Editor's Note:

Senator Kittleman did not attend the NCSL conference.

http://www.gazette.net/stories/061308/polinew202608_32357.shtml

Legislators prepare for summer travel, even in difficult times

Maryland will be well represented at NCSL

Alan Brody | Gazette Staff Writer

June 13, 2008

More than 70 Maryland lawmakers will be attending policy seminars in New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Chicago and elsewhere this summer even as state governments are trimming expenses and bracing themselves for anticipated revenue shortfalls.

Maryland will be well represented at next month's annual National Conference of State Legislatures summit in the Big Easy: 53 delegates and 13 senators are scheduled to attend the weeklong slate of policy seminars, legislative roundtables and political networking mixers.

That's slightly less than the number of Marylanders who attended last year's convention in Boston: 56 delegates and 16 senators.

Maryland's delegation to New Orleans will be overwhelmingly Democratic. Only five GOP delegates and one Republican senator are signed up.

Are Republicans more wary about traveling on the taxpayers' dime? The low turnout is just coincidental and not a concerted effort to cut down on expenses, said Senate Minority Whip Allan H. Kittleman (R-Dist. 9) of West Friendship.

‘‘There are certainly valuable things that people can learn," he said. ‘‘Hopefully, people are really using it to learn about certain issues that they can bring back to Maryland and help us improve our quality of life in some way."

Several Republicans, including Del. Gail H. Bates (R-Dist. 9A) of West Friendship, are attending the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council summer meeting in Chicago.

‘‘I believe we do need to be somewhat judicious, especially when we use taxpayer funds," said Bates, who is paying the $375 registration out of her own pocket.

Early-bird registration for the five-day NCSL summit is $455 per person. The House and Senate each budget for a certain number of slots to attend NCSL and other educational programs throughout the year, aides to the presiding officers said.

Those who have attended past NCSL programs said the bang is worth the buck.

‘‘We're all facing fiscal challenges and I'll be the first to admit that I don't have a lock on all the good ideas out there, particularly in an ever-changing marketplace," said Del. Michael L. Vaughn (D-Dist. 24) of Bowie, who will be at NCSL this year.

Vaughn said legislation passed two years ago in Maryland that provides more capital for minority businesses was inspired by a similar Washington state program he learned about at an NCSL summit.

That's the whole idea behind the NCSL conference, said Meagan E. Dorsch, a spokeswoman for the organization.

‘‘There's nowhere that state lawmakers go to learn how to be a state lawmaker," she said. ‘‘This is a time where the federal government continues to impose its will on the states and state lawmakers will be able to come together in New Orleans and craft policies that will hopefully be able to strengthen the nation and defend the sovereignty of states from an ever-encroaching federal government."

Del. Steven R. Schuh (R-Dist. 31) of Gibson Island, who attended last year's NCSL in Boston, said the cost to taxpayers is ‘‘peanuts" and encourages every legislator to participate. ‘‘There's nothing worse than an undereducated, ill-informed elected official."

Featured speakers at NCSL include former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and political handicapper Charlie Cook. Sessions focus on homeland security, energy policy, election fraud, emerging technologies, transportation planning, numerous fiscal briefings and more.

Sen. Nancy J. King (D-Dist. 39) of Montgomery Village serves on NCSL's Federal Education Policy Commission, a nationwide panel of state legislators charged with recommending alternatives to the federal No Child Left Behind Act. She plans to tell contemporaries from other states what Maryland, which was pursuing school accountability measures before NCLB, is doing to meet the federal requirements and to learn from other states' experiences.

‘‘It keeps us from reinventing the wheel in a lot of cases," said King, who will be attending her fourth NCSL summit. ‘‘I learn a lot from legislators in other states. ... There's a lot of information traded."

A smaller contingent of Marylanders will travel to the Southern Legislative Conference convention in Oklahoma City in mid-July and the ALEC summit at the end of July in Chicago, which typically attracts more Republicans and tends to focus on pro-business issues and limited government.

‘‘ALEC is more like a little vacation in terms of the world that we wish it would be," said House Minority Whip Christopher B. Shank (R-Dist. 2B) of Hagerstown. ‘‘NCSL is the world that we know."