Assembly on Federal Issues

11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Ticonderoga Wall

Registration

12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Sales Taxes and Electronic Commerce

12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Capitol Room

Lunch and Update on Taxation of Electronic Commerce
Speakers: Representative Mathew Kisber, Tennessee; Senator Steven Rauschenberger, Illinois

2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
U.S. Capitol

Briefing from Members of Congress on the Status of Internet Taxation Legislation

3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
U.S. Capitol

Private Meetings with Members of Congress

5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Valley Forge

Assembly on Federal Issues Steering Committee

6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Columbia A & B

Opening Reception

7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Ticonderoga Wall

Registration

8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Yorktown/Valley Forge

Plenary Breakfast
U.S. China Relations: Should the U.S. Support China's Admission Into the World Trade Organization?
Speaker: Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, U.S. Trade Representative

9:45 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Concord/Lexington

Agriculture and International Trade Committee Meetings

9:45 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

TMDLs - A New Way to Regulate Water Quality
Joint Session with the Environment Committee
Presiding: Senator Beverly Gard, Indiana, NCSL Environment Committee Chair
Speakers: Sharon Buccino, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council; Mitch Dubensky, Director of Forest Environment, American Forest and Paper Association; Elizabeth Fellows, Director of Assessment and Watershed Protection Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Jim George, Maryland Department of Environment
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new rules that would require states to set "total maximum daily loads" (TMDLs) for streams and lakes that do not meet standards. The intent is to assess the cumulative impacts of all discharges, both point and nonpoint source pollutants. The effect is to place agricultural and forestry runoff in the same regulatory framework as municipal and industrial discharges to protect impaired waters.

11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.

State Land Grant Universities: Time for New Federal Regulation or Support?
Agriculture and International Trade Committee Lunch
Presiding: Senator Paul Muegge, Oklahoma, NCSL Agriculture and International Trade Committee Vice-Chair
Speakers: Nancy Danielson, Legislative Analyst, National Farmers Union; Vic Lechtenberg, Dean of Agriculture, Purdue University
In light of the proprietary relationship between private corporations and state land grant universities for certain new technologies, old questions are being revisited about the objectives of the agricultural research mission and federal research support levels. At the same time, new questions are being asked about technology transfer to agricultural suppliers and its competitive impact. Are private corporations benefiting unfairly from taxpayer-supported research to the detriment of family farms? The committee will hear presentations on these questions and then consider a new NCSL policy.

12:45 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.

Agricultural Trade and the Chinese Conundrum
Presiding: Representative Jim Poolman, North Dakota, NCSL Agriculture and International Trade Committee Vice-Chair
Speakers: Thea Lee, Assistant Director of Public Policy, AFL-CIO; Robert Novick, General Counsel, USTR
In the wake of the Asian financial crisis, agricultural exports have slumped and the rural economy has sputtered. Optimists hailed the U.S.-China agreement reached last November, but roadblocks still remain before China can become a member of the World Trade Organization. Congress must approve permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status before the agricultural industry can benefit from improved access to a market made up of one-fifth of the world's population. Should Congress grant China PNTR status, despite its questionable record on issues such as human rights and labor protections? The committee will hear presentations on these questions, then consider two policies: renewal of NCSL's agricultural trade policy and an action calendar resolution on trade with China.

2:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.

Consolidated Agriculture: Family Farm Predator or New Generation World-beater?
Presiding: Representative Bill Friend, Indiana, NCSL Agriculture and International Trade Committee Vice-Chair
Speakers: Robert Taylor, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Auburn University; Michael Boehlje, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University
Unprecedented merger and acquisition activity has changed the shape of the agricultural marketplace. Some argue that consolidation has gone too far and have supported concentration restrictions or a federal moratorium on mergers. Others favor more limited measures such as prohibiting meat packers from owning livestock or requiring federal regulators to review merger impact on producers and rural communities. Should duties under the Packers and Stockyards Act be transferred from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the U.S. Department of Justice, and should the federal government place a moratorium on agricultural mergers? The committee will hear presentations on these issues and then consider two new NCSL policies.

5:15 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Ticonderoga

Assembly on Federal Issues Steering Committee

6:15 p.m. - 7:45 p.m.
Canadian Embassy

Reception

8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Ticonderoga Wall

Registration

8:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.

Special Briefings and Continental Breakfast

Capitol Room

Implementing the Workforce Investment Act
Speakers: Mason Bishop, Legislative Director, Interstate Conference of Employment Security Agencies, Inc.; Raymond Bramucci, Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor; Richard Running, Director, Iowa Workforce Development; David Shreve, Committee Director, AFI Education, Labor and Job Training Committee, NCSL

Columbia A

Medicare Prescription Drugs

10:30 a.m. - 12 noon
Yorktown/Valley Forge

Business Meeting
Consideration of Policy Resolutions

12 noon - 1:30 p.m.
Regency A

Closing Plenary Luncheon
Speaker: Ben Wattenberg, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

1:45 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.

Special Workshop

Capitol Room

Prescription Drugs: Frank Talk about Cost, Coverage and Quality