31.   In the last six years, while Congress has been debating legislation to regulate managed health care, most states have adopted laws to do so.

32.   In the years since the laws were adopted, though, politicians in the state have turned to increasingly artful strategies for getting around them.

33.   It came in response to some states adopting community property laws that allowed income splitting, according to tax historians.

34.   Joining the debate over gun control, the Los Angeles City Council has adopted a law banning the sale of cheap pistols known as Saturday night specials.

35.   Legislatures in more that two dozen states, under pressure from the rifle association, have adopted laws barring cities from suing the gun industry.

36.   Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Rhode Island have adopted laws requiring equivalent coverage for mental and physical illnesses.

37.   Massachusetts will become the first state to adopt a law making it illegal for its government and agencies to buy from companies that do business in Burma.

38.   Maine has adopted a law that gives the state authority to negotiate discounted prices on drugs and the right to prosecute companies for profiteering.

39.   Mexico and Canada may adopt laws to counter U.S. prohibitions against trading and investing in Cuba, Mexican Foreign Minister Jose Angel Gurria Trevino said.

40.   North Carolina also adopted a law requiring school sex-education programs to teach that standard.