COMMITTEE REPORT

ALLEN AND FOX CONTINUE AS CHAIR AND STAFF CHAIR

Representative Sheryl Allen, Utah, and Nelson Fox, Senior Budget Analyst for Ohio’s Legislative Service Commission, will continue for a second year as the Chair and Staff Chair of the Economic Development, Trade & Cultural Affairs Committee. Senator Liane Sorenson, Delaware, will continue as a Vice Chair, and is joined this year by Representative Ernest Baylor, Louisiana, and Representative Phillip Frye, North Carolina. Karen Cochrane-Brown, Staff Attorney for the North Carolina Legislature, has been appointed to serve as Staff Vice Chair. The appointments were made by NCSL President Steve Rauschenberger (Illinois Senate) and NCSL Staff Chair Susan Clarke Schaar, Clerk of the Senate in Virginia. NCSL appreciates the Committee officers’ willingness to serve.

TRADE POLICIES RENEWED AT ANNUAL MEETING

The following Committee policies on trade were amended and renewed at the Annual Meeting in Seattle: Presidential Trade Promotion Authority and World Trade Organization Negotiations. Policies slated for renewal in the 2005-2006 conference year are Agricultural Trade, which is jointly held with the Agriculture & Rural Development Committee; Export Promotion; and Trade Relations with Cuba. The text of all policies is online at www.ncsl.org/statefed/econdev.htm. If you have suggestions for amendments to any existing policies or ideas for new policies, please email jeremy.meadows@ncsl.org by November 15 for consideration at the Fall Forum.

FALL FORUM BOASTS ANOTHER TRADE SEMINAR

The NCSL Fall Forum will be held December 6-9 in Chicago, Illinois. The Economic Development, Trade & Cultural Affairs Committee intends to conduct sessions on eminent domain, the effect of natural disasters on rural communities, and agricultural trade among others. The Committee will also host a pre-conference Trade Policy Leadership Seminar (TPLS), building on the successful joint seminar offered by NCSL and the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) at the Spring Forum in April. The December meeting will be presented by NCSL and the North Carolina Department of Commerce. Those registering for the Fall Forum can take advantage of TPLS with no extra registration fee, or you can use the daily rate registration for just the Seminar. The TPLS agenda outline is online at www.ncsl.org/standcomm/scecon/TPLS05.htm. General information about the agenda, registration and housing for the Fall Forum is at www.ncsl.org/forum/index.htm.

GOVERNING IN THE GLOBAL AGE SEMINAR SCHEDULED

The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, DC is hosting its 7^th year of the Governing in the Global Age program on November 14-15. The program offers state and local leaders the opportunity to participate in executive briefings and debates on topics of global scope with critical implications for state and local policy and programs such as the global economy, multilateral trade agreements, international finance, and immigration, and educating citizens for a global economy are a few of the topics covered. Six to eight states are invited for each round, and NCSL helps to identify state elected officials to serve as delegation chairs. Each bipartisan state team has six to eight delegates and must include two state legislators, a senior executive branch official, an elected city or county government leader, and an education policy leader. For the November 2005 program, NCSL is pleased to have former Committee Chair and current NCSL Executive Committee member Peter Lewiss lead a delegation from Rhode Island, and is hopeful that NCSL designees from Tennessee and New Hampshire will also be able to chair delegations. If you are interested in having your state participate in Governing in the Global Age, please contact Jeremy Meadows at jeremy.meadows@ncsl.org.