Standing Committee Structure and Operation

The NCSL Standing Committees are composed of legislators and legislative staff who are appointed by the leadership of the legislatures. The committees are the main organizational mechanism for serving NCSL members. The 10 standing committees have jurisdictions similar to those of committees in the state legislatures.

The standing committees integrate the organization’s consideration of federal and state issues. The committees have responsibility for exchanging information and ideas about state approaches to policy matters and for guiding NCSL’s lobbying work in Washington, D.C. The standing committees allow legislators and legislative staff to benefit from the experiences of other states in shaping public policy, experimenting with new laws, and managing the legislative institutions.

Each committee is led by legislator co-chairs and legislative staff co-chairs. In addition, the leadership of each committee includes at least two legislator and legislative staff vice chairs. The committees meet three times each year (the Fall Forum, Spring Forum and in the summer at the NCSL Legislative Summit), providing an exchange of information through dialogue, meeting sessions and networking opportunities. See the committee meeting schedule for this year. In addition to the meetings, committees disseminate information through special seminars, web sites, a variety of written documents and webinars.