NCSL's Reorganization Creates Opportunities for Staff
The new Standing Committees are off and running
The recent restructuring of NCSL's committee organization will provide new opportunities for legislative staff participation. Last summer, the conference merged the Assembly on State Issues (ASI) and Assembly on Federal Issues (AFI) into a single body known as the Standing Committees of NCSL. The fifteen standing committees address the major policy areas that legislatures face.
Formerly, the AFI developed policy for NCSL, underlying NCSL's Congressional lobbying agenda. The ASI served primarily as a mechanism for information exchange between states and for training. Both AFI and ASI were comprised of several committees and taskforces, with quite a bit of duplication in subject matter. Staff participated only in the former ASI, and not in the AFI. The merger breaks down this artificial separation between federal and state issues.
Typical work products of the committees will include books, web pages, sessions at the Annual Meeting, Power Point presentation files, and a variety of other outputs including recommendations for NCSL policy statements. Such policy statements, once adopted at the Annual Meeting, become the basis for NCSL's Congressional lobbying program. Under NCSL rules, staff may participate in every phase of committee work except voting on policy. The reorganization recognizes staff's important role in interpreting and implementing federal policy.
The new committee structure serves as a complement to the staff section structure. While staff sections are organized by professional discipline, such as fiscal analysis, legal services, clerks, and so forth, the standing committees address policy areas, such as transportation, education, banking, or energy. Each of the 15 standing committees addresses matters of interest to some, but perhaps not all, staff.
The reorganization will strengthen NCSL in a number of ways. With fewer overall committees, NCSL's resources can focus on the primary issues facing legislatures. Under the new structure, legislative staff may contribute to the issues agenda. Also, in the simplified structure, there will be better coordination between NCSL's information exchange function and training activities with the policy agenda.
By time this issue goes to press, a series of letters will have been sent to new legislative leaders in every state, as well as to agency staff directors, soliciting appointments to the various committees. To get involved, you should review the jurisdiction of the various committees for subjects in your interest area. Let your legislative leaders or staff directors know of your interests. Travel is not required for participation. A great deal is accomplished by telephone conference and email.
Of course, if you can travel, you should consider attending the next meeting of the Standing Committees in Boston, April 25-27. Some of the sessions planned for Boston include: privacy and email; wetlands, watersheds, and mercury pollution; emergency preparedness and smallpox vaccinations; education of poll workers; and Internet voting. For a full description of the sessions in Boston, see NCSL's web site, http://www.ncsl.org/. A web page fully describing the Boston meeting will be posted soon on that site.
NCSL's NEW STANDING COMMITTEES:
Agriculture and Rural Development
Budgets and Revenue
Communications, Technology and Interstate Commerce
Economic Development, Trade and Cultural Affairs
Education
Energy and Electric Utilities
Environment and Natural Resources
Financial Services
Health
Human Services and Welfare
Labor and Workforce Development
Law and Criminal Justice
Legislative Effectiveness and State Government
Redistricting and Elections
Transportation
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