Executive Committee Minutes of Meeting Chicago, Illinois August 5, 2012

Executive Committee Minutes of Meeting Chicago, Illinois August 5, 2012 Senator Stephen Morris, NCSL President, called the meeting to order. The following officers and members were present: Officers Senator Stephen Morris, Kansas, President Representative Terie Norelli, New Hampshire, President-Elect Senator Bruce Starr, Oregon, Vice President Senator Richard Moore, Massachusetts, Immediate Past President Michael Adams, Virginia, Staff Chair Patsy Spaw, Texas, Staff Vice Chair Tim Rice, Illinois, Immediate Past Staff Chair Executive Committee Members Senator Thomas Alexander, South Carolina Ken Levine, Texas Senator Pamela Althoff, Illinois Holly Lyons, Iowa Delegate Richard Anderson, Virginia Speaker Pro Tempore Fiona Ma, California Representative Elsie Arntzen, Montana Representative Billy Mitchell, Georgia Representative Joe Atkins, Minnesota Jimmetta Gourdine Peoples, Alabama Senator Don Balfour, Georgia Tara Perkinson, Virginia Representative Rosie Berger, Wyoming Senator Ronald Ramsey, Tennessee John Bjornson, North Dakota Senator Kevin Raye, Maine Senator Curt Bramble, Utah Senator Ellen Roberts, Colorado Senator Rich Crandall, Arizona Anne Sappenfield, Wisconsin Senator Mark DeSaulnier, California Assemblymember Debbie Smith, Nevada Paula Dominguez, Rhode Island Earnest Sumner, Florida Senator Joyce Elliott, Arkansas Mike Sunseri, Kentucky Senator Jay Emler, Kansas Chuck Truesdell, Kentucky Senator Michael Gronstal, Iowa Representative P. Eric Turner, Indiana Representative Joe Hackney, North Carolina Senator Leticia Van de Putte, Texas Senator Thelma Harper, Tennessee Jeffrey M. Wice, New York Representative Matt Hudson, Florida Gary Wieman, Nebraska Delegate Sally Young Jameson, Maryland Andrea Wilko, Utah Senator Verna Jones-Rodwell, Maryland Nia Wilson, Pennsylvania Representative RaeAnn Kelsch, North Dakota Tom Wright, Alaska Representative Brian Patrick Kennedy, Rhode Island Jan Yamane, Hawaii A quorum was present with 52 members of the Executive Committee in attendance. Several guests and NCSL staff also were present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The Executive Committee approved the minutes of the meeting held in Denver, Colorado, on May 19, 2012. REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Mr. Pound noted that the pre-audit closing of Fiscal Year 2012 on June 30, indicated that NCSL would again run a very small surplus for the year and not need to use the reserve fund. Work on reviewing and redesigning the NCSL website has begun with the hiring of GroundFloor Media. GroundFloor Media staff will hold focus groups with legislators and legislative staff during the Legislative Summit. In addition to the redesigning the website, NCSL is working to standardize and create a new look for NCSL materials and communication with members. Since the first of the year, NCSL has produced a number of very successful webinars and conference calls that have reached a large number of constituents. The most recent conference call held two days after the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act reached members in 47 of the 50 states. Another successful webinar was hosted by the State and Local Legal Center which performs legal work on behalf of state and local governments before the United States Supreme Court. Over 1,000 people signed up to hear about a number of other decisions that were decided and are in process. In June, NCSL filed an amicus brief at the request of the Vermont legislature in a case called Nuclear Vermont Yankee vs. Chevron. It involves the relicensing of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant and the role that the Vermont legislature played in the agreement with the owner of the plant. The case focuses on what the District Court relied on in terms of determining legislative intent, which in the view of NCSL, would have a chilling effect on legislative testimony and legislative hearings, because the Court took into account not what the committee members said, but what people who came in to testify said. NCSL does not file very often below the Supreme Court level but in this case it was felt that the issue was important enough. The brief was filed in cooperation with the Attorney General’s Office in the State of Vermont. Mr. Pound reported that preliminary registration for the Legislative Summit was above 5,000. NCSL is looking at moving the Legislative Summit in even-numbered years to a little later in August because most of the August primaries in the states occur in the first part of the month. REPORT OF THE CANADIAN GENERAL COUNSEL TO CHICAGO The Canadian Counsel General in Chicago, Gitane de Silva, addressed members of the Executive Committee. She emphasized the importance and value of exchanges between legislators, as legislators have more in common than they do differences and the exchanges provide a great opportunity to learn from each other. Counsel Gitane took a few minutes to talk about why Canada matters to NCSL. First and foremost, the relationship is based on people-to-people ties. The two countries also have other common interests. Canada and the United States share the largest trading relationship in the world. Last year, bilateral trade totaled 389 billion dollars. Canada is the number one trading partner for 35 states and the number two trading partner for another 10 states. Canada is the number one supplier of energy to the United States, has the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves, and is the third largest source of hydroelectricity in the world. The Great Lakes are a tremendous example of cooperation on environmental issues as well. The two countries also cooperate on border security. She noted that a financially healthy Canada is good news for the United States. Last year, there were 21 billion visits to the United States from Canadians who spent a total of 24 billion dollars. REPORT ON STATE AND FEDERAL ACTIVITIES Speaker Pro Tem Fiona Ma, Co-Chair of the NCSL Standing Committees reported that although sequestration continues to dominate the agenda in Washington, D.C., there is a host of other issues for NCSL. The NCSL- supported Marketplace Fairness Act in the Senate and the Marketplace Equity Act in the House have both gained additional bipartisan support and supporters. The Senate bill now has 20 sponsors and the House bill has 52 sponsors. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the bill in July and the Senate Commerce Committee followed with a hearing on August 1. Utah Representative Wayne Harper, a member of the NCSL Task Force on State and Local Taxation, testified at the House hearing in support of Congress granting states the authority to require remote sellers. NCSL submitted a statement from the co-chairs of the NCSL State and Local Taxation Task Force to both the House and Senate in support of the legislation. NCSL staff members have been working with congressional staff to ensure passage in this Congress. In a June letter to the House Judiciary Committee, NCSL voiced its support for a national framework for taxing digital goods but also raised concerns that pending legislation as drafted could harm state revenue bases and would preempt the agreement on the taxation of digital goods negotiated by the 24 states that have complied with the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement. NCSL is working with sponsors to amend the legislation. There are Congressional efforts underway to expand and make permanent reporting requirements from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. NCSL is working to ensure any new reporting and oversight requirements for state governments on federal grants, contracts and loans must be accompanied by sufficient funds. NCSL also has been working with the U.S. Department of Education to arrange for calls between the department and legislators to discuss their state’s application for a waiver from provisions of No Child Left Behind and implementation of the waiver. NCSL also arranged last week for a call with the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture to discuss the Administration’s efforts to provide assistance in response to recent drought conditions. Other state-federal items include the passage of legislation that would reauthorize the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant; support a pilot program that would lead to building, licensing and operating consolidated interim nuclear storage facilities; and provide Congress with key principles and values regarding cyber security. PRESENTATION TO SENATOR MORRIS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Jan Larkin with the U.S. Department of Defense expressed appreciation for the help that states have given with issues of both keeping military training and test ranges active and helping veterans as they’re coming back with many issues of employment, retraining, etc. She noted that NCSL has been a very powerful partner in helping make the right decisions at the state level. She presented Senator Morris with a flag that was flown over the Pentagon on the 4th of July and a letter from the Military Community and Family Policy Office and the Installations and Environment Office in the Department of Defense as a token of appreciation for all the help that he has given over the last year. Senator Morris thanked Ms. Larkin noting that as a veteran himself, he truly appreciates the good work of the NCSL Military Affairs Task Force over the last several years and hoped it continues into the near future. REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES Chuck Truesdell, Staff Co-Chair, reported that the standing committees were completing the changing of existing policy statements to targeted policy directives. This process began at the Fall Forum in Tampa last December and will conclude at the Legislative Summit. When complete, the standing committees will have reduced the 180 policy statements to 75 policy directives. All policy statements and resolutions reported from the standing committees will be voted upon at the annual business meeting at the Legislative Summit. The coming Fall Forum will be held December 5-7, 2012, at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. The meeting will begin with an orientation for new committee officers. Mr.

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