An O

fficial Publication of the Am

ericanSociety of Legislative Clerks

and SecretariesVerm

ontW

inter 2007

The Legislative Adm

inistrator

PUBLISH

ED BY

HO

USE CLERK’S O

FFICEW

EST VIRGIN

IA

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:38 P

M1

President’s Message

AS

LC

S1

Dear Friends,

It is with great excitem

ent and anticipation that I beginm

y year as president of ASLCS. I look forward to w

orking with

each of you to keep ASLCS the strong, productive, and inclusive organizationthat it has becom

e.

Having been an active m

ember of ASLCS for over 30 years, it goes w

ithout sayingthat I love and respect our organization. I value the professionalism

that eachof you brings to the organization, your dedication to the legislative institutionand its process, your com

mitm

ent to your respective chambers and leadership,

and your willingness to share ideas and advice w

ith fellow legislative staffs

across the country. I am truly honored to serve as your president this year.

As I look to the future of ASLCS, it is hard not to look back at the succession ofgifted and exceptional leaders w

ho have preceded me. ASLCS has been guided by extraordinary people, and it is not

surprising that it is the largest and most respected staff section of N

CSL.

Under the leadership of Laura Clem

ens, the Society enjoyed much grow

th and great accomplishm

ents, including theaddition of over 50 new

mem

bers, the successful negotiation of an agreement w

ith NCSL regarding the longstanding

issue over control of our dues account, and the completion and adoption of the revision of the ASLCS Standing O

rders.Even m

ore important to m

e personally is the friendship and encouragement I have received from

Laura. I know you

echo my feelings w

hen I say — “Job w

ell done, Laura!”

Our Society is strong and com

prised of willing m

embers. Your leadership group for 2007-2008 is anxious to serve. As

I made m

y calls for comm

ittee chairs and vice chairs, not one person was reluctant to accept the responsibility, and

I am grateful for their enthusiastic and ready responses. The com

mittees got off to a great start in Burlington. The

comm

ittee meetings w

ere well attended and the participation and discussions spirited and productive.

On behalf of ASLCS, I w

ant to thank David G

ibson and Don M

ilne and their staff for the terrific conference in Vermont.

The setting was beautiful, the w

eather was perfect, the m

eetings were excellent, and the hospitality w

as unparal-leled. Pat Saville and the Program

Developm

ent Comm

ittee did an outstanding job with both the plenary sessions and

the concurrent sessions. The social events and the trip to Montpelier w

ere superb.

Also, I want to thank Susan Schaar and Bruce Jam

erson and their staff for the Joint Canadian/American conference in

Virginia. Our Canadian friends w

ere treated to true Southern hospitality! The sessions were inform

ative and livelyand the historical visits m

oving, the food was w

onderful, and the camaraderie betw

een the Society and the Canadiansw

as exhilarating. I am happy to announce that the international com

petition (volleyball) ended with Team

USA once

again defeating Team Canada. The trophy safely resides in m

y office.

As we begin this new

year, I want to encourage each of you to be open to change and the challenges that change

brings while retaining your love for the legislative process. Your know

ledge of the process and your dedication to thepreservation of procedure are essential in our dem

ocratic society. You truly are the “keepers of the legislativeprocess” and the teachers of the process.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as your president. I look forw

ard to working w

ith you, and I sincerelyseek your advice, suggestions, com

ments, and questions. Together w

e can achieve much for ASLCS.

Sincerely,Patsy SpawSecretary of the Texas Senate and ASLCS President

44

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:13 P

M2

2006-2007 Executive Comm

ittee

AS

LC

S

2 Carmen Cauthen - N

CAppointed Associate

Gregory G

ray - WV

Elected PrincipalRobert M

archant - WI

Appointed PrincipalSuzi Low

ell - AKAppointed Principal

Brad Hendrickson - W

AElected Associate

Laura Clemens - O

HPresident

Patsy Spaw - TX

President - ElectM

illicent MacFarland - M

ESecretary -Treasurer

Cheryl Laube - AZAssociate Vice President

Scott Kaiser - ILAppointed Associate

JoAnn Hedrick - D

EIm

mediate Past President

Tara Perkinson - VAIm

mediate Past AssociateVice President

43

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

M3

Hilton Burlington

Burlington, Vermont

Thursday, September 13, 2007

President C

lemens called

the meeting of the

Am

erican

Socie

ty of Le

gislative C

lerks an

dSecretaries to ord

er at 12:10 PM

.

QU

OR

UM

Executive Com

mittee m

emb

ers present w

ereL

au

ra C

lem

en

s, Pre

side

nt; P

atsy

Sp

aw

,Presid

ent-Elect; Millie M

acFarland, Secretary-

Trea

sure

r; Ch

ery

l La

ub

e, A

ssoc

iate

Vic

ePre

side

nt; G

rego

ry Gray, E

lecte

d Prin

cipal

Mem

ber; B

rad H

endrickson, Elected

Associate

Me

mb

er; Su

zi Low

ell, A

pp

oin

ted

Prin

cipa

lM

emb

er; Rob

Marchant, A

pp

ointed Princip

alM

ember; C

armen C

authen, Appointed A

ssociateM

em

be

r; Scott K

aiser, A

pp

oin

ted

Asso

ciateM

em

be

r; JoA

nn

He

drick

, Imm

ed

iate

Pa

stPre

side

nt; Tara Pe

rkinso

n, Im

me

diate

PastA

ssoc

iate

V

ice

P

resid

en

t, a

nd

N

ata

lieO

’Do

nn

ell o

f NC

SL staff. A

qu

oru

m w

as

present.

AP

PR

OVA

L OF

MIN

UT

ES

Patsy Spaw

moved

that the minutes of A

ugust8, 2007 b

e accepted

and G

reg Gray second

edthe m

otion. The m

inutes were unanim

ouslyap

proved

.

AP

PR

OVA

L OF

TR

EASU

RER

’S REP

ORT

Millie M

acFarland p

resented the Treasurer’s

Re

po

rt with

a balan

ce o

f $44,907.68 as of

Septem

ber 6, 2007.

Balance as of July 31, 2007.............

$45,707.27Total D

eposits................................1,365.00

Subtotal.....................................47,072.27

Less Disbursem

ents......................

2,164.59Balance as of Septem

ber 6, 2007......

$44,907.68

JoA

nn

He

drick m

ove

d th

at th

e re

po

rt be

accepted and Patsy Spaw seconded the m

otion.T

he report w

as unanimously accep

ted.

NEW

BUSIN

ESS

President Clemens inquired if there w

as objectionto taking N

ew Business up out of order. There being

no

ob

jectio

ns, th

e Pre

side

nt aske

d Patrick

O’D

onnell, Chair of the Bylaws and Standing O

rdersCom

mittee, to present the recom

mendations of the

comm

ittee. Chair O’D

onnell stated that the work

of the comm

ittee had begun in 2006 under ChairJeannine W

ood who put a lot of tim

e and effortinto the revisions and under his chairm

anship thecurrent com

mittee w

orked closely with Jeannine

Wood to com

plete the project. The comm

ittee’sgoal w

as to edit the standing orders to reflectcurrent ASLCS policies and to m

ake them easier to

navigate through and more user friendly. Chair

O’D

onnell then reviewed the docum

ent in detailw

ith the comm

ittee. A discussion was held and on

motion of Patsy Spaw

and seconded by Millie

MacFarland

, the revisions were unanim

ouslyadopted. C

hair O’D

onnell thanked PresidentClem

ens and mem

bers of the executive comm

itteeand inform

ed mem

bers that he would update the

document as approved by the executive com

mittee

and send copies to the full comm

ittee.

The second part of the task was to update the

indexes to the Bylaws and Standing O

rders and ChairO

’Donnell presented the im

proved indexes forapproval. Scott Kaiser m

oved acceptance of thenew

indexes, JoAnn Hedrick seconded the m

otionand the com

mittee unanim

ously accepted theupdated indexes.

President Clem

ens thanked Chair O

’Donnell and

mem

bers of the Bylaw

s and Standing Orders

Comm

ittee for their diligence and superior work.

Ob

ie

Ru

tled

ge,

Ch

air o

f th

e

Legislative

Adm

inistrator Com

mittee, thanked President

Clemens for the opportunity to chair the com

mittee

and made the follow

ing recomm

endations to thecom

mittee:

3

Executive Com

mittee M

eeting Minutes

AS

LC

S

42 ASL

CS

EL

EA

NO

R, B

O &

MIC

K W

OU

LD

LIK

E T

O T

HA

NK

TH

OSE

OF

YO

U W

HO

CO

NT

RIB

UT

ED

TO

OU

R F

IRST

ED

ITIO

N:

Mardi A

lexanderStephen R

. Arias

Wallace A

ustinJudy B

arrows

Anita B

avisN

ancy Beasley

Diane B

ellC

armen C

authenA

nn Cornw

ellM

arguerite Duda

Melissa B

ybee-FieldsJanice G

addJohn G

arrettD

ave Gibson

Karen G

oldman

Em

ily How

ardM

aryann Horch

Steve James

Laurel Johnston

Joe Koval

Jamie K

ruseC

heryl Laube

Millie M

acFarlandJulie M

edinaM

ary Monahan

Bo Pittm

anN

atalie O’D

onnellPatrick O

’Donnell

Melanie R

eekesSusan F. R

eilR

ose Ram

seyT

im R

iceO

bie Rutledge

Florence M. Sena

Susan Clarke Schaar

Patsy SpawA

nn-Marie Sw

eeneyD

enise Weeks

Jeannine Wood

And a special thanks to B

rad Hendrickson for his beautiful color photo that w

e used for ourfirst cover!

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

M4

4

Executive Comm

ittee Meeting M

inutes Continued1) Increase the current budget of $7,150 for thenext year, stating that it costs approxim

ately $2,300per edition; 2) review

the printing standards andm

ake the standards uniform; and 3) purchase a new

camera to assure higher quality photos. President

Clem

ens thanked Chair Rutledge and w

ithoutobjection referred the m

atter to incoming executive

comm

ittee for decision.

A discussion was held regarding the archives of the

society relative to ensuring that all appropriatedocum

ents get forwarded to Archivist Steve Jam

esin M

assachusetts.

A discussion w

as held regarding the potentialm

embership of C

lerks from other governm

entalentities. After brief discussion President Clem

ensdirected N

atalie O’Donnell to send a com

munication

to the Clerks that had inquired advising them that

ASLCS Bylaws do not perm

it them to be m

embers;

however, w

e encourage them to attend

ourm

eetings.

Patsy Spaw gave an update on the spring m

eetingw

hich

will b

e h

eld

in A

she

ville, N

C, at th

eRenaissance H

otel from M

arch 28 to March 30, 2008.

Respectfully submitted,

Millicent M

acFarland, Secretary-Treasurer

AS

LC

S

41

AS

LC

S

NEBRA

SKA

Jamie Kruse

The Nebraska State Capitol is currently hosting the A

merica’s Favorite A

rchitecture Exhibition on behalfof the Am

erican Institute of Architects. Based on a public poll conducted through the American Institute

of Architects, the traveling exhibition is a photography collection of the top 150 works of architecture

within the U

nited States.

The Nebraska State Capitol is ranked #67 on the list and is one of only three Capitols included on the list,

along with Virginia and Texas.

The Nebraska State Capitol is also listed on the N

ational Register of Historic Places and is also a registered

National H

istoric Landmark. The Capitol w

as completed in 1932 and is 400 feet tall w

ith the base measur-

ing 440 feet wide. Ironically, w

hile the Capitol took 10 years to construct, from 1922-1932, it is currently

undergoing its 10th year in the N

ebraska Capitol Exterior Restoration Project which involves exam

ining theentire exterior facade and repairing and replacing cracked or dam

aged stones.

For more inform

ation on the American Institute of Architects A

merica’s Favorite A

rchitecture Exhibitionyou can access their w

ebsite at ww

w.favoritearchitecture.org

About State Capitols - A Brief H

istory

Annual Business M

eeting Minutes

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Burlington, Vermont

12:00 PM

Call to Order

President Laura Clemens called the business m

eetingto order at 12:50 PM

.

Roll Call of the States

Burney Durham

moved that the Roll C

all of theStates be w

aived and Rob Marchant seconded. The

motion w

as passed by unanimous consent.

Approval of M

inutes

Ann C

ornwell m

oved that the minutes of the

September 23, 2006, annual business m

eeting heldin Austin, TX, be approved. Scott Kaiser secondedthe m

otion and the minutes w

ere adopted byunanim

ous consent.

Approval of Treasurer’s Report

Millie M

acFarland presented the Treasurer’s report.T

he balance in the ASLC

S dues account as of

September 6, 2007, w

as $44,907.68. Norm

an Moore

moved acceptance of the Treasurer’s report as

presented. Bruce Jamerson seconded the m

otionand the report w

as accepted by unanimous consent.

Recognition of Host State

President Clemens recognized the Verm

ont Host

Com

mittee and thanked them

for their hospitality.

President Clemens extended special thanks to the

society’s on-going sponsors for their continuedsupport.

Introduction of International Guests

President Clemens recognized the attendance of

international guests: E. George M

acMinn, C

lerk,British C

olumbia; D

eborah Deller, D

eputy Clerk,

Ontario; N

eil Ferguson, Assistant Clerk and LegalCounsel, N

ova Scotia, who reported on the activities

of the Canadian Association of Clerks at the Table(CATTS); and Beverly Isles, Principal Clerk, O

ntario,w

ho offered greetings from the Canadian Parliam

entand Russell G

rove, Clerk, New

South Wales, w

hoextended greetings from

the Australian and New

Zealand Association of Clerks (ANZACATT).

Burlington Waterfront, Verm

ont 2007

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

M5

5

AS

LC

S

About State Capitols - A Brief H

istory

AS

LC

S

40

MA

RYLA

ND

Mary M

onahanC

lerk, Maryland

House

The M

aryland State H

ouse dates from

1772-1779 and is the old

est State House in the country

still in legislative use. In 1960 it was d

esignated as a N

ational Historic Land

mark b

y the U.S.

Dep

artment of the Interior. Located

in the center of State Circle in the heart of A

nnapolis,

Maryland

’s capital since 1695, the State H

ouse holds the cham

bers of the M

aryland Senate and

the House of D

elegates, offices of the Senate President and

the House Sp

eaker, and offices of

the Governor and

Lieutenant Governor. M

ost significantly, it is the site of the legislative ses-sions d

uring which M

aryland law

s are mad

e, the overwhelm

ing majority of those in regular

sessions. Only once since the current State H

ouse was b

uilt did

the General A

ssemb

ly meet

elsewhere and

that was in A

pril 1861, w

hen legislators left the city to escape the rep

ressiveatm

osphere of A

nnapolis w

hich had fallen into the hand

s of General B

enjamin B

utler and his

Union troop

s.

Maryland

is prob

ably only one of the 50 states to have three w

ell-established

nicknames. T

heState w

as first dub

bed

the “Old

Line” state by G

eneral George W

ashington during the Revolu-

tionary War in honor of the M

aryland sold

iers who “held

the line” against the British at the

battle of Long Island

, allowing G

eneral Washington and

his troops to w

ithdraw

. Out of 404

Maryland

soldiers, only 96 survived

. Another com

mon nam

e is the “Free State” which is p

opu-

larly assumed

to refer to the State’s long perceived

history of religious toleration and resp

ectfor p

olitical freedom

. The nam

e actually is derived

from the State’s refusal to p

ass a law in the

1920s to go along with the fed

eral government’s b

an on alcohol. Maryland

ers, so the storygoes, b

elieved that the im

position of Prohib

ition violated their freed

om. A

nd lastly in the 1930s,

a National G

eographic w

riter tagged M

aryland as “A

merica in M

iniature” and it stuck b

asicallyb

ecause so much top

ographical d

iversity is packed

into its small area. M

aryland w

ith its 12,000p

lus square m

iles ranks 42nd in area am

ong the fifty states. From its m

ountains through itsp

iedm

ont and coastal p

lains to the Atlantic seashore, ab

out the only natural feature that ism

issing is desert. So w

hether it is Am

erica in Miniature, the O

ld Line or Free State, M

arylandand

its legislative bod

y, the Maryland

General A

ssemb

ly, which first m

et in 1635, will continue

to meet the challenges of the 21

st century.

Annual Business M

eeting Minutes C

ontinued

Comm

ittee Reports

The chairs of the following standing com

mittees

presented reports:

Canadian-American Relations – Karen W

adsworth

Professional Journal – Hobie Lehm

anProgram

Developm

ent – Pat SavilleBylaw

s and Standing Orders – Patrick O

’Donnell

Inside the Legislative Process – Kirsten Waid

Site Selection – Sandy TenneyTechnology – Alan W

hittingtonInternational Com

munication and D

evelopment –

Ann Cornwell

Legislative Administrator – O

bie RutledgeM

embership and Com

munication – Annette M

ooreRoster – Rose Ram

sey

Nom

inating Comm

ittee Report

JoAnn Hedrick reported for the N

ominating Com

-m

ittee and recomm

ended the following persons for

2007-2008 officers of ASLCS:

President – Patsy Spaw, Secretary of the Senate,

TexasPresident-Elect – M

illicent M. M

acFarland, Clerk ofthe H

ouse, Maine

Secretary-Treasurer – Gregory M

. Gray, Clerk of the

House of D

elegates, West Virginia

Associate Vice President – Brad Hendrickson, D

eputySecretary of the Senate, W

ashingtonElected Principal M

ember - Robert J. M

archant,Chief Clerk of the Senate, W

isconsinElected A

ssociate Mem

ber – Carm

en W. C

authen,Adm

inistrative Clerk, House of Representatives,

North Carolina

Karen Wadsw

orth moved acceptance of the nom

i-nating com

mittee report and N

orm M

oore secondedthe m

otion. The officers were elected by unani-

mous consent.

There being no further business Steve Marshall

moved adjournm

ent Ramona Kenady seconded the

motion and the m

eeting adjourned at 1:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Millicent M

. MacFarland

Secretary-Treasurer

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

M6

Comm

ittee Mem

bership and Meeting M

inutesBylaw

s and Standing Orders

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Burlington, Vermont

9:00 AM

The Comm

ittee was called to order by the Chair,

Jeannine Wood of the Idaho Senate.

Those in attendance were:

Claire Clift - NV, Vice Chair

Diane Bell - FL, Vice Chair

Steve Arias - NM

George Bishop - VA

Laura Clemens - O

HKaren W

adsworth - N

HJeff Finch - VA

John Garrett - VA

David G

ibson - VEKaren G

oldman - CO

JoAnn Hedrick - D

EBo H

oover - WV

Cheryl Laube - AZD

owe Littleton - AL

Millie M

acFarland - ME

Norm

an Moore -AZ

Pat O’D

onnell - NE

Patsy Spaw - TX

John Garrett of the Virginia Senate w

as temporarily

appointed recorder by the Chair.

The C

hair brought before the Com

mittee the

following item

s for the 2007-2008 agenda:

•C

onsistency in the Standing Orders, par-

ticularly concerning abb

reviations andacronym

s. The term Professional D

evelop-

ment Sem

inar may use PD

S as a acronym.

How

is this reflected after the first

time PD

S is used? Should it be differentif it is a section title?

•C

an references regarding retirees b

eincluded in one section?

•Travel reim

bursement and travel ad

vance-m

ents. Should

the standing ord

ers be

changed to reflect the current practicew

hich does not include travel advance-m

ents? See also Section X

VIII, Travel

Reimb

ursement, w

hich refers to travelcosts.

•Review

the index of the Standing Orders to

ensure the topics have all of the pertinententries.

•Review

the Standing Orders to ensure the

archiving process is explained so that:

a.It is clear w

ho is responsible for gettingdocum

ents to the Society’s Archivist.

b.W

hat should be sent to NCSL and w

hatshould be sent to the Society’s archivist.

c.W

hat is the route that docum

entsshould follow

in order to get to theSociety’s archivist.

This is necessitated due to the fact that the

Society’s Archives have been moved from

Nevada

AS

LC

S

6 Jeannine Wood - ID

Chair

Claire Clift - NV

Vice ChairD

iane Bell - FLVice Chair

Al Mathiow

etz - MN

Vice Chair

States At a G

lance

AS

LC

S

39

NEVA

DA - C

ontinued

Under the term

s of the union’s proposed initiative, Nevada’s gam

ing tax of 6.75 percent—currently

the lowest in the nation—

would increase to 9.75 percent for those large casinos that m

ake over $1m

illion am

onth. In comparison, N

ew Jersey and M

ississippi levy both a corporate income tax and an average

8 percent tax on gaming revenue.

The political risks are high for both sides. If the N

SEA fails to gain the public’s support for itsinitiative, the union’s bargaining position m

ay be weakened going into future legislative sessions.

Am

ong gamers, there is fear that if the union is successful, other special interest groups w

ill followand look to gam

ing to fund other worthw

hile programs.

The battles lines have been draw

n, with N

evada Governor Jim

Gibbons (R

), the Las Vegas Cham

berof C

omm

erce, and the big gamers on one side and the N

SEA on the other. While previous attem

ptsby the teachers to go directly to the voters have failed, political pundit Jon R

alston predicts thatthis tim

e around, the union will teach big gam

ing a lesson. “Early line: 10-to-1 in favor of everyoneelse and an increased gam

ing tax.”

OR

EGO

NO

bie RutledgeReading C

lerk, Oregon H

ouse

OR

EGO

N A

PPRO

VES O

NE BA

LLOT M

EASU

RE A

ND

REJEC

TS T

HE O

TH

ER

A measure on the ballot to clarify O

regon’s land use law w

as approved by over sixty percent. Three

years ago a different measure w

as approved which threw

Oregon into uncharted w

aters, rollingback regulation that had been in place for 30 years. W

ith the new m

easure it is hoped that therew

ill now be som

e clarity in the existing laws.

The increase in the cigarette tax did not fare so w

ell. It went dow

n to defeat by a margin of fifty

nine percent. The 2007 Legislature, unsuccessful to gain the constitutional three-fifths m

ajorityvote required in the H

ouse of Representatives for a tax increase, chose to place the tax increase ina constitutional am

endment that then only required a constitutional m

ajority vote but then neededto be ratified by the people.

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

M7

•Review

the Standing Order regarding Pub-

lishing Standards now that Inside the Leg-

islative Process will no longer be published,

and will be available only electronically.

What should

the practice b

e regarding

sending the item to the Society’s archivist?

Should the entire electronic publication bep

rinted and

sent each time there is a

change or should just the change be sent?Should the publication

be saved in hardcopy or on som

e type of storage format

such as, but not including, a compact disc

(CD)?

A motion w

as made, seconded and agreed that the

meeting be adjourned.

Comm

ittee Mem

bership and Meeting M

inutes7

AS

LC

S

to

Massach

use

tts (Ste

ven

Jam

es

o

f th

eM

assachusetts House). N

CSL also retains som

erecords, but it needs to be m

ade clear which

documents go to N

CSL and which go to the Archivist.

Respectfully submitted,

John Garrett, Recorder

Addendum: Al M

athiowetz, M

innesota House, is also

Vice Chair, but was unable to be in attendance.

Bylaws and Standing O

rders Continued

38

MA

RYLA

ND

- Continued

for a regular session. Also, once the G

overnor has called a Sp

ecial Session he may not ad

journit nor m

ay he force mem

bers to attend

. As w

ell, the Governor’s p

roclamation of a Sp

ecialSession for a p

articular reason may not lim

it the subject m

atter of legislation. Thus legislation

may b

e introduced

on any subject. O

nce introduced

, however, the p

residing officers m

ay referlegislation to the Senate or H

ouse Rules com

mittees, as ap

prop

riate; to ensure that the focusrem

ains on the legislation introduced

to deal w

ith the core issues for which the Sp

ecial Sessionw

as called.

Governor O

’Malley is confid

ent that he has the votes in the Dem

ocrat controlled A

ssemb

ly top

ass his package of tax increases. T

he Governor has introd

uced six b

ills to increase the sales,tob

acco, gas, corporate and

personal incom

e taxes. Also, the G

overnor has prop

osed a refer-

endum

on the Novem

ber 2008 b

allot legalizing slot-machine gam

bling throughout the state.

NEVA

DA

Susan Furlong ReilN

avada Assembly

TEACHERS G

AMBLE O

N G

AMIN

G TAX IN

CREASE

Frustrated with its inability to convince state law

makers to increase elem

entary and secondary educationfunding substantially, the N

evada State Education Association (NSEA) recently announced plans to circu-

late an initiative petition in 2008, proposing an increase in the gaming tax in N

evada. According to LynneW

arne, President of the 28,000-mem

ber NSEA, the petition w

ould require that 40 percent of the newrevenues be used to im

plement strategies to im

prove K-12 education in Nevada, such as adding instruc-

tional days to improve student achievem

ent, and another 40 percent be dedicated to increasing teachers’salaries and im

proving work conditions. The rem

aining 20 percent of the proposed new revenue w

ould gotow

ard merit pay for teachers. The initiative petition w

ould need to be approved by the voters in boththe 2008 and 2010 general elections before becom

ing law.

A recent analysis of education spending comm

issioned by the Nevada Legislature found that N

evada needsto spend an additional $1 billion if it is to m

eet the adequacy requirements of the federal N

o Child LeftBehind Act. Education spending in N

evada—w

hich has no personal or business income tax—

is almost

$1,900 per student less than the national average.

The NSEA argues that student proficiency in N

evada is well below

the national average and that class sizesare som

e of the largest in the nation. In addition, the state is experiencing a teacher shortage. Gam

ingrepresentatives contend that other industries should share in m

eeting the tax burden, thereby creating am

ore stable and predictable revenue stream. The industry also w

arns that an increase in the gaming tax

would drive investm

ent out the state.

According to the Las Vegas Sun, polls conducted over the past ten years show that 70 percent of N

evadansbelieve education funding in N

evada is inadequate and that the gaming industry should fill the shortfall.

States At a G

lance

AS

LC

S

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

M8

8 ASL

CS

Comm

ittee Mem

bership and Meeting M

inutesInside the Legislative Process

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Burlington, Vermont

9:00 AM

The meeting of Inside the Legislative Process w

ascalled to order by M

elissa Bybee-Fields - KY, Chair.

The following m

embers w

ere present:

William

MaG

ill - VT, Vice ChairPat M

au-Shimizu - H

I, Vice Chair

Polly Emerson - TX

Jane Atkinson - VAD

ianne Whitaker - VA

Rose Ramsey - VA

Barbara Carter - VALinda H

opkins - TXPatience W

orrel - TXScott C. Caffey - TX

Nancy Alliegro - TX

Jean Burgin - KYAdanna H

ydes - KYBrenda Erickson - M

DLaurel Johnston - H

IKirsten W

aid - AKLeigh G

oodman - N

CLori Stone - W

VSusan Kannarr - KS

Carmen Cauthen - N

CKathy Jackson - U

TSteven Jam

es - MA

Diane Ashley - M

SLisa D

avis - MS

Lucinda Benjamin - N

VSusan Furlong Reil - N

VSandi M

orris - KYPaul Cam

pos - WA

Michael Chernick - VT

Jane Gill - N

V

Melissa Bybee-Fields, Chair, introduced herself and

the Vice Chairs, and Brenda Erickson of NCSL.

The Chair asked Brenda Erickson to explain the

comm

ittee and its process for all the new m

embers.

Brenda suggested that we lim

it the topic areas to 2or 3 topics to keep the survey under 20 pages.

The following topics w

ere discussed:

•Conference Com

mittee conflicts

•M

essaging and bill recall between the

chambers, the G

overnor, and the Secretaryof State

•Technical Am

endments

•D

ebate Limits

•Ethics (not revised in Inside the LegislativeProcess since 1996)

•Technological aspects of stream

ing videosand other technological advancem

ents

Vice Chair Pat Mau-Shim

izu (HI) suggested w

e pickone “bread and butter” issue from

the document

to update and one new or futuristic topic.

Steven James (M

A) suggested that as a comm

itteew

e look into how to prom

ote and advertise theInside the Legislative Process docum

ent more to

mem

bers. Possibly putting something in the

Administrator w

ith the web address.

Melissa Bybee-Fields - KY

Chair

Pat Mau-Shim

izu - HI

Vice ChairW

illiam M

aGill - VT

Vice Chair

States At a G

lance

AS

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S37

COLO

RAD

OKaren G

oldman

Secretary of the Senate

THE CO

LORAD

O CH

ANN

EL

On January 9, 2008, citizens in Colorado w

ill be able to view the proceedings of the Colorado H

ouse ofRepresentatives. The idea for “The Colorado Channel” cam

e from Speaker of the H

ouse Andrew Rom

anoffand w

as originally designed to cover the proceedings of both the House and the Senate. H

owever, efforts

to raise private funds for start-up costs resulted in only enough money to broadcast one cham

ber. It isanticipated that Senate proceedings w

ill be televised in 2009.

The television project was not only a cooperative effort on the part of H

ouse and Senate staff and the non-partisan legislative agencies, the City and County of D

enver agreed to extend the cabling it utilizes tobroadcast City Council m

eetings to the State Capitol, over one mile aw

ay. Additionally, cable providerCom

cast agreed to donate two dedicated channels, one for each cham

ber, for one year. Comcast broad-

casts to the bulk of cable users throughout the state. Details for w

eb-streaming video are still being

worked out.

Colorado will join 34 states in providing legislative coverage via television and/or w

eb video.

MA

RYLAN

DM

ary Monahan

Clerk of the House

GO

VERNO

R CALLS FOR SPECIAL SESSIO

N D

UE TO

1.7 BILLION

DEFICIT

“This storm

is upon us, and

this looming b

udget shortfall threatens to d

o grave dam

age to thevery q

uality of life that our neighbors have elected

us to defend

” Governor O

’Malley rem

arkedas he sp

oke before a Joint Session of the M

aryland G

eneral Assem

bly on M

onday, O

ctober 29,

2007.

Until three years ago, it had

been over a d

ecade since a Sp

ecial Session was convened

. There

were four Sp

ecial Sessions in the 1990s and four earlier in the 1980s. T

hen in 2004 and again in

2006, the General A

ssemb

ly met in a Sp

ecial Session to add

ress the costs of med

ical malp

rac-tice insurance and

electric rate relief, respectively. A

gain this last week of O

ctober M

aryland’s

General A

ssemb

ly has been called

to add

ress this shortfall in finances.

The structure and

proced

ures governing a Maryland

Special Session are d

etermined

prim

arily by

the Maryland

Constitution, augm

ented of course b

y each house’s Rules, the M

aryland statutes,

and court d

ecisions. A Special Session m

ay convene in two w

ays. It may b

e called b

y the Gover-

nor or, if a majority of the m

emb

ers elected to the Senate and

to the House p

etition the Gover-

nor to call a Special Session at a d

ate specified

in the petition such as in 2006, the G

overnorm

ust issue a proclam

ation calling a Special Session. A Sp

ecial Session is limited

to 30 days and

may not b

e extended

; rather another must b

e called. T

he pow

ers of the legislature in a Special

Session are as broad

as in a regular session, and the legislative p

rocess is exactly the same as

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

M9

Inside the Legislative P

rocessN

ow

, Insid

e the L

egisla

tive Pro

cess isbecom

ing an electronic document—

hopefully,m

akin

g its in

form

ation

mo

re accessible to

legislators and legislative staff. The electronic

version will include all sections published

since 1996. Access the electronic edition of

Insid

e the L

egisla

tive Pro

cess thro

ug

h th

eP

ublished Sections L

ist. Please note that the

individual sections are published as PD

Fs,

which w

ill require Adobe A

crobat Reader to

download the docum

ents.A

s of January 2007

Comm

ittee Mem

bership and Meeting M

inutes

Inside the Legislative Process Continued

The Chair informed the m

embers that she w

ouldcom

municate w

ith all mem

bers next week to get

the email com

munication going and possibly the

NCSL listserv up and running.

There being no further business, Polly Emerson (TX)

moved to adjourn.

The motion w

as seconded by Steven James (M

A).

The meeting w

as adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Melissa Bybee-Fields, Chair

9

AS

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S

http://ww

w.ncsl.org/legis/legism

gt/ILP/ILP_Intro.htm

36

AS

LC

SA

SL

CS

Landmarks

Judith Schultz RetiringW

est Virginia Senate

Judith Schultz, the Fiscal Officer of the W

est Virginia State

Senate, retired O

ctober 31, 2007, after 32 years service

with the Senate.

Judy cam

e to work d

uring the 1975 Regular Session as theSenate Journal C

lerk. In the summ

er of 1978, while she

was on vacation, the Senate C

lerk asked Jud

y if she would

temp

orarily fill the position of B

ookkeeper and

PayrollC

lerk. Although Jud

y repeated

ly asked to return to the

Journal Clerk p

osition, 29 years later she retired as the

Fiscal Officer of the State Senate. A

ltogether, Judy has

more than 40 years service w

ith county and state govern-

ment.

Judy and

husband

Dew

ey plan to sp

end their retirem

enttraveling, fishing and

spend

ing time w

ith her family. T

heyhave four child

ren, two sons and

identical tw

in daugh-

ters. They b

oth love children and

it’s a good thing – they

have thirteen grandchild

ren.

McD

owell Lee -- Longest Serving Clerk

Clerk of the Alabama Senate

McD

owell Lee w

as elected to the A

labam

a House of R

epre-

sentatives in 1954 and served

through 1962. He w

as thethird

generation family m

emb

er to serve in the Alab

ama

Legislature.

During his tim

e as a legislator he received the “O

utstand-

ing Freshman Legislator” aw

ard in 1955; and

was chosen

“Best D

ebater” b

y the Alab

ama Press A

ssociation in 1959.

In 1963 McD

owell w

as elected Secretary of the A

labam

aSenate and

is currently serving in that capacity tod

ay.

During his tenure as Secretary, M

cDow

ell served as Presi-

dent of the A

SLCS, 1974-75; Staff C

hair of NC

SL, 1976-77;received

the Joseph A

. Beek D

istinguished Service Aw

ard,

1989; and received

the ASLC

S Length of Service Honor in

2003.

Judith Schultz

McD

owell Lee

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

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AS

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S

10

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Burlington, Vermont

9:00 AM

Comm

ittee mem

bers present:

Denise W

eeks, Chair - NC

Paula Rossetto, Vice Chair - CAJackie Scott, Vice Chair - VA

Linda Tubbs - TXJoyce W

right - ALM

ichelle Adams - N

CM

ardi Alexander - TXM

ary Andrus - UT

Dave Avant - AL

Dora Belcher - W

VJay Braxton - VA

Kristin Canterbury - WV

Norm

a Chastain - AZLiz Clark - AK

Ann Cornwell - AR

Michael Cote - M

EM

olly Dondero - N

VM

arguerite Duda - W

VM

arilyn Eddins - COInga Em

erson - DE

Londi Ensor - AKCarolyn Franklin - AL

Janice Gadd - U

TG

reg Gray - W

VVirginia H

abansky - VAStephanie H

all - AKJason H

ataway - N

VN

athan Hatfield - VA

Martha H

opson - AKEm

ily How

ard - VABruce Jam

erson - VABarbara Sue N

obles - ALD

iane Keetch - NV

Jeannine Layell - VALydia Lee - N

VH

obie Lehman - VA

Suzi Lowell - AK

Mary M

onahan - MD

Ann Moyle - N

VAnati N

eiffer - OR

Mary Phillips - N

VKevin Pierce - W

AJanet Pruitt - N

CM

elanie Reekes - VAEleanor Ringel - W

VSherry Rodriguez - N

VPat Saville - KS

Nancy Starkw

eather - NM

Gina Spartz - AK

Sandy Tenney - UT

Lori Summ

ers - WV

Bonnie Trivette - NC

Lora Thompson - W

VBarbara Lecarpentier - VATricia Vaughan - VA

Also attending:Patsy Spaw

, President of ASLCS - TX

The Site Selection comm

ittee was called to order

at 9:05 a.m. by D

enise Weeks, Chair, N

orth Carolina.M

s. Weeks introduced Vice Chair, Jackie Scott, from

Virginia and informed the com

mittee that Em

ilyH

oward from

Virginia had agreed to serve asRecorder for the com

mittee. Chair W

eeks statedthat the job of the Site Selection com

mittee w

as tofind and recom

mend a location for the 2010

Professional Developm

ent Seminar. C

omm

itteem

embers w

ere reminded that Reno, N

V is the siteof the 2008 Sem

inar and Seattle, WA had been

selected for 2009. Chair Weeks also explained that

there were three types of conferences: 1. a H

ost

Site Selection

Comm

ittee Mem

bership and Meeting M

inutes

Jackie Scott - VAVice Chair

Denise W

eeks - NC

Chair

Paula Rossetto -CAVice Chair

AS

LC

S

Technology Pages Continued AS

LC

S

William

S. Pittman III - Continued

I noted recently as I inspected other legislature’s web sites that O

klahoma has a nice online m

echanism to

listen to audio from past sessions, and Texas has a sim

ilar video link. I am sure other legislatures have

such links or are working to develop them

. It is our objective to have a new audio link com

pleted for usein the upcom

ing 2008 regular session to give online access to recorded meetings and sessions. Currently,

this is only available on demand via CD

or audio cassette. The next step for the Florida House w

ill be toim

plement a video link sim

ilar to what you see at the Texas H

ouse site. Once again, im

plementation of

these new m

eans of information access frees up staff to focus on other m

atters. The cost of implem

ent-ing these initiatives has dropped dram

atically over the last several years. I am sure those of us w

ho haveinvested in such technology w

ould gladly share cost data on an individual basis.

Finally, a very low cost technology initiative that allow

s the Florida House to give ready access to inform

a-tion and docum

ents throughout the Capitol complex has the acronym

POD

S (print-on-demand stations.)

Our IT shop created a “lite” version of our m

yfloridahouse.gov web site. This “lite” version allow

s limited

access to documents and inform

ation that perform w

ell in this open environment and do not tie up the

machines too long in the process. Seven surplus com

puters and printers were placed adjacent to com

mit-

tee meeting room

s and the Chamber for use by Capitol clientele. W

e did a very soft rollout of the POD

Snot know

ing if we could fully support them

or how w

ell they would be received. W

ith no publicity, theunits started show

ing activity. We have activity logs that IT m

onitors to see what units are getting used to

get to what docum

ents/information. Self-perform

ance of research and on-demand self-printing of basic

House docum

ents has been accomplished by this initiative as w

ell as placing document access throughout

the complex.

I hope you can see the comm

on thread in each of these discussed initiatives. A primary goal of getting

information into the hands of our “custom

ers,” the people of the State of Florida, has been accom-

plished. The delivery of this information w

as accomplished at a reasonable and justifiable cost. The

secondary goal of each was to free legislative staff of research and printing duties that can easily be self-

performed. This has the added benefit of recurring cost reduction. H

ow about you? Share your ideas w

ithothers.

New

Technology for Vermont

Submitted by D

avid A. Gibson

Secretary of the Vermont Senate

35

The Vermont G

eneral Assembly has undertaken a m

ajor innovation, in that we have begun the process for

installation of the basic tools of the Legislative Managem

ent System that has been developed by Interna-

tional Roll-Call.

We are in the prelim

inary stages at this point in time, engaging in the “process study” phase for develop-

ment of the custom

ized software that w

e hope to have in place for our 2009 session. We anticipate that

this system w

ill eliminate m

uch duplication involved in the entry of data and that it will facilitate the

later adaptation of our “legislating” by enabling us to utilize computers at the desks of the Senators and

Representatives. We also hope to cut dow

n on use of paper and to be able to store records in electronicform

for the future, instead of cluttering up our bookcases with bound volum

es.

Stay tuned!

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

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S11

Norm

a Chastain mentioned that Paula Rossetto had

said that California was very interested in hosting

the meeting in Sacram

ento. Ann Cornwell suggested

that the comm

ittee send out a survey to find out ifthere w

ere any other states interested in hostingthe 2010 m

eeting. Bruce Jamerson suggested that

the survey could also ask for interest in hosting the2011 m

eeting and could then be used in future yearsto gauge interest. Chair W

eeks said that she would

put together a survey and would send it out to all

the states.

Haw

aii was discussed as a possible site for the 2010

or 2011 meeting. C

hair Weeks inform

ed the

comm

ittee that the idea of Haw

aii as a host statehad been seriously discussed 3 years ago, but thatm

any concerns had been raised when it cam

e time

to ask for a formal proposal, including:

•Expense - the cost of traveling to H

awaii.

Many com

mittee m

embers from

the Western

U.S. stated that, for them

, getting to Haw

aiiw

as cheaper than traveling to the East Coast

•Explaining the trip to leadership - often“negative” press associated w

ith a con-ference

being held in HI; it w

as also point-ed out that other N

CSL staff sections haveheld m

eetings there have held meetings

there

•N

umber of staff that states could bring - sug-

gested that not as many people w

ould beable to attend the Professional D

evelop-m

ent Seminar if the m

eeting was in H

awaii

•Size of H

ost State staff - Haw

aii Clerk’s

Officesw

ould p

robab

ly need ad

ditional

help in staffing the conference

•If H

awaii hosted in 2010, it w

ould mean

3 West C

oast meetings in a row

; suggestedthat perhaps it w

ould be better in 2011

It was noted that H

awaii has expressed a certain

reluctance to make a form

al proposal because ofpast experiences. D

ave Avant suggested that ChairW

eeks speak to the representatives from H

awaii to

get a sense of their feelings on the idea and to seew

hat kind of assurances they would need in order

to go forward w

ith a proposal. Chair Weeks stated

that she would talk w

ith the Clerks from H

awaii

before the next meeting of the Site Selection

Comm

ittee. She also stated that the mem

bers ofthe com

mittee should ask around to other m

embers

of the society to find out who w

ould be able toattend the m

eeting if it was in H

I and what potential

problems or issues that they could foresee. It w

asm

entioned that a poll had been done to try todeterm

ine Society interest in HI w

hen Claire Cliftw

as Site Selection Chair. Chair Weeks said that she

would talk w

ith Claire about the results of the poll.

Other states that the com

mittee expressed an

interest in exploring as possible locations for the2010 m

eeting included: Alaska, N

ebraska, New

Mexico, Colorado and W

yoming. It w

as mentioned

that Wyom

ing had been discussed previously, butw

as difficult to get to and extremely expensive. It

was m

entioned that when trying to encourage states

to offer to host the Professional Developm

entSem

inar, they should be told that the conferencegenerally brings in betw

een $500,000-$750,000 tothe local area.

State - the state provides the necessary funds; 2. aH

ybrid State- the state provides some of the funds

and the Society provides some; 3. a N

o-Host State -

the Society is responsible for all the necessary funds.The com

mittee w

as informed that both the 2008

and 2009 meetings w

ere Host State conferences.

Also, it was m

entioned that many of the costs are

taken care of by the sponsors and that it was

important to continue to get their support w

hetherthe m

eeting was hosted or not.

Chair Weeks stated that both California (Sacram

ento)and Virginia had expressed interest in hosting the2010 m

eeting. Neither state had subm

itted a letteror form

al proposal as of the Burlington meeting.

Comm

ittee Mem

bership and Meeting M

inutesSite Selection Continued

34

Technology—Bridge to the Past

Submitted by W

illiam S. Pittm

an IIIChief Clerk, Florida H

ouse of Representatives

Within legislative bodies, the office of the clerk (and/or secretary) typically has a prim

ary role of docu-m

enting the action of that legislative body for legal and historical purposes. To that end, we spend m

uchtim

e and effort in our attempts to better accom

plish this task. Technology today offers many diverse

tools to assist in this, but finding the right tool is an ever elusive quest. My legislative netw

orking over thelast decade has left m

e with the distinct im

pression that most legislative staff have m

any unmet needs

with respect to technology. Perhaps the com

plexity of our task, compounded by ever changing rules and

procedures, exacerbates this issue and keeps it ever out of reach. My w

ord to you is—do not give up hope.

Persevere! NCSL and ASLCS provide us an incredible forum

to network to see w

hat others are doing rightand w

rong. We need not have 50 states re-inventing the w

heel when m

any times w

e have the same goals

and objectives. To that end, I offer the following details of som

e initiatives the Florida House has success-

fully implem

ented.

One goal of the Florida H

ouse of Representatives Clerk’s Office has been the digitizing of historical docu-

ments, including the Journal dating back to 1845. Retired Clerk John Phelps persevered m

any years onthis issue, w

hich finally became reality approxim

ately one year ago. Not only w

ere we dealing w

ith some

excessive costs to merely scan thousands of pages of text, but w

e were also dealing w

ith old, fragile, andin som

e instances irreplaceable books that required careful handling. Staff from the Clerk’s O

ffice worked

closely with procurem

ent and IT staff and librarians from the D

epartment of State to develop detailed

specifications for this job. For several years the cost to hire contractors skilled at this task far exceededw

hat leadership was w

illing to spend. Clerk Phelps was able to w

ork out a deal with the U

niversity ofFlorida D

igital Collections (UFD

C) division to finally accomplish this project. The cost to the H

ouse was

substantially less than previous projections since the University used their staff and students to do the

scanning, and in return the scanned documents reside in their dom

ain. The link below w

ill take youdirectly to our section of the digital collection:

http://ww

w.uflib.ufl.edu/U

FDC/U

FDC.aspx?c=flaw

1&m

=hrbt&t=Journal&

o=2

You will find that the journals are searchable, although only by one com

plete journal at a time. This new

tool allows anyone w

ith Internet access the ready ability to research all House journals dating back to our

first convening in 1845. Potential candidates, former m

embers’ relatives, students, lobbyists, and any

other interested parties can delve deeply into our archives from anyw

here in the state or the world for

that matter. U

ntil this project was com

pleted, these tasks could only be accomplished by being physically

present at one of a very few libraries in the state. An additional benefit to State governm

ent and theClerk’s O

ffice in particular is that we are no longer doing research for general inquiries. Inquirers are now

referred to the UFD

C web site.

The House prim

ary web site, w

ww

.myfloridahouse.gov, gives researchers access to m

ajor House docu-

ments from

1998 to present. Included in these documents are filed bills, journals, session sum

maries by

comm

ittee, and other assorted documents. Another ongoing project is creating an online docum

ent ofThe People in Law

making in Florida, w

hich is an alphabetical listing of all past and present mem

bers ofthe Florida Legislature, including the officers (clerk, secretary, sergeant at arm

s, etc.)

AS

LC

STechnology Pages Continued

AS

LC

S

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

M12

Sherry Rodriguez, NV, gave the C

omm

ittee anoverview

of the 2008 Seminar in Reno. She stated

that the conference would be held at the Silver

Legacy Hotel, w

hich was big enough to hold all

attendees; that the Host State reception w

ould beheld at bow

ling alley (but that the term didn’t really

do justice to the location); and that there may not

be a trip to the Capitol because of problems w

ithtransportation. The dates of the conference areO

ctober 1 - 6, 2008.

ASLCS President Patsy Spaw spoke to the com

mittee

about the things that the Executive Comm

ittee looksat w

hen making a d

ecision about w

here theconference should be held. She stated that costs ofthe hotels at recent conferences have caused som

econcerns. She also stated that could be som

ethingthat the Site Selection Com

mittee looked at before

Site Selection Continued

bringing a proposal to the Executive Comm

ittee,but they do not w

ant to discourage any state fromm

aking a proposal. Dave Avant asked if there w

as alist of guidelines that N

CSL had for the hotels thatthe Site Selection com

mittee could use w

hen making

its decisions. It was m

entioned that NCSL handles

all dealings with the hotels and m

akes the choiceafter getting feedback and suggestions from

theH

ost State.

Chair Weeks stated that the next m

eeting of thecom

mittee w

ould be at the Spring Meeting in M

archin Asheville, N

C.

A motion to adjourn w

as made by Sandy Tenney and

seconded by Ann Cornwell.

Respectfully submitted,

Emily H

oward, Recorder

12

Comm

ittee Mem

bership and Meeting M

inutes

AS

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S

33

The West Virginia Legislature is replacing its AT&

T D

efinity G3 telephone system

Submitted by Joe Koval

West Virginia H

ouseReading Clerk/Technical Support

The D

efinity telephone system

was installed

in the early ‘90’s and it seem

ed m

iraculous at thetim

e. Software up

grades help

ed it seem

up-to-d

ate but the aging infrastructure (w

iring) andthe fast p

ace of technology mad

e it old w

ithin 15 years.

We m

ay have continued “up

grading” the D

efinity well into the future b

ut there were concerns

that the camp

us build

ings may not have b

een in comp

liance with national fire p

rotection codes

and p

osed a threat to the em

ployees and

the build

ings themselves.

Finally, the Governor’s O

ffice of Technology examined

the networking (telecom

munications and

comp

uters) on camp

us and m

oved to rep

lace the old “w

iring”. The fire hazard

related m

ainlyto the p

vc cable jackets so the Legislature d

ecided

it was tim

e to have the old w

iring removed

.A few

of us attended

a showing of a D

uPont film w

hich dem

onstrated w

hat pvc w

iring does w

henexp

osed to fire; it b

ecomes the fuel and

becom

es flamm

able w

hen exposed

to extreme heat.

The first p

hase in removing the old

hazardous p

vc cable w

as just the beginning. T

he situationb

ecame an op

portunity for the Legislative lead

ership to rep

lace the Definity system

with the

Cisco’s Voice O

ver IP system.

Voice Over IP is the technology that enab

les voice comm

unication to be routed

over the com-

puter netw

ork using internet protocol. T

hus, the internet becom

es the highway (rem

emb

er theInform

ation Superhighw

ay?) and is therefore availab

le anywhere there b

e internet access, in-clud

ing wireless.

Cisco w

as chosen as the supp

lier and the first step

is to install new C

isco switches in the elec-

tric closets to which the new

devices (read

telephones) w

ill be attached

. There’ll b

e 40-50sw

itches to supp

ort over 600 of the VO

IP d

evices.

The com

puters w

ill attach to the new telep

hone devices and

therefore the comp

uter and tele-

phone w

ill share a connection back to the C

isco switch in the electric closet. T

he Cisco sw

itchesw

ill also provid

e pow

er for the telephone therefore elim

inating all of the auxillary pow

er sup-

plies w

e needed

for the old telep

hones.

North Carolina is U

pgrading Their Telephone System

Submitted by W

allace AustinN

C General Assem

bly

North Carolina is in the process of deploying a VO

IP (Voice Over IP) telephone system

. VOIP is a category

of hardware and softw

are that enables people to use the Internet and/or internal computer netw

orks asthe transm

ission medium

for telephone calls. It is the practice of using an Internet connection to passvoice data using IP instead of using the standard public sw

itched telephone network.

AS

LC

STechnology Pages

AS

LC

S

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

M13

AS

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Technology

Comm

ittee Mem

bership and Meeting M

inutes

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Burlington, Vermont

9:00 AM

The Technology Comm

ittee meeting w

as called toorder by Tim

Rice, Chair.

In attendance:

Tim Rice - IL, Chair

Judy Barrows - M

E, Vice ChairRon Sm

ith - LA, Vice ChairPatsy Spaw

- TX, President, ASLCSN

atalie O’D

onnell, NCSL

Bonnie Alexander - IDD

ianne Arrington - TXW

allace Austin - NC

Mick Bailey - W

VM

atthew Baker - N

VJohnye Bennett - VA

Karen Brown - U

TPaul Curry - N

CBurney D

urham - TN

Tom Forster - O

REric Fow

ler - NH

Robert Haney - TX

Maryann H

orch - VACynthia Johnston - O

RCrys Jones - AK

Scott Kaiser - ILAnn Krekelberg - AK

Nancy Longoria - TX

Steve Marshall - VT

Jim M

cElroy - NC

Julie Medina - O

RBo Pittm

an - FLJim

Schratz - ARSusan W

hitford - NV

Maureen W

ilson - UT

Brad Young - OH

Eric Fowler reported on the technology survey sent

out by last year’s comm

ittee, asking what types of

electronic services each state uses for various taskssuch as journal, calendar, enrolling, etc., and howw

ell their products work. The response rate w

as quitelow

, possibly because of the complexity of the survey.

The comm

ittee agreed to continue with the survey,

possibly in a different format, and the follow

ingm

embers agreed to serve on a subcom

mittee on the

survey: Jim Schratz, Eric Fow

ler, Maryann H

orch, andJudy Barrow

s. Judy Barrows agreed to serve as chair

of the subcomm

ittee.

The comm

ittee also discussed the possibility of settingup a discussion forum

or blog as a more effective

way to gather and organize som

e types of information

than the current listservs. The advantage of a listservis that it’s easy to get responses from

a number of

people in a short amount of tim

e; the disadvantagesare that everyone gets all the responses, w

hether ornot the topic is relevant to them

, and that it’s notthat easy to organize past questions and responsesfor easy searching. The follow

ing mem

bers agreed toserve on a subcom

mittee to study this issue: Tom

Forster, Wallace Austin, Karen Brow

n, Maureen W

ilson,Bonnie Alexander, Bo Pittm

an, and Ron Smith. Ron

Smith agreed to serve as chair of the subcom

mittee.

Judy Barrows - M

EVice Chair/ Recorder

Tim Rice - ILChair

Ron Smith - LA

Vice Chair

1332 Executive C

omm

ittee Meeting M

inutes

AS

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S

A discussion then ensued concerning next year’sm

eeting in Reno, Nevada and the 2009 m

eeting inSeattle. O

n motion of Laura Clem

ens, seconded byM

illie MacFarland, it w

as agreed to leave the blockof room

s at 185 for Reno and to increase the blockto 200 for Seattle.

Brad Hendrickson, D

eputy Secretary of the Wash-

ington Senate, then made an inquiry regarding the

status of an employee exchange situation, stating

that his inquiry was being m

ade on behalf of RobM

archant, who had necessarily departed due to his

flight schedule. He stated that W

isconsin was to

host an employee exchange w

ith North Carolina,

but that the North Carolina em

ployee had since leftthe em

ploy of the Legislature. He further noted

that the Wisconsin Senate still w

ants to host anem

ployee exchange. It was also noted that the

Society awards a $250 scholarship to the exchange

employee to assist w

ith expenses involved.

Brad Hendrickson also announced that the State of

Washington w

as willing to assist in the printing of

the International Directory and that they w

ere alsooffering to print and m

ail an issue of the Legisla-tive Adm

inistrator. Laura Clemens also noted that

the Maryland H

ouse and the West Virginia H

ousehad also offered to print an issue each, and furthernoted the offer from

the Delaw

are House to assist

in printing an issue, if needed.

There being no further business to come before the

Executive Comm

ittee, on motion of Laura Clem

ens,Clerk of the O

hio House, seconded by Cheryl Laube,

Assistant Chief Clerk of the Arizona House, the Ex-

ecutive Comm

ittee adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Gregory M

. Gray

Secretary-Treasurer

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

M14

The com

mittee agreed to sponsor one or tw

oconcurrent sessions at the next ProfessionalDevelopm

ent Seminar, and also expressed interest

in sponsoring another Job Share/Technology Fair,either in conjunction w

ith the Support Staff orseparately. Possible concurrent topics discussedincluded Technology Replacem

ent (who is planning

to replace what, how

often should things be replaced,how

to discuss replacement w

ith vendors, etc.); Tips&

Tricks (how to use M

icrosoft and maybe other

standard products more efficiently); Technology

Survey Update; and E-Learning.

The meeting w

as adjourned on a motion by Burney

Durham, seconded by Karen Brow

n.

Comm

ittee Mem

bership and Meeting M

inutes

AS

LC

S

Technology Continued

Respectfully submitted,

Judy Barrows, M

E, Vice Chair/Recorder

14

Executive Com

mittee M

eeting Minutes

AS

LC

S

September 17, 2007

9:30 AM

The first meeting of the new

Executive Comm

itteew

as held on September 17, 2007, and at 9:30 AM

,w

as called to order by the President of ASLCS, theH

onorable Patsy Spaw, Secretary of the Senate of

the State of Texas.

A call of the roll disclosed that the following w

ere inattendance:

Patsy Spaw, President- TX

Millie M

acFarland, President-Elect -ME

Greg G

ray, Secretary-Treasurer - WV

Rob Marchant, Elected Principal M

ember - W

ILaura C

lemens, Im

mediate Past President - O

HClaire Clift, Appointed Principal M

ember - N

EM

ary Monahan, Appointed Principal M

ember - M

DBrad H

endrickson, Associate Vice President - WA

Cheryl Laube, Im

mediate Past Associate Vice

President - AZG

eorge Bishop, Appointed Associate Mem

ber - VAN

orma C

hastain, Appointed Associate Mem

ber - AZ

Carm

en Cauthen, Elected Associate M

ember - N

C,

was absent.

In the absence of objection, the report of the Sec-retary-Treasurer w

as passed over until such time as

the Internal Audit could be performed in accordance

with the requirem

ents of Section X of the StandingO

rders.

The Chair then recognized the Honorable Russell

Grove, Clerk of the Legislative Assem

bly, New

SouthW

ales Parliament, Sydney, Australia, w

ho addressedthe Executive Com

mittee w

ith words of thanks and

fraternal cooperation and esteem from

the Austra-lian Clerks, best w

ishes for the ensuing year andextended an open invitation to attend the Austra-lian m

eeting of our counterparts.

The next order of business to come before the Com

-m

ittee being the approval of appointments of m

em-

bers by the ASLCS President to the Executive Com-

mittee, on m

otion of Laura Clemens, O

hio, sec-

onded by Cheryl Laube, Arizona, the same w

ereunanim

ously approved.

The Chair next took up a recomm

endation to theCom

mittee for the purchase of a new

digital cam-

era for the use of the photographers for the Legis-lative Adm

inistrator, which recom

mendation w

asm

ade at the previous meeting.

Pending discussion on the recomm

endation, onm

otion of Mary M

onahan, Chief Clerk of the Mary-

land House, seconded by Laura Clem

ens, Clerk ofthe O

hio House, the purchase of a new

digital cam-

era was authorized, w

ith a price limit of $600, the

same to be effectuated by the current Legislative

Administrator Chair and Vice Chairs.

It was then brought to the attention of the Com

mit-

tee that Steve James, Clerk of the M

assachusettsH

ouse, and Archivist for ASLCS, has completed an

inventory of the Archives, and will update the index

thereto and will forw

ard it to Natalie O

’Donnell. Theindex w

ill also be online in the future.

Natalie O

’Donnell, N

CSL Staff Liaison , next ex-plained the various financial accounts, sum

maries

and detailed account statements of the various ex-

penditures and revenues of ASLCS and Joint Cana-dian-Am

erican meetings.

An extensive explanation and discussion then oc-curred on the D

ues Account vis a vis the federalPatriot Act, outlining w

hat is now required in order

to transfer the handling of ASLCS moneys from

anoutgoing Secretary-Treasurer to an incom

ing Sec-retary-Treasurer. N

CSL will m

aintain the funds in abank in D

enver, with the incom

ing Secretary-Trea-surer m

aintaining the Society checkbook and hav-ing signature authority to pay ASLCS debts and au-thorized purchases. The dues w

hich become pay-

able throughout the course of the year will be sub-

mitted by the Secretary-Treasurer to the N

CSL StaffLiaison for deposit in the bank in D

enver.

31

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

M15

SUPPO

RT STAFF–Chair Carm

en Cauthen, Adminis-

trative Clerk of the North Carolina H

ouse, reportedon the status of the Associate Exchange Program

,stating that the Com

mittee w

ill poll the states forapplications of Associate M

embers. The Chair asked

that Principal Clerks please encourage their respec-tive staffs to participate in the Exchange Program

,and that the deadline for selection is D

ecember 14,

2007. A suggestion from the Com

mittee w

as thatthe Job Fair be continued next year and that it con-tain paper/printed products from

the various states.

CAN

AD

IAN

-AM

ERICAN

RELATION

S–Vice Chair AnnC

ornwell, Arkansas Secretary of the Senate, re-

ported on the upcoming m

eeting with the Cana-

dian Clerks at the Table to be held in Richmond,

Virginia, calling attention to the program agenda

and fine proposals brought forth by the Virginiahosts.

PRO

FESSION

AL JO

UR

NA

L–President Patsy Spawgave the m

embership an update on the m

eeting ofthe Professional Journal, com

mittee m

embership

consisting of a two year appointm

ent. PresidentSpaw

encouraged participation by all and requestedthat articles on procedure and other issues of in-terest throughout the various states be subm

ittedto the Professional Journal m

embers for possible

inclusion in the Journal.

PROG

RAM

DEVELO

PMEN

T– Vice Chair Janet Pruitt,Principal Clerk of the N

orth Carolina Senate, ad-vised the m

embership of a very vocal m

eeting atw

hich the mem

bers in attendance voiced their opin-ions concerning this year’s program

and the devel-opm

ent of the program agenda for the forthcom

ingPD

S. The Vice Chair asked that evaluation forms be

filled out and returned, stating that they will be

considered in formulating the program

for Nevada.

ROSTER– Chair M

ardi Alexander, Texas, reported onthe m

eeting of the Roster Comm

ittee and statedthat the Com

mittee is in the ongoing process of

updating the Roster.

President Spaw then announced that the Spring

Meeting w

ill be held March 28-30 in Asheville, N

orthCarolina.

There being no further business to come before the

assembly, on m

otion of Laura Clemens, Clerk of the

Ohio H

ouse, seconded by Denise W

eeks, PrincipalH

ouse Clerk, North Carolina, the 41

st ProfessionalD

evelopment Sem

inar of ASLCS adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Gregory M

. Gray

Secretary-Treasurer

Annual Business M

eeting Continued

30

AS

LC

S

meeting held in Leon, G

uanajuato, Mexico. AN

OM

ACcelebrated its 11th anniversary this year. Them

eeting was attended by President Laura Clem

ens,Ann Cornw

ell, Carmela Bills Putney and Chairm

anArias.

Chairman Arias then appointed a subcom

mittee to

design the international program at N

CSL in New

Orleans, LA next July. M

embers of the subcom

mittee

are Butch Speer, Denise W

eeks, Ann Cornwell, D

ianeBell, Laura Clem

ens and Steve James. M

r. James

suggested the use of video clips of actual sessionsto illustrate the session.

The ANO

MAC m

eeting in 2008 will be held in the

Federal District of M

exico City. No M

exican clerksw

ere able to attend the ASLCS meeting this year

due to the elections in Mexico.

A bit of levity was provided to the com

mittee by

Russell Groves of Australia w

hen he gave a briefquiz on the m

eaning of Australian terminology. A

request for “Legispeak” phrases was m

ade by thechair from

the different countries and states forpossible inclusion in a glossary.

A brief discussion of ATELCA and its origins and

status followed. A m

otion to adjourn was m

ade byAnn Cornw

ell and was seconded by Laura Clem

ens.The m

eeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen R. Arias, Chair

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Burlington, Vermont

10:00 AM

The meeting w

as called to order by Comm

ittee Chair,Steve Arias at 10:00 am

.

The following m

embers of the com

mittee w

erepresent:

Steve Arias - NM

Laurel Johnston - HI

Wallace Austin - N

CD

owe Littleton - AL

Dave Avant - AL

William

MaG

ill - VTD

iane Bell - FLJim

McElroy - N

CPaul Cam

pos - WA

Nanette M

itchell - TNLiz Clark - AK

Ann Moyle - N

VLaura Clem

ens - OH

Anati Neiffer - O

RClaire Clift - N

VJanet Pruitt - N

CAnn Cornw

ell - ARBo Pittm

an - FLPaul Curry - N

CM

elanie Reekes - VASherry Rodriguez - N

VM

olly Dondero - N

VG

ina Spartz - AKG

reg Gray - W

VPatsy Spaw

- TXSandra Tenney - U

TJane G

ill - NV

Denise W

eeks - NC

Robert Haney - TX

Jeannine Wood - ID

Jason Hataw

ay - NV

Patience Worrel - TX

JoAnn Hedrick - D

EM

artha Hopson - AK

Steven James - M

AD

eborah Deller - O

NTARIO

, CANAD

A

Chairman Arias appointed Sandra Tenney and D

owe

Littleton as recorders for the year and then discussedthe charge of the com

mittee in the com

ing year.The Chair then reported on the trip to the AN

OM

AC

15

Comm

ittee Mem

bership and Meeting M

inutesInternational Com

munication and D

evelopment

AS

LC

S

Steve Arias - NM

Chair

Russell Hum

phrey - TNVice Chair

Dow

e Littleton - ALVice Chair

Sandy Tenney - UT

Vice Chair

56489 booklet.p652/27/2008, 6:14 P

M16

Bo Hoover - W

VVice Chair

Eleanor Ringel - WV

Chair

Mick Bailey - W

VVice Chair

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Burlington, Vermont

10:00 AM

The m

eeting of the Legislative Adm

inistratorCom

mittee w

as called to order by the Chair, EleanorRingel - W

V.

The following m

embers w

ere present:

Mick Bailey - W

V, Vice ChairBo H

oover - WV, Vice Chair

Obie Rutledge - O

R, Recorder

Jane Atkinson - VAH

obie Lehman - VA

Anita Bavis - MD

Marguerite D

uda - WV

Karen Goldm

an - CON

athan Hatfield - VA

Maryann H

orah - VAM

illie MacFarland - M

EM

ary Monahan - M

DPatrick O

’Donnell - N

ESusan Furlong Reil - N

V

Mem

bers not in attendance:

Lisa Davis - M

SRusti H

orton - IDRob M

archant - WI

Bernadette McN

ulty - CAAnne M

arie Sweeney - PA

Chair Eleanor R

ingel opened the meeting by

discussing the b

ackground of the Legislative

Administrator and requested suggestions from

theCom

mittee about changes or enhancem

ents to them

agazine.

Marguerite D

uda suggested a section dealing with

notes of ASLCS mem

ber’s milestone articles. Karen

Goldm

an suggested that these notes be kept on aprofessional level and the Com

mittee agreed that

some standard be adopted to ensure a professional

appearance.

The Comm

ittee also suggested that a technologysection be added to the Adm

inistrator to keep mem

-bers inform

ed about new technology being used in

individual House and Senate Cham

bers.

The Chair then discussed having each Comm

itteem

em

be

r ado

pt as m

any as th

ree

states to

correspond with in hopes of fostering interest in

the Society and obtaining articles for the States AtA G

lance section of the Administrator.

Printing the Administrator and the operating budget

was explained by O

bie Rutledge who had been in

charge of the magazine for the past tw

o years. He

explained that over the past year the three issuesw

ere printed by volunteer states with in-house print

16

Legislative Adm

inistrator

Comm

ittee Mem

bership and Meeting M

inutes

AS

LC

S

Monday, Septem

ber 17, 2007Burlington, Verm

ont9:00 AM

The mem

bers of the American Society of Legisla-

tive Clerks and Secretaries assembled in the G

reenM

ountain Ballroom of the H

ilton Hotel on M

onday,Septem

ber 17, 2007, for the first Business Meeting

following the election of new

officers, and at 9:00AM

were called to order by ASLCS President, Patsy

Spaw, Secretary of the Senate, Texas.

Due to the election of new

officers and transitionof papers and docum

ents, in the absence of objec-tion, the Treasurer’s Report w

as deferred until thenext m

eeting of ASLCS.

President Spaw then addressed the assem

bly andcongratulated all in attendance on a job w

ell doneduring the past w

eek. She particularly thanked theVerm

ont Clerk of the House D

on Milne and staff,

and Secretary of the Senate David G

ibson and stafffor their outstanding service in hosting the Profes-sional D

evelopment Sem

inar during the past week.

(Applause, the mem

bers rising)

President Spaw then asked the attendees to be sure

to complete the program

evaluation forms and to

give suggestions for future meeting program

s.

The Chair then called for reports from the various

Standing Comm

ittees, which w

ere as follows:

BYLAWS and STA

ND

ING

ORD

ERS–Chair Jeannine

Wood, Secretary of the Idaho Senate, noted that

the Comm

ittee had received Executive Comm

itteeapproval for the Recodification of the Standing O

r-ders and Index, and that the com

mittee w

ould con-tinue to m

ake recomm

endations to update the same

as needed.

INSID

E THE LEG

ISLATIVE PROCESS–Vice Chair Bill

MaG

ill, First Assistant Clerk of the Vermont H

ouse,reported that the Com

mittee had m

et and was for-

mulating ideas and the developm

ent thereof forthe ensuing year.

SITE SELECTION

–Chair Denise W

eeks, North Caro-

lina House Clerk, announced that the Com

mittee

had discussed proposed locations for the AnnualProfessional D

evelopment Sem

inars in 2008 and2009, and that the Clerks from

the Comm

onwealth

of Virginia had expressed interest to host the semi-

nar in 2010, and that Sacramento, California had

also been discussed as a possible site for the meet-

ing in 2010. The Chair further stated that vibrantdiscussion had been held on the possibility of m

eet-ing in H

awaii, but that no form

al offer for 2010had been received to date from

any state.

TECHN

OLO

GY–Chair Tim

Rice, Executive Director,

Legislative Information System

of the Illinois Leg-islature, reported that the Com

mittee had three

items to report: (1) The old business of the tech-

nology survey resulted in only ten responses among

the states; therefore, it was suggested that the

questionnaire be trimm

ed down; (2) In the area of

comm

unications, how is it best to be determ

inedw

hat others are doing–List serve, blog, etc.; and(3) The Technology Fair portion of the Job Fair/JobShare w

as well received.

INTERN

ATION

AL CO

MM

UN

ICATION

AN

D D

EVELOP-

MEN

T–Sandy Tenney, Chief Clerk of the Utah H

ouse,noted on behalf of the Chair that a subcom

mittee

was appointed to develop program

ideas for theensuing year, w

hich ideas will be discussed, devel-

oped and finalized in subsequent ASLCS meetings

and in New

Orleans at the Annual N

CSL Meeting.

LEGISLATIVE AD

MIN

ISTRATOR–Chair Eleanor Ringel,

Assistant Clerk of the West Virginia H

ouse, reportedthat the Com

mittee m

eeting was very productive,

that the Comm

ittee had many volunteers and that

there had been many new

ideas and suggestionsbrought forth for inclusion in the forthcom

ing edi-tions of the Legislative Adm

inistrator.

MEM

BERSHIP A

ND

COM

MU

NICATIO

N–Chair Janice

Gadd, H

ouse Journal Clerk, Utah, stated that the

Comm

ittee held discussions relative to enhancedm

embership and the Buddy Program

and that ideasw

ere being discussed and developed relativethereto.

Annual Business M

eetingA

SL

CS29

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17

Comm

ittee Mem

bership and Meeting M

inutes

Legislative Adm

inistrator Continued

shops at cost which resulted in trem