Events at the 2007 NCSL Fall Forum
November 27-30, 2007
Phoenix, Arizona
Tuesday, November 27 and Wednesday, November 28
Women's Health Across the Lifespan: What Legislators Can Do to Improve Women's Health
More than 75 legislators, legislative staff and interested members of the private sector attended this seminar about women's health. The program was designed to help legislators understand the importance of comprehensive approaches to women's health as they consider the needs of their constituents and prepare state budgets. The meeting was cosponsored by the Women's Legislative Network of NCSL and the NCSL Health Program and is part of the Women's Health Across the Lifespan project, which is made possible by support from Novartis.
Opening Plenary: The State of Women's Health in America
Faculty: Wanda Jones, Dr.P.H., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and Director of the Office on Women's Health, DHHS.
Over dinner, Dr. Jones presented an overview of the priority health issues affecting women and discussed some of the ways women and men react differently to the same diseases. She also talked about the work of the Office on Women's Health and some of the lessons learned in more than two decades of women's health research.
Women's Health Policy: Coverage and Access to Care
Faculty: Alina Salganicoff, Ph.D., Vice President and Director, Women's Health Policy, Kaiser Foundation.
Women typically have two avenues for obtaining health care coverage: private insurance or Medicaid. Dr. Salganicoff discussed the Kaiser Foundation's research about women who are uninsured or covered by Medicaid and some of the challenges inherent in the Medicaid system.
View Alina Salganicoff's presentation. 
Chronic Disease, Women's Health and State Budget Impact
Faculty: Mary Kennedy, Senior Vice President, State Initiatives and Medicaid Development, Evercare.
Mary Kennedy discussed the needs of women with chronic diseases in the long-term care system. She drew on her previous experience as the Medicaid Director for the state of Minnesota to share examples of innovative state programs and funding approaches.
View Mary Kennedy's presentation.
Promoting Healthy Pregnancies and Ensuring Healthy Futures
Faculty: Sharron Corle, Senior Program Director, Association of Maternal and Child Health Plans.
Ensuring healthy pregnancies and, by extension, healthy futures involves prevention and wellness efforts during the preconception, pregnancy and postpartum time periods. Sharron Corle reviewed the important factors to consider when states are developing programs to care for pregnant women.
View Sharron Corle's presentation.
Women's Mental Health: Improving the Lives of Women with Histories of Trauma
Faculty: Joan Gillece, Ph.D., Program Officer, National Center for Trauma-Informed Care, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors.
Following a video, Dr. Gillece explained what trauma-informed care means for women and gave examples of successes that resulted from this approach.
View Joan Gillece's presentation.
Wednesday, November 28
Women's Legislative Network Board Meeting
Minutes available upon request.
Thursday, November 29
State Efforts to Provide Rigorous and Relevant CTE Opportunities
(Cosponsored with the NCSL Education Committee and the NCSL Human Services and Welfare Committee)
Career and technical education (CTE) options continue to be a popular choice for high school students. In an era of increasingly rigorous standards, what are states doing to ensure that schools offer high quality, relevant CTE options to prepare students for success in high-wage, high-skill industries? This session explored the challenges states face in retooling CTE, highlighting two exemplary Arizona programs. Two recent high school graduates shared their experiences with CTE programs and how the curriculum helped them plan for their career goals.
Presiding: Representative Mark Anderson, Arizona
Speakers: Sally Downey, East Valley Institute of Technology, Arizona
Milt Ericksen, State Director of Career and Technical Education, Arizona
Domenic Giandomenico, National Association of State Directors of CTE Consortium, Washington, D.C.
Art Lebowitz, Phoenix Union High School District, Arizona
Laura Stump, Past Arizona FFA President and 2007 National Officer candidate, Arizona
Amy Kijewski, AzHOSA State President, Arizona
Taking on the Tough Stuff
(Cosponsored with the NCSL Legislative Effectiveness and State Government Committee)
Legislatures often fail to deal with the big, difficult, thorny issues, commonly finding legislative time consumed by relatively minor issues that have some vocal proponents. One of the top measures of a legislative leader may be his or her ability to keep the legislature on track to deal thoughtfully and responsibly with those priority issues. How can states make progress on the topics that really matter, particularly in short-session legislatures or where legislators have other full-time jobs? How much is this a factor of political courage and how much is time management? Is there a more proactive role for staff to play to help legislatures identify and remain focused on the big issues?
Presiding: Erica Warren, Committee Staff Administrator, Kentucky
Speakers: Representative David Clark, Utah; Chair, NCSL Standing Committees
Senator Jack Hatch, Iowa
Bob Lang, Director, Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Wisconsin
Representative David Clark began by noting how quickly knowledge is expanding. We are now at the point where knowledge in the world has doubled in the last 18 months. In this context, skilled leaders find a way to get all of the relevant information out into the open. You help convince the relevant parties to be willing and capable of sharing their views. The leader has to find his or her North Star, the core values that guide one’s moral compass, and use that as a template to lead on any issue. David noted that the good leader has to blend facts and stories, to explain how legislation will affect people. The leadership element comes with listening strategically and encouraging others to share their facts and stories, setting that climate for the free flow of information.
Bob Lang addressed the role of staff in helping the legislature deal with tough issues. He directs an agency that helps the legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance create the state’s budget. First, it is critical for staff to assist decision makers, not make decisions. It sounds fundamental, but it is critical that you hire people who truly are comfortable with this approach. Next, the leaders need to articulate their goals to staff. There may be competing goals, but staff need to know what the leaders want to accomplish in order to help keep the overall work on track, particularly on projects as immense as creating a biennial budget. Third, staff have to fight the natural staff tendency to respond to requests with quantity. Legislators, often not wanting to appear ungrateful, seldom tell the staff that the work product wasn’t on the mark. The key is focus, often helped by an honest discussion between a legislator and staffer about what the legislator really needs. Fourth, staff need to be willing to help legislators when they want to change the status quo. The first response shouldn’t be a recitation of all the pitfalls, although the staffer has to point out potential problems. Rather, the staffer has to adopt an attitude of being open and really working to help the legislator accomplish his or her goals. At the core, the legislator/staff relationship is built on trust and both sides are responsible for developing that.
Senator Jack Hatch described a project in Iowa to address problems related to affordable health care insurance plans. The issue is the top current domestic issue. Senator Hatch and Representative Ro Foege are co-chairing a legislative commission of 29 members that includes 10 legislators and representatives of insurers, doctors, nurses, hospitals, dentists and other stakeholders, plus key state agency officials. The commission first gathered a tremendous amount of data, which has been important in helping the group focus on real problems, not myths. For example, 81% of Iowa’s uninsured work, many at two or more jobs. The commission went through a number of strategic planning exercises early on, which helped the commissioners identify the guiding principles for their work. The bi-partisan commission unanimously identified eight principles, and those have helped shape the commission’s work since then. The commission then identified the key issue areas (such as containing costs, expanding health care coverage for all Iowans and establishing purchasing pools) and the subcommittees have been actively developing their conclusions. The process has been aided by a series of public hearings convened by two former Iowa governors, one Democrat and one Republican. Throughout their work, the co-chairs have stressed a consensus approach and have reached out to have each commissioner play a significant role in the work. They have used a facilitator and sought to establish an informal, but hardworking approach to the task. The commission should finish up its work in the next month. Among the lessons learned is the enormous time commitment necessary to lead in this area. Even with a very dedicated set of commissioners and staff, the co-chairs have to spend a lot of time in meetings, with the media and in discussions to make sure the subcommittee work is on track.
Roundtable on Infrastructure Financing
(Cosponsored with the NCSL Agriculture, Environment & Energy, NCSL Budget & Revenue and NCSL Transportation Committees)
The Trust Funds established to build and maintain America's critical infrastructure are not keeping pace with needs, inflation, or competing demands. The session will began with an update from Washington, D.C. on congressional efforts or ideas to shore up these funds and then provided a roundtable for legislators to discuss state efforts to ensure America's infrastructure meets Americans' needs.
Presiding: Representative Deborah Hudson, Delaware
Facilitating: Senator Capri Cafaro, Ohio
Speakers: Jack Basso, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Washington, D.C.
Steven Brown, Executive Director, Environmental Council of the States, Washington, D.C.
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