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NLPES Site Map
National Legislative Program
Evaluation Society
Executive Committee
Minutes
April 19, 2002
New Orleans, LA
The executive committee met on Friday, April 19, 2002,
in New Orleans, Louisiana. Copies of handouts discussed during the meeting
are kept on file with the NLPES secretary.
Members present at the meeting were Joel Alter, James Barber, Gary Brown,
Martha Carter, Ethel Detch, Ken Levine, Wade Melton, and Heather Moritz.
Shan Hays, Jane Thesing, and Kate Wade participated via conference call.
Also present were Bob Boerner, NCSL, and Gary VanLandingham, FL.
Committee Meetings
From 8:15 a.m. to 9:15 a.m., committee chairs met with their committees.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Joel Alter, Chair, at 9:25 a.m. Joel
welcomed everyone and thanked the members who were participating by phone.
Minutes
Joel noted that the minutes from the Executive Committee's September meeting
were adopted via e-mail and are available on the NLPES website.
Committee Reports
Ken Levine reported for the Training Committee. Ken presented the
committee's proposed revisions to the Host State Guidelines for Planning
an NLPES Fall Training Conference. The revisions were based on suggestions
from Kansas and Missouri, last year's host states. With minor modifications,
the executive committee adopted the proposed guidelines by voice vote.
Ken said the guidelines will be sent to states that have indicated an interest
in hosting the 2005 training conference, and the executive committee will
select the site for that conference at its July 2002 meeting.
Shan Hays reported on planning for the upcoming training conference
in Arizona. Most of the arrangements have been made but Shan said they
will be contacting executive committee members to suggest panelists. Because
many states are experiencing budget problems, the training committee is
using a conservative estimate for attendance and asked the executive committee
to approve a modest increase in registration fees. The executive committee
agreed to the increase and adopted the following fees for the 2002 training
conference: $285 for NLPES members, $305 for other government and non-profit
staff, and $335 for corporate staff. The executive committee also approved
allowing up to 40 members of the Arizona staff to pay only the amount necessary
to cover the per-person variable costs, which Shan estimated to be $130.
Full-time students and retired evaluators may also attend for this reduced
rate.
Ken indicated the training committee has been following Florida's work
in developing a training CD-Rom. However, discussion of this project was
held until later in the meeting.
Shan Hays reported for the Communications and Technology Committee.
Shan said members of the committee have been reviewing portions of the
NCSL website and will suggest improvements to NCSL. James Barber will prepare
a survey regarding the use of the NCSL report database to be sent to NLPES
offices and legislative research librarians. In May, Joel will send protocols
to the executive committee members for making calls to our key contacts.
With those calls, we will encourage people to attend the fall training
conference and the NCSL annual meeting, request participation in an up-coming
NLPES survey, and update the key contact information. Joel also reported
that membership on the NLPES listserve has increased and provided the committee
with reports on the website hits and responses to the Question of the Month.
Heather Moritz reported for the Annual Meeting Committee. Heather
distributed the annual meeting schedule and highlighted the times available
for NLPES sessions. The committee plans to co-sponsor one session with
the ASI Legislative Effectiveness and Fiscal Affairs committees and may
co-sponsor another session with the Center for Ethics in Government. Heather
said staff members from the Colorado office will help prepare summaries
of the NLPES sessions which, following the conference, will again be posted
on the NLPES website. She indicated the committee will also provide evaluation
forms for our sessions. James mentioned that the next newsletter is scheduled
for publication in early June and will include information on the annual
meeting.
Martha Carter reported for the Awards Committee. Martha briefly
reviewed the changes that were made to the awards criteria this year and
explained that the application process was underway. Each member of the
committee will coordinate one award: Gary Brown, Research Methodology;
Ethel Detch, Excellence in Evaluation; and Jane Thesing, Impact Certificate.
Martha also said the awards committee members had discussed potential conflicts
of interest if its members' offices applied for awards. She said the awards'
committee believed the office of awards committee chair should not apply
for any award but that the offices of other members could apply for an
award so long as he or she was not a judge for that award. Members of the
executive committee concurred that this was the policy that had been followed
in the past. Joel reported on the lifetime achievement award. He indicated
that the selection committee will consist of himself, James Barber (MS),
Barbara Hinton (KS), Heather Moritz (CO), and Gary VanLandingham (FL) and
encouraged executive committee members to submit nominees for this award.
Ken Levine reported for the Professional Liaisons Committee.
Ken said committee members have contacted each of the current liaisons.
He said the committee is working with NCSL to include links on the NLPES
website to liaison organizations and is developing additional newsletter
articles featuring these organizations. Ken suggested the executive committee
consider whether there is enough work for this committee to remain separate
or if it should be combined with another committee.
James Barber reported for the Membership and Nominations Committee.
No election was held this Spring because the committee received only as
many nominations for membership as there were positions available. James
suggested the executive committee discuss ways to encourage people to run
for the committee.
Nomination for New Executive Committee Member
James nominated Phil Durgin, executive director of the Pennsylvania Legislative
Budget and Finance Committee, to serve on the executive committee. Phil
would replace Heather Moss (WA), who had to resign because her state enacted
a complete travel ban for this year. The committee approved the nomination
by voice vote. Joel, Heather, and Wade each agreed to contact one of the
new members to welcome them to the committee.
Alternative Peer Review Web Posting
Wade Melton reported that some states were hesitant to have the details
of their peer review arrangements posted on the website, so he will simply
provide a brief description of the process used by each state. He will
also include names of contacts in each state who can provide more information.
Wade will send a draft of this information to the executive committee before
it is posted on the web.
Posting NLPES Policies on the Web Site
Joel proposed including additional NLPES policies on the website-starting
with the host state guidelines for the training conference and the training
conference registration fees-and the executive committee agreed. Joel also
asked for suggestions for other information that could be posted.
Other Business
Joel informed the committee that NLPES had nominated Jim Pellegrini (MT)
to serve on the GAO's Advisory Committee on the Yellow Book Standards,
but he was not selected. However, Debbie Davenport (AZ) was selected so
there is an NLPES office represented on the committee.
Heather and Joel briefed the committee on recent activities of the Legislative
Staff Coordinating Committee. Heather said the LSCC is reviewing the structures
of the Assembly on State Issues and the Assembly on Federal Issues. Joel
explained that the committee is also proposing a study of legislative salaries
this calendar year, and it is working on a single searchable database of
all states' legislative bills.
Wade suggested it would be useful for the executive committee to have
contact via a phone conference or written update between its fall and spring
meetings. The committee discussed whether the need for additional contact
would be to remind everyone of the tasks that needed to be accomplished
before the spring meeting, or simply to update members about what the committees
were doing. As incoming executive committee chair, Heather agreed to pursue
this idea further.
CD-ROM Project
Gary VanLandingham reported on Florida's development of CD training course.
Gary said his office purchased Trainersoft software, which they are using
to create an introductory course on performance measures in legislative
program evaluation. He showed the first portion of this course, which was
something like a narrated PowerPoint presentation. Unlike a PowerPoint
presentation, however, it also included interactive features such as tests
of the viewer's comprehension of the material. Gary said another advantage
of the CD over a program like PowerPoint is that the CD is self-executing,
meaning anyone can use it without having any special software on their
computer.
Gary said he'd found the software to be less user-friendly than he hoped
it would be, but still believes development of training CDs will be useful
in some circumstances. His goal is to complete this CD, and a written users
guide discussing the time and effort that went into its development, for
distribution at the July annual meeting.
Date and Site for the Next NLPES Executive Committee Meeting
Joel announced that the next meeting will be July 23 in Denver, Colorado.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:55 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha Carter, Secretary
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