NCSL Legislative Summit 2020

With great regret, NCSL has decided to cancel the 2020 Legislative Summit scheduled for Aug. 10-13 in Indianapolis. This decision was made in consultation with our partners in the Indiana General Assembly. The leadership and staff in Indiana had a blockbuster meeting planned, making the decision especially difficult. We are forever grateful to them for their support. The only silver lining is that we are able to gather in Indianapolis again relatively soon—for the 2023 Legislative Summit.

After spending weeks considering options to conduct a large meeting under social distancing guidelines that are very likely to remain in place through the coming months, it was clear NCSL could not convene thousands of legislators, staff and others safely without severely compromising the high-quality event we are committed to. We postponed the decision as long as we possibly could, hoping to find some way to move forward. However, due to our desire to give you notice as soon as possible, as well as the need to review and renegotiate contracts, it was time to make the difficult choice. 

This will be the first time in 45 years NCSL is not holding the Legislative Summit. The loss for our community of legislators, legislative staff, Foundation for State Legislatures partners, the NCSL staff and many others is palpable.

Having said that, I know we will be back, and I think we will be stronger and better. As horrible as the public health and economic circumstances are, I believe we must look for opportunities to innovate. We must work to get even better at achieving the mission of NCSL­—to strengthen the legislative institution. That is what we will do.

NCSL remains committed to providing the tools and information necessary to support you as you focus on getting your state back on track. NCSL has developed massive COVID-19-related research and produced numerous webinars and networking calls between states in just the past few weeks. Online resources are updated daily and shared with our members constantly through dozens of communications channels.

Finally, stay tuned. We are working on some cool plans for virtual events in the late summer to provide you with opportunities to learn and connect.

—Tim Storey