NCSL 2000 Annual Meeting Summary.

State legislatures, the most revitalized governmental institutions in America, are poised on the brink of the 21st century to build on the groundbreaking ideas that have emerged from their capitols over the Last 25 years.

More than 7,400 legislators, legislative staff and others interested in moving America forward into the new century met for six days in Chicago, to examine the issues most critical to the people and to set a course of action for the next 25 years. Lawmakers will face new challenges as Congress and the Supreme Court continue to shift responsibilities from the federal government to the states.

"With a new century, lawmakers face significant challenges, and with them unprecedented opportunities to build America's future," said Indiana Representative and former NCSL President Paul Mannweiler.

Those opportunities include developing an approach to electronic commerce that balances the concerns of consumers, businesses and states; making continued progress in curbing juvenile crime; tackling suburban sprawl in a measured way; strengthening legislative ethics; enhancing consumer privacy; reforming education so that children can meet the challenges of a new century; ensuring that patients get the health care they need; and working to streamline taxes so citizens get the kind of government they want at a price they can afford.

Legislators attended more than 160 sessions, including presentations on transportation, on-line voting, prescription drug costs, child care, school violence, cyber crime, welfare reform and children, the economic outlook, and use of cell phones while driving. Meeting participants shared ideas and built upon state experiences on topics such as welfare reform, the tobacco settlement, civic education, state and local partnerships, campaign finance, redistricting, biotechnology, the economy, and much, much more.

The nation's legislators also took key votes during the meeting on issues concerning trade with Cuba, telecommunications tax and e-commerce.

NCSL Executive Director William Pound said the annual gathering of lawmakers, the largest in the country, plays a significant role in helping state lawmakers establish programs and policy.

"As America's forum for ideas, NCSL's Annual Meeting provides legislators with an opportunity to develop local solutions to national problems. Often the policies implemented by today's state legislature are the policies debated by tomorrow's Congress," Pound said.

From term limits to campaign finance reform, from charter schools to the privatization of everything from social services to prisons, innovative state legislatures and risk-raking governors invented new solutions to problems Washington had avoided or even helped create."

CHICAGO TRIBUNE EDITORIAL, JULY 17, 2000

The topic of the four-hour workshop at the National Conference of State Legislatures was redistricting - the arcane but critically important process of drawing the lines for the political battlegrounds of this new century...Judging from what was said here, it is going to be a helluva fight."

DAVID BRODER, WASHINGTON POST, JULY 19, 2000

States plan to spend $8 billion through next year in tobacco settlement money--the first installment of a 25-year cash flow--and nearly half the money is going toward health care services for working poor families" according to an NCSL "report that gives the first comprehensive look at how states are using money from the historic lawsuit settlement."

ASSOCIATED PRESS, JULY 18, 2000

As hundreds of stare legislators from around the country gather here this week, some are talking about finding ways to stop police from evading state forefeiture laws."

KANSA CITY STAR, JULY 17, 2000

More than 6,000 attendees, 1,200 of them legislators, gather at the six-day NCSL meeting to debate ways to solve the problems that plague the nations' legislatures."

REUTERS, JULY 15, 2000

Term limits imposed on lawmakers in 18 stares in an early 1990s epidemic of voter frustration and disgust are just starting to kick in. And early indications are that government rookies can get the job done. A new preliminary study by NCSL disputes the opponents' warnings of chaos and anarchy, as well as the utopian forecasts of advocates.

SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, JULY 19, 2000

States remain in the best financial condition they have been in decades, but a slowdown in revenue growth coupled with increased spending is expected to bring budget surpluses down to more modest levels in the coming year, a study by NCSL shows."

BOND BUYER, JULY 19, 2000

It's a long way to Chicago from Ushuaia, Argentina, the 'last city in the world,' at the southern rip of South America, just before you hit Antarctica. But Sandra Cincunegui, director of the Legislativo Provincia de Tierra del Fuego, made the journey to find out what is the latest word in public policy..."

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, JULY 16, 2000

As public records go digital, the states are struggling with how to balance the public's right to know with people's right to privacy...Some 140 lawmakers, reporters and others gathered here during NCSL's annual meeting moved the issue to the front burner."

CHICAGO DAILY LAW BULLETIN, JULY 20, 2000

NCSL Delegates Vote on Organization's Future

NCSL delegates at the Annual Meeting elected a new slate of officers for the upcoming year. California Senator Jim Costa, a Democrat, began his tenure as NCSL president at the end of the meeting. He received the gavel from Indiana House Minority Leader Paul Mannweiler, a Republican. NCSL's structure ensures that the organization's presidency changes political parties each year.

Republican Senator Stephen Saland of New York is now NCSL's president-elect. He will take over as president when NCSL holds its Annual Meeting in San Antonio next year. Senator Angela Monson of Oklahoma was selected as NCSL's vice president.

The nation's state legislative staff also selected officers for the upcoming year. Diane Bolender, director of the Iowa Legislative Service Bureau, will guide programs and activities for legislative staff as the new NCSL staff chair. Ramona Kenady, chief clerk of the Oregon House was chosen staff vice chair.

The conference drew an estimated 7,400 legislators, legislative staff, exhibitors, international delegates, media and guests during the six-day event. NCSL's Annual Meeting is held in a different city each year and provides legislators and staff with opportunities to share information and exchange ideas on legislative issues and management.

NCSL, composed of all legislators and legislative staff in the nation, its territories and commonwealths, is a bipartisan organization representing the interest of the states. NCSL was founded in 1975.