Webinar - Creating Great Legislation: How Legislators and Drafters Work Together - March 26, 2010

Sponsored by the Legislative Effectiveness Committee and the Legal Services Staff Section through a grant for e-learning from the NCSL Legislative Staff Coordinating Committee (LSCC)

A great bill requires good communication between the legislator and the drafter. The drafter may need to ask questions to clarify the bill request and the legislator may want to make sure certain provisions are included in the bill. This session will examine ways in which the drafter and the legislator can cooperate to make bills accurate, clear and concise. The webinar offers participants the opportunity to consider what legislators need to know about the details of the drafting process and what drafters need to know about the political process.  The session will address these questions:

• What are the legal considerations when legislators and drafters work in an attorney-client relationship?
• How do the parties ensure that a bill draft is constitutional and fits in the proper statutory scheme?
• What are the ethical obligations of legislators and drafters during the drafting process?
• How does the drafter create the drafting file to ensure that a proper record is created for future litigants, the press and interested citizens?
• What questions does the drafter need to ask the legislator and what problems or issues are for the drafter alone?
• How does the drafter get the legislator to “open up” and provide the full story of what the legislator wants and why it is wanted?  How much does the drafter need to know?
• How does the drafter think through the draft legislation from the viewpoint of all the groups (stakeholders) that will be affected by that legislation to make sure that the legislation will “work in the real world?”
• What are some tips from veterans to help legislators make sure they give drafters clear direction and that the final bill draft has no surprises?

Participants will be able to post questions and vote on scenarios during the presentation. Participants will view the PowerPoint presentation via the Web and listen to the audio via a telephone connection.  

Several people in the same office could participate together by viewing one computer (projected on a screen) and listening to a speakerphone set up in a conference room. (Register only one person and send an e-mail to Kae Warnock indicating that a group will be using that connection.) Some offices may also want to organize additional in-house programming, building on the subject of drafting or other concerns of legislative staff and perhaps scheduled in conjunction with this webinar. Please let us know if you have questions about participating as a group.

This program was designed to qualify for continuing legal education (CLE) credits in most states that have mandatory CLE. NCSL did not pre-apply for CLE. Those who want to view the presentation and submit it for CLE credit in their state may self-apply using a Uniform Application for CLE. However, final acceptance of CLE hours is the prerogative of your state’s CLE authority.

Faculty Biography 

Presenter:  Bruce Feustel, Senior Fellow, Legislative Management, National Conference of State Legislatures

Bruce Feustel has worked in or for state legislatures for 35 years. He currently is a Senior Fellow in NCSL’s Legislative Management Program, where he provides training and educational programs for legislators and legislative staff and participates in management studies of legislatures. He has organized and taught at committee chair and new legislator training seminars, provided skill training for staff, produced CDs on “How to be an Effective Legislator,” provided staff support to NCSL’s Legislative Effectiveness Committee and made presentations on communication, change, facilitation and ethics. Bruce has also facilitated strategic planning and consensus building meetings and projects with state legislatures or committees in Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Washington, Maine, Colorado, Wisconsin and New Mexico and with the Navajo and Osage Nation legislative bodies. A former Wisconsin legislative attorney, Bruce periodically teaches and organizes seminars on bill drafting and the legislative process, including seminars held in 17 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Agenda - March 26

(Eastern Time)