National Conference of State Legislatures

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.^[2]

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.^[3] 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.

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.

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

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.^[5]

The organization runs nine professional staff associations.^[6]

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.

• 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