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Legislative Staff Services Legislative Staff Services Profiles of the 50 States and Territories Data gathered in 2005 and 2006 AL | AK | AZ | AR | CA | CO | CT | DE | FL | GA | HI | ID | IL | IN | IA | KS | KY | LA | ME | MD | MA | MI | MN | MS | MO | MT | NE | NV | NH | NJ | NM | NY | NC | ND | OH | OK | OR | PA | RI | SC | SD | TN | TX | UT | VT | VA | WA | WV | WI | WY | GU | PR | VI Legislative Staff Services: Profiles of the 50 States and Territories 2005-06 ALABAMA GENERAL Staff services are nonpartisan, centrally organized and, except as discussed below, operated by the House and Senate. Central agencies, however, function independently from one another and from the House and Senate, but under the general supervision of different joint committees. Central agency directors, the clerk of the House and the secretary of the Senate are principally responsible for hiring, supervision and personnel policy. The clerk of the House and the secretary of the Senate have very broad authority to determine management and personnel matters for the largest number of employees. The lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House have separate staffs and funding. SHARED SENATE/HOUSE SERVICES Legislative Reference Service Under the supervision of the Legislative Council, the Legislative Reference Service provides general legal and policy research, bill drafting, library services, codification and administrative code publishing services. Legislative Fiscal Office Operations of the Legislative Fiscal Office are overseen by the Joint Fiscal Committee. The agency provides general fiscal research, staffs the budget committees and prepares fiscal notes on pending legislation. Department of Examiners of Public Accounts Operations of the agency are overseen by the Legislative Committee on Public Accounts. The agency conducts audits of all state and county agencies for financial compliance and management procedures. It is the single state audit agency for purposes of federal law. As the largest legislative agency, the staff is composed almost exclusively of accountants. Data Center Operations The Data Center is under the joint supervision of the clerk of the House and the secretary of the Senate. It supports the operations of the House, Senate, Legislative Reference Service and Legislative Fiscal Office. It provides information about bills, resolutions and Senate confirmations. It also supports a subscriber system and a public web site. SENATE Leadership Staff The Senate president pro tem and the chairs of the major Senate committees also each have a full-time secretary. Members' Personal Staff In the Senate, members are housed in suites of two or four senators. Each suite is supported by full-time secretaries. Committee Staffing In the Senate, major committees have one full-time secretary. Chairs of committees with a committee appropriation may use those funds to employ an assistant. For other committees, the chair’s secretary also serves as committee secretary. Alabama National Conference of State Legislatures Page 2 Legislative Staff Services: Profiles of the 50 States and Territories 2005-06 Secretary of the Senate Under the supervision of the six elected members of the Legislative Council from the Senate, the secretary is responsible for hiring and supervision of full-time and session employees of the Senate. The secretary is elected by the Senate but does not have to stand for reelection after his or her third election. The secretary has the care, custody and control of the area of the State House used by the Senate and also acts as parliamentarian for the Senate. Jointly with the clerk of the House, the secretary supervises the data center, reapportionment staff and the security for the State House. HOUSE Leadership Staff The speaker of the House and the lieutenant governor each have a separate appropriation and staff. The House speaker pro tempore and the chairs of the House committees on Government Finance and Appropriations, Education Appropriations and Finance, Judiciary and Rules each have a full-time secretary. Members' Personal Staff House secretarial services are provided by a full-time secretarial pool. Committee Staffing In the House, committees are assigned a committee clerk who, in some instances, may handle more than one committee. Clerk of the House Under the supervision of all House members of the Legislative Council, the clerk is responsible for hiring and supervision of full-time and session employees of the House. The clerk is elected by the full House at the beginning of each quadrennium but does not have to stand for reelection after being elected three times. The clerk has the care, custody and control of the area of the State House used by the House and also acts as parliamentarian for the House. Jointly with the secretary of the Senate, the clerk supervises the data center, reapportionment staff and security for the State House. OTHER Alabama Law Institute The Alabama Law Institute performs legal research for the Legislature. The institute also provides interns and legal counsel for the House and Senate judiciary committees, the speaker of the House and the lieutenant governor. Alabama National Conference of State Legislatures Page 3 ALASKA GENERAL Most year-round staff services in Alaska are nonpartisan and organized under the direction of one of two joint legislative policy committees: The Legislative Council and the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee. Personnel policies and hiring practices are under the direction of the agency heads and generally follow standard state practices. Session staff, including chamber, member and committee employees are hired by the House and Senate rules committees, which jointly set staff salaries. Legislative staff employment during the interim is determined by the legislative leader of each house. SHARED SENATE/HOUSE SERVICES Legislative Affairs Agency Under the direction of the Legislative Council and headed by an executive director, the agency consists of two divisions with nonpartisan staff: Administrative Services and Legal and Research Services. The Administrative Services Division is responsible for human resources, accounting, data processing, printing, maintenance and supplies and information and teleconference services. The Information and Teleconferencing arm of the Legislative Affairs Agency directs 22 statewide information offices responsible for facilitating communication between legislators and their constituents. During regular legislative sessions the offices provide bill status, schedules, copies of legislative documents and other information to the public and facilitate teleconferences to allow citizens to testify at committee hearings. The offices also maintain 40 volunteer teleconference sites to allow testimony from remote locations around the state. Legal and Research Services is responsible for legal research, bill drafting, litigation, review of administration rules and conducts research on topics requested by legislators and staff. The Legislative Reference Library also is located in the Legal and Research Services arm of the Legislative Affairs Agency. Division of Finance Supervised by the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, the staff performs budget analyses, prepares budgetary recommendations, conducts fiscal studies and provides staff assistance at the request of the House and Senate finance committees. Division of Legislative Audit The audit staff is responsible for post-audit of boards and commissions, financial compliance monitoring and some program evaluation under the sunset law. Although supervised by the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, the division operates independently from the Division of Finance. Office of the Ombudsman The ombudsman is responsible for investigating and processing constituent complaints and for handling other areas of government/citizen relations. The ombudsman, upon receipt of a complaint or other initiative, investigates the administrative acts of state agencies and upon the determination that an act of an agency is unlawful, unreasonable, unfair, oppressive, based on a mistake or improper grounds, inefficiently or discourteously performed or otherwise erroneous, attempts to find an appropriate remedy. Alaska National Conference of State Legislatures Page 4 Legislative Staff Services: Profiles of the 50 States and Territories 2005-06 SENATE Leadership Staff The presiding officers and the majority and minority leaders of both houses are permitted staff as approved by the presiding officers of each house. Additional leadership staff hired for the session is at the authorization of the Rules Committee. All legislative staff salaries follow the Joint Rules Committee’s salary guidelines. Members' Personal Staff Each member has a personal secretary during the session as authorized by the rules committees. Committee Staffing Rules Committee. The committee is responsible for the selection and direction of staff assigned to the chamber (sergeants-at-arms and their assistants, pages and messengers) and is the source of approval for hiring assistants, researchers and secretaries for standing, special and joint committees, caucuses and individual members. Staff subject to the committee’s direction are considered patronage employees. Hiring of committee staff is decided by the Rules Committee of each house based on the recommendation of the committee chairs. Secretary of the Senate On nomination by the Rules Committee, the secretary is elected by a majority vote of the full membership of the Senate. The secretary of the Senate is responsible
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