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Comparative Analysis: Louisiana, Minnesota, and North Carolina

Nikita Warren

Southern New Hampshire University

Political Science 309

May 24, 2020

Comparative Analysis: Louisiana, Minnesota, and North Carolina

Comparative Analysis: State

The health sector in every state is influenced by laws that emanate from legislative and political domains. These two areas have the responsibility of identifying and enacting policies and regulations that shape health department. With this consideration, this paper takes comparative stance to look at how the political and legislative arenas affect healthcare in three states namely, Louisiana, Minnesota, and North Caroline.

Legislature

The legislature plays an important role in encouraging citizens to participate in the political process. According to Bardes, Shelley and Schmidt (2015), lawmakers represent citizens and create awareness on citizen participation in governance and policy formulaiton. Louisiana, Minnesota, and North Caroline have share similar legislature characteristics and structure. The state of Louisiana, for instance, has a bicameral parliament that comprises the lower house, which is the Louisiana House of Representatives, as well as the upper house, which is the state senate (Bardes, Shelley & Schmidt, 2015).  The powers and privileges of the legislature are spelt out in Article II of the Constitution of Louisiana. Similarly, the Minnesota state legislature has a bicameral structure consisting of the House of Representatives and the state Senate. However, the Minnesota legislative systems select their legislators without party designations. Further, North Carolina’s legislative body consists of the upper and the lower houses respectively (Bardes, Shelley & Schmidt, 2015).  North Carolina’s house of representatives has 120 members who serve for two terms. The presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the members for a two-year term. The speaker’s roles include maintaining order in the House and appointing members to committees.

Gubernatorial Powers

In Louisiana, the governor is the chief executive of the state. The governor is required to faithfully support the constitution and laws of the state of the United States and to ensure that such laws are executed (Bowman & Kearney, 2015). The governor also has the power to pardon, reprieve, and commute charges of convicted criminals. In Minnesota, the governor is an elected constitutional officer and the head of the executive branch, as well as the highest state officer. Minnesota’s governor is the commander-in-chief of the state militia and naval forces and is tasked with upholding and seeing to the faithful execution of all laws. In North Carolina, the governor is the overall head of the state (Bowman & Kearney, 2015). Additionally, the governor of North Carolina directs all the executive branch of the government and is the commander in chief of the military forces of the state.

Comparative Analysis: Health Policy State Legislatures

Policymakers at the legislative levels play an integral role in formulating health policies. According to Brint (2019) legislative politicians push the executive to encourage equitable access to basic services such as health and education for disadvantaged and minority groups. In Louisiana, the House of Representatives pass all policies related to health before they are approved by the state senate. When a bill is introduced by the Senate, Louisiana regards it as an Act. Such policies are passed by the House and the senate, enrolled, signed by the legislative presiding officers, and approved by the governor for implementation (Bardes, Shelley & Schmidt, 2015).  In Minnesota, a health policy bill requires 68 votes and at the House of Representatives for it to proceed to the Senate for approval. At the senate, 34 votes are required for the proposed bill to be declared a law. However, such a bill must first be approved by the governor through a signature of consent for it to be implemented and enforced. In the State of North Carolina, the lower chambers of the general assembly must pass a law by more than 25 votes before it can proceed to the senate, which has 120 members, senators require simple majority votes to approve a bill before it can be consented by the president.

Gubernatorial Powers

Governors play an integral role in not only formulating, but also approving health policies across different states. In Louisiana, the governor can lead a team of legislators to support bills in both houses (Bowman & Kearney, 2015). The governor also enacts taxation laws and policies, which are geared towards gathering revenues to support health policies. In the state of Minnesota, the governor works to approve health policies and laws that have been passed to their desk from the legislature. Additionally, the governor assigns health cabinet heads the responsibilities to implement different policies by making them practicable (Bowman & Kearney, 2015). Finally, the North Carolina Governor is charged with the responsibility of leading all cabinet members in implementing health policies and channeling funds to different health sectors.

References

Bardes, B. A., Shelley, M. C., & Schmidt, S. W. (2015). American Government and Politics

Today: Essentials 2015-2016 Edition. Nelson Education.

Bowman, A. O. M., & Kearney, R. C. (2015). State and local government. Nelson Education.

Brint, M. E. (2019). A genealogy of political culture. Routledge.

Louisiana Department of Health (2020). Retrieved From: http://ldh.la.gov/ USA Gov. (2020).

Retrieved From: https://www.usa.gov/states-and-territories