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NCSL Training for Legislators and Legislative Staff

NCSL is in the business of legislator and legislative staff training. We understand how legislatures operate and we know the legislative world with all of its quirks, customs, traditions and personalities. That's why we can design and provide training for any type of program that a legislature might need.

The legislature is a wonderful, exciting world-but the pace, customs, traditions, procedures and work can be confusing and overwhelming. New legislators often find themselves deluged by people and paper. New legislative staff have to learn how to do their jobs in a legislative culture that often needs instant answers and information. Even nonpartisan staff have to learn to be politically savvy in order to be effective in this culture. The demands on legislators and staff are great, and they need help to do their jobs well. The current legislative trends of increased partisanship, term limits and heightened media attention signal that the help is needed now more than ever.

A big part of that help is training, training that addresses the particular skills that legislators and legislative staff must develop. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) provides training for legislators and legislative staff that is specifically designed by experts to help them do their jobs better. NCSL understands the skills and work involved in being a legislator or a legislative staffer and designs training to fit those needs. Using legislative veterans, faculty from the public and private sectors and experienced NCSL staff, we customize training to fit every legislative need. NCSL also uses practical, interactive sessions that actively involve all the participants.

The theme in NCSL training is that we tailor it to meet your needs. If you want, we can bring it to your state or your region of the country. We teach the topics that you want us to address. We work with you to get the agenda, faculty, teaching style and basic approach that you want. On any of these projects, much of our work is listening, offering suggestions and options, and helping you identify what you want out of the training.

NCSL provides training for legislators that focuses on the different challenges facing new legislators, experienced legislators and leaders. As with all our training, we customize the agenda, type of session and faculty to meet the needs of a particular group. Typical sessions or topics include:

NCSL organizes and provides training for legislators at many national meetings and seminars and creates many state-specific workshops as well. Hawaii, Oregon, Kentucky, Colorado, Minnesota, Idaho and Pennsylvania are some of the states where NCSL has recently provided legislator training.

NCSL also uses its expertise to customize training for legislative staff. Through the NCSL staff sections, NCSL provides training for new and experienced staff in all of these areas of responsibility:

The programs address the key skills that these legislative employees need to develop to do their jobs well. For example, the bill drafters training explains the key elements of consistency, clarity, precision and legal sufficiency in bill drafting and involves participants in analyzing and writing legislation. Veteran instructors critique the bills that the students have drafted. The emphasis in all the training is on practical, "hands on" interactive work combined with providing an understanding of the big picture issues involved. NCSL uses faculty who are or have been long-time practitioners in legislative work, with additional academic and NCSL faculty to fit particular needs. The legislative staff training can be provided on a national, regional or state basis.

NCSL also provides some special training for legislative staff directors and other staff with leadership and management responsibilities. These staff leadership training sessions include:

NCSL provides these training opportunities at extremely competitive cost to the states. Although the costs do vary depending on the scope of the project, the type of faculty involved, and the need to arrange for travel and hotel stays, NCSL works hard to keep the price down. We often provide many of the planning and other services at no cost to the state and recruit legislators and legislative staff to donate their time as faculty members. Our whole approach is to provide a top-value learning experience at a very affordable price.

NCSL's Legislative Management Program in Denver, Colo. provides training to legislatures, and may be reached at 303-364-7700 or legislatures-info@ncsl.org