By Kae Warnock
Legislative Staff Week gives us an opportunity to learn more about the people who work behind the scenes to assure that legislatures operate smoothly and laws are drafted well.
Here at NCSL, we get the opportunity to talk with legislative staff when they call us for information on how other states handle the issues they are tackling. In those interactions, we learn every day that they are dedicated to the institutions that they serve.
Today, we are talking with Mark Cutrona, the deputy director of the Division of Research in Delaware.
Q: What do you find enjoyable and rewarding about working in the legislature?
Cutrona: Working for the legislature means facing new and interesting issues on a constant basis. I always find the work that is needed to solve the problems presented, even when the issues can be difficult, enjoyable and rewarding because I get to put the tools of a legislative lawyer to use.
When these issues are parliamentary in nature, I immediately turn to my copy of Mason's for background and insight into the issue. And, when I need additional help, I reach out to Brenda and Kae at NCSL. When these issues are legal in nature, I turn to my writing and research skills, honed through experience here at the legislature and the educational opportunities offered by NCSL.
Q: What work are you most proud of?
Cutrona: I’m most proud of the part I've played in helping to strengthen the Division of Research, because I believe that strong nonpartisan staff enables our legislators to do better work for Delawareans.
I'm blessed to work for a director who has taken a previous NCSL study of the division seriously and tried to implement many of its recommendations. Since 2012, the division has returned to full staff and now has three full time legislative lawyers and two research analysts.
As a guardian of the statutes I recognize the need for technical accuracy in legislative drafting and so I'm also proud of the part I've played in improving the quality of legislative drafting in our legislature.
The division published a new legislative drafting manual in 2013, which we continue to update. The division also holds an annual drafting class for legislative attorneys and legislative drafting secretaries and has presented drafting courses for other legislative staff, executive and judicial branch staff, and the public.
Kae Warnock is a policy specialist in NCSL's Legislative Staff Services Program. It provides strategic, programmatic and administrative support to the staff professional organizations of NCSL and develops training and information programs for the nation's more than 30,000 legislative staff. She also staffs the Research, Editorial, Legal and Committee Staff (RELACS) professional association.
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