal with the complexities of modern U.S. life (among the exceptions are the most populous states, California and New York), and a number are much worse off. Though the plight of the nation's cities is more dramatic this summer, the states constitute a grave weakness in the U.S. system.

Taking a hard look at the longstanding problem, the influential Committee for Economic Development, a private, nonpartisan organization of 200 businessmen and educators, calls for a "sweeping renovation" of the states' obsolescent machinery. "The 50 legislatures are beset by crucial issues," says the committee in an 85-page study of American states, "but few are organized, equipped, qualified, or even empowered to perform their policy functions with distinction." Unless they shape up, it adds, the states will be unable to counter "any tendency toward monolithic centralization of power in the national government."

"Creative Statism." The states are, of course, chronically hard up for money. For the 17 that have no personal income taxes and the 28 with income taxes of 2% or less, an obvious solution is at hand. But what of the states that are already levying heavy income and sales taxes? New York, for one, is trying to flesh out its $4.3 billion in annual revenues with a state lottery, but ticket sales in the first month totaled less than one-fourth of the anticipated $30 million take. The California legislature last week approved Governor Ronald Reagan's request for a record $1 billion in new taxes, but only after a bitter political struggle.

Money aside., the state governments suffer from serious structural deficiencies. To make them capable of functioning effectively with national and local governments—a process described by Washington as "creative federalism" and by some Governors as "creative statism"—the C.E.D. recommends that: