Below are summaries of the policy directives and resolutions the standing committees expect to consider during their meetings at the Legislative Summit in Indianapolis, Aug. 14-16. Final votes on all policy directives and resolutions reported from the standing committees will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 16 at the Annual Business Meeting. Access to the full text of each committee’s policies is also provided below.
The Budgets and Revenue Committee will consider the following resolution during the 2023 National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Legislative Summit:
Directive
- State and Federal Budgeting Principles for Fundamental Tax Reform: This existing directive would be amended to reflect the evolving remote workplace and to ensure that states retain the ability to collect tax revenue without providing an unnecessary burden on states, taxpayers and businesses.
Resolution
- Investing in Our Communities Act: This is a renewal of an existing resolution urging Congress to pass the Investing in Our Communities Act. This bipartisan legislation seeks to reinstate the exclusion from gross income for interest on certain bonds issued to advance the refunding of a prior bond issue. The exclusion was repealed for bonds issued after 2017.
Communications, Financial Services and Interstate Commerce Committee [Committee Policy Book]
The Communications, Financial Services and Interstate Commerce Committee will consider the following policy directives during the 2023 NCSL Legislative Summit:
Directive
- Consumer Protection: This is a new directive that would define small dollar lending products consistent with the federal Truth in Lending Act so that consumers are aware which products are safe, affordable and structured to reduce the likelihood of borrowers falling into a cycle of debt.
Resolutions
- Online Child Privacy Legislation: This is a new resolution urging Congress to pass legislation that would better protect the privacy of minors online.
- Affordable Connectivity Program: This is a new resolution urging Congress and the administration to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program.
Memorial Resolution
- Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Compact: This is a renewal of an existing resolution urging Congress to give consent to the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Compact.
The Education Committee will consider the following policy directives and resolutions during the 2023 NCSL Legislative Summit:
Directives
- The State-Federal Partnership in Elementary and Secondary Education: This is an existing directive that would be amended to assert that state legislatures have the plenary authority over systems of education finance and the federal government should not condition grants in any way that would alter or amend a state’s school finance methodology.
- School Safety and Student Mental Health: This is a new directive adapted from an existing resolution. The directive recognizes that federal and state efforts to address school safety should be collaborative and supports federal funding that addresses school security and student mental health. The directive asks that federal funding be flexible to allow state legislatures to direct resources where they are needed most. The directive asks the federal government to avoid mandating specific strategies or approaches to school security and student mental health.
Resolutions
- Federal Education Relief Aid: This is an existing resolution that expresses NCSL’s stance on the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund. This resolution explains that federal fiscal conditions for emergency funding should only ask states to maintain aggregate funding levels or serve as a guide for making cuts. Specifically, the language asks Congress to avoid requirements that compel states to increase funding or distribute education funding in a manner that does not follow the state’s school funding formula. The resolution would be amended to express concern over school district spending of ESSER funds and asks Congress to extend the spending timeline of funds to December 31st, 2026.
Memorial Resolution
- NCSL Affirms the Importance of Civic Education: This is a new memorial resolution which affirms that civic education plays a fundamental role in preparing and encouraging students to actively participate in the public and political life of their communities.
The Health and Human Services Committee will consider the following policy directives and resolutions during the 2023 NCSL Legislative Summit:
Directives
- Nurturing Responsible Families and Child Support Administration and Enforcement: This existing policy directive outlines NCSL’s child support enforcement policy positions with a focus on state flexibility and equitable and timely policies that are focused on the best interest of the children involved. The policy was significantly edited in order to remove non-policy language and streamline and modernize language consistent with current norms. Additionally, inclusive language was added with regard to tribes where applicable. Upon approval of the proposed edits, the existing version of the policy will expire, and the edited version will take effect.
- Child Welfare and Family Services: This existing policy directive describes NCSL’s policy on child welfare and family services which prioritizes policies that keep families together and allows state flexibility to create family support systems to help prevent child welfare engagement, and that provides states with adequate funding and flexibility to ensure the safety and well-being of children engaged with the foster care system. The policy was significantly edited in order to remove non-policy language and streamline and modernize language consistent with current norms. Additionally, inclusive language was added with regard to tribes where applicable. Upon approval of the proposed edits, the existing version of the policy will expire, and the edited version will take effect.
- Building Self-Reliance and Financial Independence for Low-Income Families: This directive outlines NCSL’s policy positions on several topics related to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, including work requirements, time limits, and individual development accounts. Proposed changes to this policy are mainly edits to modernize and streamline language, including changing the title of the directive to reflect that all the content is about TANF.
- Nutrition Programs and Assistance: This policy addresses NCSL’s positions on many federal nutrition programs, including SNAP, school meals, and other child nutrition programs. This directive was reviewed last year. The only proposed change is to integrate the language from the Child Nutrition Reauthorization resolution from last year into the existing directive language addressing child nutrition programs.
Resolutions
- General Guiding Principles: Federalism and Health, Human Services, Medicaid and CHIP Programs: This is a renewal of an existing resolution that addresses Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and principles for federal health insurance reform. Proposed changes include converting this resolution into a policy directive, splitting it into two separate policies (one on Medicaid and CHIP and one on health insurance reform), and edits to streamline language.
- Supporting Federal Legislation to Empower States to Protect Children and Youth in Residential Care: This resolution supports a bill in Congress that is intended to help states prevent child abuse in youth residential care facilities. The resolution was passed last year, with the only proposed change this year reflecting the slight change in Congressional co-sponsors of the bill.
- Support for Inclusion of Vaccines & Monoclonal Antibodies for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) within the Federal Vaccines for Children Program: This is a new resolution that urges the CDC and FDA to include monoclonal antibodies in the federal Vaccines for Children Program in the event that the advisory committee to the FDA makes the recommendation that it be included.
- Continued Access to Federal Tax Information By State Child Support Contractors: This is a new resolution that urges Congress to adopt bipartisan legislation authorizing direct access to federal tax information by tribal child support agencies and urges the administration to permanently allow the continued sharing of federal tax information with state and tribal contractors, at state option, for use in the child support program.
Memorial Resolution
- Global Health Equity Week: This is an existing resolution that expresses support for Global Health Equity Week, an annual event sponsored by Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), which provides key public and private health and information technology stakeholders an opportunity to convene around the country in support of the advancement of health equity. The only changes to the resolution this year are the dates and the priorities for 2023 which focus on digital health literacy, inclusion and access, and maternal health equity.
Labor and Economic Development Committee [Committee Policy Book]
The Labor and Economic Development Committee will consider the following policy resolution during the 2023 NCSL Legislative Summit:
Resolution
- Apprenticeship: This is an existing resolution that supports federal initiatives and funding to expand state registered apprenticeship programs into non-traditional occupations and careers.
Law, Criminal Justice & Public Safety Committee [Committee Policy Book]
Directives
- Federalism: This is an update of an existing policy directive. Changes will streamline and update NCSL’s cornerstone policy on federalism.
- Homeland Security and Emergency Management: This is an existing policy directive. Adds language that supports consultation with states in federal legislation that updates the post-disaster relief funds applications process to increase effectiveness.
Resolutions
- Voter Registration List Maintenance: This is a new resolution that urges Congress to increase voter confidence by collaborating with states on providing effective and accurate voter list maintenance.
- Humane Treatment of Asylum Seekers at Southern Border and Ports of Entry: This is a renewal of an existing resolution urging Congress to invest in procedural and technological improvements to ports of entry and judicial system to facilitate a safe, efficient, timely and humane immigration process for asylum seekers.
- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program Codification: This is a renewal of an existing resolution that urges Congress to pass legislation ensuring that DREAMers and DACA recipients are allowed to reside in the U.S. without fear of deportation or prosecution.
- Increasing Visa Caps and Legal Immigration to End Labor Shortage: This is a renewal of an existing resolution calling upon Congress to create legal pathways to immigration and to pass legislation that allows employment-based visa recipients to easily maintain their visa status.
- Pathway to Citizenship for Refugees: This is a renewal of an existing resolution urging Congress and the administration to develop a fair and consistent process to evaluate and approve TPS applications on an expedited basis.
Natural Resources and Infrastructure Committee [Committee Policy Book]
The Natural Resources and Infrastructure Committee will consider the following policy directives and resolutions at the 2023 NCSL Legislative Summit:
Directives
- Aviation: This is an existing directive highlighting the need for Congress and the administration to actively engage state legislatures in discussions on the development and preservation of our system of airports and to avoid federal mandates, preemption of state authority and where possible provide states maximum flexibility in the aviation arena. The directive also contains language on Unmanned Aerial Systems.
- Energy Security: This is an existing directive urging Congress to direct the U.S. Department of Energy through the national laboratories and technology centers to develop a national energy strategy for moving the United States toward independence from non-North American energy sources.
- National Energy: This is an existing directive urging the federal government to continue working cooperatively with state, local and tribal governments to develop, implement and maintain an expansive, integrated, environmentally sensitive and cost-effective national energy policy.
- Surface Transportation Federalism Directive: This is an existing directive that guides staff on how to lobby on federal surface transportation programs and includes provisions that call for an increase in federal funding for surface transportation. There is an NCSL staff-led amendment which would call on DOT to ensure that state legislators are represented on the Federal System Funding Alternative Advisory Board, as since the early 2000s, state legislatures have been at the forefront of discussions to explore possible replacements for the motor fuel tax, often leading the call for studies and demonstration projects. It would also call on DOT to consider state expertise as they develop the required national alternative transportation user fee pilot program, establishing it in coordination with states who are considering, and who have established such mechanisms.
Resolutions
- Autonomous Vehicles: This is a renewal of an existing resolution recognizing the need to clearly define state and federal roles for the development, regulation and deployment of autonomous vehicles, as well as to avoid unnecessary federal preemption and burdensome federal mandates as states and the federal government work to understand and regulate these vehicles.
- Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations for Unmanned Aircraft Systems: This is a new resolution urging Congress to require the Federal Aviation Administration to establish a regulatory pathway for certification or approval of Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations for Unmanned Aircraft Systems for first responders to support drones as first responder programs across the nation.
- Chronic Wasting Disease: This is a new resolution building upon an expiring resolution urging Congress to provide states with additional flexible federal funds for research and response to emerging wildlife diseases to effectively address the wildlife disease crisis and enable states to assure their wildlife populations are healthy.
- Microplastics Research: This is a renewal of an existing resolution urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to increase research efforts on microplastics.
- National Appliance Efficiency Standards: This is a renewal of an existing resolution urging Congress and the Department of Energy to provide full funding for the Appliance and Equipment Standards Program, to amend standards as statutorily required, and to regularly review standards and resist the repeal of existing standards.
- National Infrastructure Bank Resolution: This is a new resolution calling on Congress to pass H.R. 4052 to create the National Infrastructure Bank. It has several co-sponsors.
- Recovering America’s Wildlife: This is a renewal of an existing resolution encouraging Congress to pass the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act which would provide significant additional funding to state wildlife agencies to accelerate their implementation of State Wildlife Action Plans.
- Resolution for Support of HFOs: This is a new resolution encouraging Congress to craft balanced and science supported PFAS legislation, where policy definitions should not apply to products that contain intentionally added PFAS with uses that are currently listed as acceptable, acceptable subject to use conditions, or acceptable subject to narrowed use limits in EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy program, as long as the product containing PFAS is being used as substitutes for ozone-depleting substances under the conditions specified in the rule, and to consider and support policies that do not disrupt the adoption of HFOs and the development of a robust market for low-GWP refrigerants.
- State Supported Grade Crossing Elimination and Separation Programs: This is a renewal of an existing resolution urging Congress to continue to expand and enhance state and local grade crossing protection funds which have the effect of improving safety, mobility and economic development potential for both the railroads and motoring public throughout the country.