RELACS, We Got This: 5 Determined Women, 1 Ambitious Goal

Armed with a collaborative spirit, unwavering patience and the ability to find humor in the mundane, four legislative staff and one NCSL liaison embarked on a difficult journey in 2012. 

Their vision was to merge two existing NCSL professional development staff groups into one to reduce redundancies, cut costs and streamline efforts. The idea had been discussed several times before but wasn’t seriously considered until the groups’ leaders—Julie Pellegrin and Wendy Jackson with Legal Services, and Charlotte Carter-Yamauchi and Susan Fox with Research and Committee—recognized a growing trend: Legislative staff in different jobs increasingly needed to master the same skills, yet training was offered only through separate, yet similar, training sessions and joint meetings. All this underscored the two groups’ common needs and overlapping areas of work.

Profiles in Service: Legislative Staff

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, NCSL is running a special series of profiles highlighting the invaluable contributions of legislative staffers across the nation. Each of NCSL’s nine professional staff associations chose staffers who have demonstrated exceptional dedication, creativity and impact in their legislative roles. We’re publishing the profiles throughout NCSL’s 50th anniversary year. To read more profiles, visit Profiles in Service: Legislative Staff.

“The artificial division of our staff sections used to frustrate me,” says Carter-Yamauchi, director of the Hawaii Legislative Reference Bureau. A pivotal question emerged among the leaders: “What if we combine our strengths, expertise and resources into a single, more efficient entity, capable of making a far bigger impact in the future?”

Feeling the time was right, the staff chairs pitched their idea to NCSL’s then-Executive Director Bill Pound, who approved. All five women shared a sense of humor and a collaborative spirit, so it came as no surprise when they began to jokingly call themselves the “Founding Mothers.” But the nickname stuck. 

The Team

Carter-Yamauchi viewed the merger as a chance to build “a big tent,” she says. “Many staff had multiple roles within their legislative agencies that didn’t fit neatly into one staff group. I brought passion and a clear vision of what we were attempting to create. I was able to convey that vision to others to win over their support.” 

Fox, retired director of the Legislative Services Division in Montana, used her strong communication skills to focus on the people affected by the merger. Anticipating resistance from certain staff, Fox, along with her colleagues, guaranteed that all voices would be heard and that all professions would be equally represented within the larger group. 

Jackson, the administrative services manager of Wisconsin’s Legislative Reference Bureau, brought her experience editing proposed legislation, memos and publications along with her “eye for detail and a penchant for sweating the small stuff,” she says. “I also brought an awareness that some staff might be wary about certain professions monopolizing the larger group.” 

Pellegrin, retired assistant director of the Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services, was key to ensuring the new association’s long-term viability. Her extensive legal expertise and adeptness in writing bylaws proved invaluable. She led the team through more than 15 drafts of the bylaws before finalizing them, a testament to her thoroughness and attention to detail. 

Kae Warnock, retired senior policy specialist at NCSL, proved to be the ideal liaison between the founders and NCSL, due to her deep institutional knowledge. When the founders questioned the legality of the proposed merger, Warnock’s response was empowering: “Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean we can’t do it.” She skillfully guided the group through every stage of the process and says that when things got especially tense or tedious, a “good laugh would often get us back on track.”

The Work

The team’s strength lay not only in the members’ individual expertise but also in their complementary skills, “which made for a strong team,” Jackson says. She and the other Founding Mothers enjoyed “excellent working relationships” with one another, she says.

They were all motivated by their shared dedication to ensuring staff were well prepared for future challenges. Designing a new group for a diverse array of legislative professionals—from researchers to editors, attorneys to bill drafters—demanded an immense amount of time and effort. Throughout 2015, the five women met frequently to hammer out crucial minutiae, such as establishing sound operating costs, creating a flexible group framework, painstakingly crafting the bylaws and promoting the idea to skeptical staffers.

All the work paid off. The merged group, known as the Research, Editorial, Legal and Committee Staff Association, or RELACS, landed in 2016.

“While I was not directly involved in the merger myself, I have been a beneficiary of it,” says current RELACS Chair Matt Gehring, director of research in the Minnesota House. “The Founding Mothers took on the work of building a stronger, consolidated association together. They put in the time to plan, engage the staff and execute the plan flawlessly. Their meticulous work produced a staff association that has become stronger than the sum of its parts, one that offers programming and networking opportunities that are second to none.”

The group’s slogan, “RELACS, we got this!” captures the can-do confidence and unwavering dedication that propelled the founders through countless hours of work. And by all accounts, the merger has met its goals. Redundancy is down, efficiency is up, and the association’s bottom line is healthier. Even the transitional year proceeded smoothly. At various professional development opportunities every year, the group offers high-quality programs. In addition, attorneys, editors, committee staff, bill drafters, researchers and code revisors are equally represented members within RELACS, and are well prepared for the future.

“It has tremendous support,” Carter-Yamauchi says proudly. 

Julie Lays is a former NCSL editor.