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National Legislative Program Evaluation Society
Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
July 21, 2002, San Francisco, CA

Members present at the meeting were Martha Carter, Phil Durgin, Ken Levine, Wade Melton, Heather Moritz, Tim Osterstock, Manu Patel, Jane Thesing, and Kate Wade. Also present were Barb Hinton (KS), Craig Kinton (TX), Gary VanLandingham (FL), and Bob Boerner from NCSL. Member Joel Alter, and incoming member Joe Lawhon, participated via conference call.

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by Heather Moritz, Chair, at 1:20 p.m.

From 1:20 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., committee chairs met with their committees.

Heather noted that the minutes from the Executive Committee's April meeting were adopted via e-mail and are available on the NLPES website.

Jane Thesing reported for the Annual Meeting Committee. Jane thanked Bob Boerner and members of the Annual Meeting Committee for their help in preparing for the meeting. She described the NLPES activities planned for the meeting and said that the time slots available to staff sections had turned out to be better than initially expected.

Martha Carter reported for the Awards Committee. Martha announced that the Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit and the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission won this year's Excellence in Evaluation Award and that Minnesota won the Excellence in Research Methodology Award. She said the committee also awarded 23 Certificates of Impact Recognition. She also announced that Roger Brooks, recently retired Deputy Auditor in the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor would receive the outstanding achievement award.

Kate Wade reported for the Communications and Technology Committee. Kate said that the newsletter has continued to come together well under James Barber's leadership, and encouraged committee members to solicit articles from their offices. She also said that the question of the month and listserve continue to run smoothly as well. Kate also indicated that, this fall, Gary VanLandingham plans to update the "Ensuring the Public Trust" survey, which described NLPES member offices in each state.

Ken Levine reported for the Training Committee. Ken explained the status of the fall training conference in Michigan and encouraged committee members interested in serving on panels to contact Gary Brown. The proposed conference budget is in the black, but depends on drawing at least 75 attendees paying the full conference fee. Ken also reviewed the locations for future conferences, including Florida in 2004 and Pennsylvania in 2005. Ken said the committee is still looking for a site for the 2006 conference and that will be a priority for the training committee in the next year. Ken also said that the committee is exploring co-sponsorship of training sessions with other staff sections. Ken suggested that we could economize on conference expenses but not necessarily share programming tracks.

Joel Alter reported for the Membership and Nominations Committee. Joel said that Kathy Snider (SC), who was elected to the executive committee this spring, has taken a position with the executive branch and won't be able to serve. In keeping with NLPES by-laws, the position was offered to the candidate who received the next highest amount of votes, Joe Lawhon from Kansas. Joel was pleased to report that Joe accepted the position.

Phil Durgin reported for the Professional Liaison Committee. Phil said that the liaisons are up-to-date and each has been contacted recently. He reiterated the suggestion that the work of this committee could be folded into one of the other committees. The Executive Committee agreed with Phil and incoming chair, Kate Wade, said she would propose such a change at the committee meeting on Thursday, July 24.

Kate proposed a change in the NLPES by-laws to clarify that the committee can obtain a quorum using members who are not physically present at the meeting but are connected electronically through conference call, video conferencing, etc. This change is increasingly important because of travel restrictions resulting from state budget shortfalls. As required by the by-laws, the proposed change will be presented to the NLPES membership for 30 days and the executive committee will vote on it at the fall training conference.

Gary VanLandingham requested feedback from the executive committee on a draft version of the training CD. He said he was aware of some technical problems, and some committee members confirmed that they could not open the program. However, those who had viewed the program commented favorably on its content.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Martha Carter, Secretary