Snyder
The closest John Snyder has ever come to elected office was playing Mayor George Shinn in a high school production of “The Music Man.”
And only because the role didn’t require singing.
And that’s as close as Snyder cares to get to running for office. The Kentucky native has found what he considers a perfect way to support the people of his home state—as the Transportation Committee staff administrator for the General Assembly.
“I tell people that I have stumbled into a job that I absolutely love,” says Snyder, who has spent 35 years working for the Legislature.
He has worked nearly as long with NCSL and is now the organization’s staff chair. He says he was hooked from his first NCSL meeting in 1990 during a new staff orientation, which connected him to the cadre of people across the country involved in the unique role of supporting legislators. For Snyder, helping the business of the legislature is a high calling.
“I’m a firm believer in this institution,” he says. “Legislative staff have a public trust. We’re here to help the legislators effect the public policy they want to see happen.”
Finding His Path
Snyder had thought he would head to law school after undergrad at the University of Louisville in his hometown. But working for a major law firm during college convinced him that wasn’t the right career for him. He instead studied political science and in 1989 earned a master’s in public administration, also from the University of Louisville.
Snyder says after graduation, he took a job with the Legislative Research Commission, which offered him $2,500 more than the $19,500 annual salary offered by the governor’s budget office. He says the LRC job, working on the Legislative Oversight and Investigation Committee, was the best choice even without the extra bucks.
“The great thing about the job with legislative oversight was it was a new assignment every six months or so,” Snyder says. “So, you would go into something, and you’d learn a whole lot about it and interview these folks and study this program and write this report. It’s always one where you are learning.”
Snyder was introduced to NCSL by his manager on the committee, Sheila Mason. Early on she encouraged him to get involved with NCSL because she knew the training and resources would be valuable.
Snyder says his first NCSL meeting in 1990 was eye-opening. “You found out there were people that did this weird job that you do. They all don’t have anything to compare it to except the people that do it in other states.”
Mason is now in her 45th year at the state Capitol (and 55th year in state government). She told NCSL she doesn’t want to retire until she witnesses Snyder close out his year as staff chair at the 50th anniversary Legislative Summit in Boston in August.
By 1997, Snyder had moved to the Transportation Committee, where he is now the staff administrator.
“I had learned a whole lot about a lot of different areas of state government” at the oversight committee Snyder says, which helped in his new role.
“My prime work product now are bills and resolutions,” he says, noting one year he and another bill drafter wrote 200 bills.
That work further reinforced the value of connecting to his counterparts in other states through NCSL, he says.
Snyder continued attending the Summit and other NCSL meetings, especially those covering transportation issues. In 2005, he joined the NCSL Transportation Standing Committee, one of 11 bipartisan policy committees allowing legislators and staff from across the country to explore issues facing the states, including the effects of federal proposals. The committees develop resources for states to consider and guide NCSL members on the organization’s policies on federal issues.
Marking NCSL’s 50th
NCSL was just 15 when Snyder started this work, and commemorating its 50th anniversary is a big part of his role as staff chair. Snyder says he’s grateful the immediate past staff chair, Sabrina Lewellen, made it a priority to prepare for this milestone during her term, and he created a 50th Anniversary Special Subcommittee to continue the work. He asked Lewellen, the deputy director and assistant secretary of the Arkansas Senate, to chair it.
“She’s carrying that across the finish line,” he says. “There’s no better person to do it.”
Another priority for Snyder is exploring the issue of AI in statehouses. The fast-moving field has many potential upsides, and it also raises red flags. Snyder has initiated an Artificial Intelligence Special Work Group to focus on the pluses and minuses. He enlisted former staff chair Jon Heining, the general counsel to the Texas Legislative Council, to serve as chair, aided by Cody Malloy, the information technology services director for North Dakota’s Legislative Council, as vice president.
“When legislatures decide to work with AI, there are so many things they have to think about,” Snyder says. “How do we deal with sensitive and confidential information? How do we put guardrails on stuff?”
Such work epitomizes what legislative staff and NCSL offer members, he says: thorough research and expertise about legislative processes.
Snyder says his connection to NCSL over the years helped him thrive professionally and stay engaged in his work with the General Assembly. And that’s another one of his priorities as staff chair: enhancing NCSL’s professional development resources, particularly the professional staff associations. “They’re key to getting people fired up about doing this job,” he says.
The more NCSL can fire up staff and equip them for the challenges of working in a legislature, the more it strengthens the institution, he says.
“We owe it to the citizens (of our states),” Snyder says, “to make sure we serve them with diligence, respect and excellence.”
Kelley Griffin is a senior editor and the host and producer of NCSL’s “Across the Aisle” podcast.