National Conference of State Legislatures

National Conference of State Legislatures

Abbreviation	NCSL
Formation	1975
Type	non-governmental organization
Location	Washington, D.C. and Denver
Chief Executive Officer	Tim Storey
Website	NCSL.org

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), established in 1975, is a "nonpartisan public officials' association composed of sitting state legislators" from the states, territories and commonwealths of the United States.

Background

According to their website, the mission of the Conference is:

to advance the effectiveness, independence and integrity of legislatures and to foster interstate cooperation . . . especially in support of state sovereignty and state flexibility and protection from unfunded federal mandates and unwarranted federal preemption. The conference promotes cooperation between state legislatures in the U.S. and those in other countries. . . . [and] is committed to improving the operations and management of state legislatures, and the effectiveness of legislators and legislative staff. NCSL also encourages the practice of high standards of conduct by legislators and legislative staff.

NCSL maintains an office in Denver, Colorado, and Washington, D.C.

Eight Standing Committees, composed of legislators and legislative staff appointed by the leadership of the legislatures, serve as the central organizing mechanism for NCSL members. Each Committee provides a means by which state legislators can share experience, information, and advice on a variety of state issues ranging from policy to management.

Committees meet together twice each year at the NCSL Capitol Forum and NCSL's Legislative Summit to adopt state-federal legislative policies that will ultimately guide NCSL's lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C. These committee meetings also serve as an opportunity for states to network and establish flows of information as well as experience-based suggestions from other states. In addition to the NCSL Capitol Forum and the Legislative Summit, NCSL builds the state legislative community by hosting various web seminars, leadership meetings, and access to relevant websites and online documents throughout the year.

Issues spanning multiple committee jurisdictions are managed by NCSL's Task Forces. Unlike the permanent Standing Committees, Task Forces are created for a specific period time and aim to develop positions on highly complex and controversial issues such as immigration reform and welfare. Task Forces are composed of 20 to 30 legislators and legislative staff who are appointed by the NCSL president or staff chair.

Day-to-day operations of the organization managed by its chief executive officer, Tim Storey. The organization is led by a legislator who serves as its president and by a legislative staffer who serves as staff chair. Twenty years after its founding, NCSL was led in 1994 by its first female president, former Congresswoman Karen McCarthy. Its first African-American president, Rep. Dan Blue, served in 1998–99. The 2021–22 president of NCSL is Representative Scott Saiki of Hawaii, and the staff chair is J.J. Gentry of South Carolina. Each year, NCSL's presidency alternates between legislators of the Republican and Democratic parties.

The NCSL is considered part of the 'Big Seven', a group of organizations that represent local and state government in the United States.

Presidents and staff chairs

Presidents and staff chairs

President					Term	Staff chair
Name	State	State office	Political party	Region		Name	State	State staff position
Kevin B. Harrington	Massachusetts	Senate President	Democratic	East	1975	Eugene Farnum	Michigan	Senate Fiscal Agency Director
Tom Jensen	Tennessee	House Minority Leader	Republican	South	1975–76	Bonnie Reese	Wisconsin	Legislative Council Executive Director
Martin Olav Sabo	Minnesota	House Speaker	Democratic	Midwest	1976–77	McDowell Lee	Alabama	Senate Secretary
Fred Anderson	Colorado	Senate President	Republican	West	1977–78	Robert Herman	New York	Special Assistant to the Speaker of the State Assembly
Jason Boe	Oregon	Senate President	Democratic	West	1978–79	Art Palmer	Nevada	Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau Director
George B. Roberts Jr.	New Hampshire	House Speaker	Republican	East	1979–80	David Johnston	Ohio	Legislative Services Committee Director
Richard S. Hodes	Florida	House Speaker Pro Tempore	Democratic	South	1980–81	Patrick Flahaven	Minnesota	Senate Secretary
Ross Doyen	Kansas	Senate President	Republican	Midwest	1981–82	Robert Smartt	New Jersey	General Assembly Deputy Director
William F. Passannante	New York	Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore	Democratic	East	1982–83	Joe Brown	Florida	Senate Secretary
Miles Ferry	Utah	Senate President	Republican	West	1983–84	John Lattimer	Illinois	Committee on International Cooperation Director
John Bragg	Tennessee	House Deputy Speaker	Democraitc	South	1984–85	Leo Memmott	Utah	Legislative Fiscal Analyst
David Nething	North Dakota	Senate Majority Leader	Republican	Midwest	1985–86	Dale Cattanach	Wisconsin	State Auditor
Irving J. Stolberg	Connecticut	House Speaker	Democratic	East	1986–87	Sue Bauman	Kansas	Executive Assistant to the Senate President
Ted L. Strickland	Colorado	Senate President	Republican	West	1987–88	John Andreason	Idaho	Legislative Budget Office Director
Samuel B. Nunez Jr.	Louisiana	Senate President Pro Tempore	Democratic	South	1988–89	Betty King	Texas	Secretary of the Senate
Lee A. Daniels	Illinois	House Minority Leader	Republican	Midwest	1989–90	Patrick O'Donnell	Nebraska	Clerk of the Legislature
John L. Martin	Maine	House Speaker	Democratic	East	1990–91	William Russell	Vermont	Chief Counsel
Bud Burke	Kansas	Senate President	Republican	Midwest	1991–92	Terry Anderson	South Dakota	Legislative Research Council Director
Art Hamilton	Arizona	House minority leader	Democratic	West	1992–93	Donald Schneider	Wisconsin	Senate Chief Clerk
Robert Connor	Delaware	Senate Minority Whip	Republican	East	1993–94	John Turcotte	Mississippi	Joint Legislative PEER Committee member
Karen McCarthy	Missouri	House member	Democratic	South	1994	Ted Ferris	Arizona	Joint Budget Committee member
Jane L. Campbell	Ohio	House member		Midwest	1995
James J. Lack	New York	Senate	Republican	East	1995–96	Alfred "Butch" Speer	Louisiana	House Clerk
Michael Box	Alabama	Alabama	Democratic	South	1996–97	Russell T. Larson	Delaware	Controller General
Richard Finan	Ohio	Senate President	Republican	Midwest	1997–98	Anne Walker	Missouri	House Chief Clerk
Dan Blue	North Carolina	House Majoiry Leader	Democratic	South	1998–99	Tom Tedcastle	Florida	Bill Drafting and General Counsel Director
Paul Mannweiler	Indiana	House Republican Leader	Republican	Midwest	1999–2000	John B. Phelps	Florida	House Clerk
Jim Costa	California	Senate member	Democrat	West	2000–01	Diane Bolender	Iowa	Legislative Service Bureau Director
Steve M. Saland	New York	Senate member	Republican	East	2001–02	Ramona Kenady	Oregon	House Chief Clerk
Angela Monson	Oklahoma	Senate member	Democratic	South	2002–03	Gary Olson	Michigan	Senate Fiscal Agency Director
Martin Stephens	Utah	House Speaker	Republican	West	2003–04	Max Arinder	Mississippi	Joint Legislative PEER Committee Executive Director
John Hurson	Maryland	House Delegate	Democratic	South	2004–05	Jim Greenwalt	Minnesota	Senate Information Systems Director
Steve Rauschenberger	Illinois	Senate Assistant Republican Leader	Republican	Midwest	2005–06	Susan Clarke Schaar	Virginia	Senate Clerk
Leticia Van de Putte	Texas	Senate member	Democratic	South	2006–07	Steve Miller	Wisconsin	Legislative Reference Bureau Chief
Donna Stone	Delaware	House member	Republican	East	2007–08	Sharon Crouch-Steidel	Virginia	Director of Information Systems Virginia
Joe Hackney	North Carolina	Speaker	Democratic	South	2008–09	Gary VanLandingham	Florida	Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability Director
Don Balfour	Georgia	Senate	Republican	South	2009–10	Nancy Cyr	Nebraska	Legislative Research Division Legal Counsel
Richard T. Moore	Massachusetts	Senate member	Democratic	East	2010–11	Tim Rice	Illinois	Legislative Information System Executive Director
Stephen Morris	Kansas	Senate member	Republican	Midwest	2011–12	Michael Adams	Virginia	Senate Director of Strategic Planning
Terie Norelli	New Hampshire	House member	Democratic	East	2012–13	Patsy Spaw	Texas	Secretary of the Senate
Bruce Starr	Oregon	Senate member	Republican	West	2013–14	Tom Wright	Alaska	Chief of Staff to the House Speaker
Debbie Smith	Nevada	Senate member	Democratic	West	2014–15	Margaret “Peggy” Piety	Indiana	Indiana Legislative Services Agency Senior Staff Attorney
Curt Bramble	Utah	Senate member	Republian	West	2015–16	Karl Aro	Maryland	Department of Legislative Services Director
Mike Gronstal	Iowa	Senate Majority Leader	Democratic	Midwest	2016	Raúl Burciaga	New Mexico	Legislative Council Service Director
Dan Blue	North Carolina	Senate Democratic Leader		East	2017
Deb Peters	South Dakota	Senate member	Republican	Midwest	2017–18	Chuck Truesdell	Kentucky	Legislative Research Commission
Toi Hutchinson	Illinois	Senate member	Democratic	Midwest	2018–19	Jon Heining	Texas	Legislative Council General Counsel
Robin Vos	Wisconsin	Assembly Speaker	Republican	Midwest	2019–21	Martha Wigton	Georgia	House Budget and Research Office Director
Scott Saiki	Hawaii	House Speaker	Democratic	West	2021–20	J.J. Gentry	South Carolina	Senate Counsel
Scott Bedke	Idaho	House Speaker	Republican	West	2022–23	Anne Sappenfield	Wisconsin	Legislative Council Director
Robin Vos	Wisconsin	Assembly Speaker		Midwest
Brian Patrick Kennedy	Rhode Island	House Speaker Pro Tempore	Democratic	East	2023–24	Sabrina Lewellen	Arkansas	Deputy Director and Assistant Secretary of the Senate
Wayne Harper	Utah	Senate President Pro Tempore	Republican	West	2024–25	John Snyder	Kentucky	Legislative Research Commission Transportation Committee Staff Administrator

Committees

NCSL has eight standing committees whose membership consists of state legislators and staff:

• Budgets and Revenue
• Communications, Financial Services, and Interstate Commerce
• Education
• Health and Human Services
• Labor and Economic Development
• Law, Criminal Justice and Public Safety
• Natural Resources and Infrastructure
• Redistricting and Elections

These committees establish policy positions and coordinate lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C.

Task forces

NCSL uses task forces to complement the work of the eight standing committees. Composed of legislators and legislative staff, task forces are temporary and deal with issues that cut across the jurisdictions of multiple standing committees. Currently, there are eight task forces:

• Agriculture
• Cybersecurity
• Energy Supply
• Immigration and the States
• Innovations in State Health Systems
• Insurance
• International Relations
• Military and Veterans Affairs
• State and Local Taxation

Policy positions

In the most general terms, NCSL works to enhance the role of states in the federal system. NCSL opposes unfunded federal mandates and federal preemption of state authority, providing state legislatures with the flexibility to implement policy solutions. NCSL supports enactment of the Main Street Fairness Act, which would simplify existing sales tax collection laws. The Act would grant states the authority to require all sellers, including online merchants, to collect sales and use taxes, generating billions of dollars of tax revenue for state governments.

NCSL also supports the SAFE Banking Act, which would facilitate access to banking and financial services for the legalized cannabis industry.

Professional staff associations

The organization runs nine professional staff associations.

American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries

The American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries (ASLCS) was founded in 1943 to improve legislative administration, and to establish better communication between clerks and secretaries throughout the United States and its territories. In 1974, ASLCS joined with several state legislative groups to form the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). The society includes an active membership of more than four hundred principal clerks, secretaries, and legislative support staff.

Publications and standards

ASLCS publishes several reference and resource books, including the Legislative Administrator, the Professional Journal, the Roster and Reference Guide, the International Directory, Mason's Manual

The Legislative Administrator is the official newsletter of the American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries.

Professional Journal

"The Journal" provides a forum to share experiences, expertise and opinions on a variety of subjects influencing our daily working environment.

International Directory

The International Directory is a booklet that provides a resource in English, Spanish and French of the objectives and goals of the American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries (ASLCS), Association of Chief Clerks of Mexico's State Legislatures and the Federal Dict of Mexico (ANOMAC), Association of Central American Legislative Clerks (ATELCA), the Canadian Clerks-at-the Table, South African Legislative Secretaries Association (SALSA), and the Australian Clerks. The booklet also contains the names, phone numbers, fax numbers and e-mail addresses of the executive committee members of the respective organizations.

Inside the Legislative Process

Inside the Legislative Process is a research tool, providing information on state legislative processes and procedures. The ASLCS committee on Inside the Legislative Process is responsible for reviewing and producing this publication. The committee works closely with NCSL staff to develop survey questions and record the responses in a format that is easily usable by all legislative units and reflects current legislative processes.

International relations

Additionally, the Joint Canadian-American Clerks' Conference is held biennially in odd-numbered years. It is hosted alternately between Canada and the United States. Unlike other Society meetings, participation in this conference is limited to principal clerks and secretaries or to the principal assistant if the clerk or secretary is unable to attend. The meeting typically occurs in August or September. The location is determined by joint recommendation of the ASLCS Canadian/American Relations Committee and the Canadian Association of Clerks-at-the-Table.

Events

NCSL organizes two annual events for the general membership:

• NCSL Capitol Forum
• Legislative Summit (Annual Meeting)

The Legislative Summit is the largest of these events, partly because it occurs in the summer when state legislatures are in recess. Its location varies year to year. The NCSL Capitol Forum alternates between Washington D.C., and a location that varies year to year.

See also

• American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative lobbying group with legislators and private sector
• Bipartisanship
• Council of State Governments
• State Government Affairs Council
• State Innovation Exchange, a progressive organization that produces model legislation
• State Policy Network, a consortium of conservative and libertarian state think tanks
• Uniform Law Commission

External links

• Official website