What's Hot for 2015: lawmakers have a slew of hot issues to juggle as sessions rev up around the country this month.

• Author: Lays, Julie
• Position: POLICY

The overall economy is improving. Gas prices are down and state revenues are up. Things are better, but they're not great.

Lawmakers are reporting for duty with partisanship and polarization casting longer than normal shadows down revered statehouse hallways. Social issues continue to divide, voters' cynicism grows for all things "government" and federal inaction threatens states' stability.

Still, state lawmakers find ways to get things done. They look for areas of agreement, they learn from experiences in other states and they find solutions to fairly serious problems, often quite innovatively and almost always more effectively than their federal counterparts.

As lawmakers roll up their sleeves to begin work on many important issues, state fiscal conditions, at least, are stronger than they have been for several years. With only a few exceptions, state finances continue to improve slowly but steadily from the depths of the Great Recession. NCSL's most recent fiscal survey of the states found most spending in line with appropriated levels for FY 2015. In fact, as the New Year approached, only Medicaid and corrections in a couple of states were running over-budget.

The same survey found that the top funding issues state legislatures are expected to address during 2015 legislative sessions are education (from preschool to university), Medicaid, and transportation infrastructure. Other hot fiscal issues include tax reform and gaming.

As we do this time each year, we've listed the topics--many new and emerging--that will likely occupy a majority of lawmakers' time and energy across the country.

1. HEALTH EXCHANGES

   It's a given that some aspect of health care policy will always make it onto a top state policy list. From costs to care, it's always hot. Along with debates over expanding Medicaid, bolstering the workforce and cutting costs, health insurance exchanges will be in the spotlight again. A pending U.S. Supreme Court case could have a big influence on state action this year. In King v. Burwell, the justices will determine whether the tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for low- and middle-income health insurance purchasers apply if they use the federal exchange rather than a state exchange. If the justices rule the credits don't apply, some say it could kill the ACA as we know it. Others say it may only encourage states to convert their federally run exchanges into state-run versions. Currently, 16 states and the District of Columbia have state-run exchanges. At least seven other states partner with the federal government to run their exchanges. These may be the most likely to switch to a full state-run marketplace. This is only the second case regarding the ACA to make it to the high court, so the ruling is highly anticipated.

2. MARIJUANA

   Legalizing marijuana is undeniably one of the hottest issues today. In the first states to legalize small amounts, the proliferation of retail marijuana stores and the growth of the related industry would have been hard to imagine just a few years ago. New stores and emerging businesses are popping up offering pot users everything from exclusive tours to cooking classes, limo rides to ski trips. Voters, so far, have been the drivers behind these proposals. They passed the first initiatives to legalize, regulate and tax small amounts of marijuana in 2012 in Colorado and Washington, as did voters in Alaska, Oregon and D.C. last November. Bills to legalize recreational marijuana were introduced in 15 legislatures in 2014, and in 13 the year before, but none advanced.

   In addition, 23 states and D.C. allow the use of marijuana for medical reasons, with more than half those proposals initiated and passed by legislatures. And 19 states and D.C. have changed their laws so that anyone caught with a small amount of marijuana is charged with only a civil...