“The fact that we’re really thriving right now, with strong participation from both parties and from legislative staff, is just a testament that there needs to be a place like NCSL,” says Tim Storey, the organization's CEO.
The two major parties are moving farther apart, particularly on cultural issues, while their constituents are more likely to live in like-minded enclaves where they’re less likely to hear differing opinions. Still, working on a bipartisan basis when possible remains a way to share useful ideas and approaches, even between the most conservative Republicans and the most progressive Democrats, Storey says.
“There’s still a place where people want to come together across a wide spectrum of ideology and hear ideas [and] learn from each other,” he says.
Governing sat down with Storey during NCSL’s meeting. Here are edited excerpts from that interview:
Governing: What does it mean for your organization to have reached 50?
When we were formed in 1975, the founding legislative leaders and legislators and legislative staff decided the No. 1 mission was to strengthen the legislative institution. The second thing was to be a platform or a forum or a network to exchange ideas and learn from each other. And then the third thing was to be a voice for legislatures and states in Washington.
That mission is the same today as it was 50 years ago, and I think we're really good at it. We do a ton of research and information. We do massive professional development, both on personal skills — how to be a good speaker, be a good listener, those kinds of skill sets — but also how to research and how to find good information, and how to manage stress, how to be a good leader.
The people are the institution. So, if we're going to strengthen the institution, we have to make the people better.
What are your priorities for this year?
Federalism is one that’s time has definitely come again. The interest in federalism is really cyclical; it’s been a while since there was a lot of interest on both sides. We're going to convene a large group of legislative leaders from across both parties to ask, "Is there anything that you think the states should advocate strongly [for] or even start to explore constitutional amendments for the U.S. Constitution, either through Congress or through the assembly of the states?"
I don't know what that would be. Is it a balanced budget amendment? Is it changing the Constitution to allow for regulation of campaign finance? The Supreme Court has now made presidential immunity almost unlimited; well, maybe the states say that's not what the founders really intended.
We know that if it's reproductive rights or abortion, you're gonna get zero bipartisan agreement on that. We're not going to talk about that or guns. You're not going to get a consensus on guns. But there might be some things that you could get consensus on, so we're going to be exploring.
AI is the other big thing that's going to continue to be a big issue. And then the thing that's always the issue is budgets, and where's the economy going. States are just starting to figure out the impact of the reconciliation bill, particularly on Medicaid budgets.
Courtesy of NCSL/Kevin E. Newsome
It’s our North Star to be balanced and represent various sides of issues. No issue is two-sided. There's a lot of issues [where there] are multiple sides. So, we take that extremely seriously.
If you were to ask people, do politicians agree, [they’ll say], "No, no all they do is fight; they don't agree on anything." Well, it turns out, the data is pretty clear: They agree on most everything. Eighty-five percent of legislation passed in the legislature is bipartisan. The 15 percent that's straight partisan is typically the most controversial, divisive issues. We're just trying to remind people that you have way more in common than separates you.
Of course, what happened in Minnesota had a major impact. First there was the human tragedy of it, which affected many of us who knew Speaker [Melissa] Hortman personally, and certainly the people in Minnesota. It’s a trauma. It's awful. And that has rippled hard into the community beyond Minnesota about the sacrifice that is made to be in elected office right now is substantial. It’s higher than it should be. You should not feel fear of physical violence. It certainly had a psychological impact.
In that climate, how do you encourage more people to become lawmakers?
The sacrifices are steep. I've been working in legislatures for over 35 years, and I see the toll it takes. The time alone is insane, the commitment.
The vast majority of them, they're not doing it for the money. They're not doing it for the perks. Obviously, it takes some ego. Everybody has ego, but to put yourself up for election, that's not easy to do, and you lose sometimes.
We’ve got to recruit people who understand there's a sacrifice, but also there's tremendous reward. If you ask most legislators in places where you're not on the record per se, it's like, "Well, I do it because I care about this, or I care about that." It really is what they're doing it for. They want to make a difference. They believe in their values, and they think they're qualified to represent those.
Sometimes you recruit candidates who are maybe good at getting elected but they might not be the best legislators. So how do you transition people from campaign mode? We have training on transitioning from campaign to governing and what the difference is. They very quickly find out that there's a lot of smart people in these capitol buildings, and that you have ideas to contribute, but you may not have been the first person to think of that. There's a lot of people who have been thinking about this for a long time, and there are experts with tremendous ability to present ideas and options.
