Project

Appointed as Legislative Policy Specialist, National Conference of State Legislatures

Program

Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows

PhD field of study

PhD, History, Ohio State University, Columbus

Position Description

Founded in 1975, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) is the nation’s bipartisan organization providing state legislators and legislative staff with support, ideas, connections, and a strong voice on Capitol Hill. All 7,383 legislators in the nation are NCSL constituents, as well as the estimated 25,000 legislative staff. NCSL promotes policy innovation in many subject areas, such as health, criminal justice, education, and elections, and communication among state legislators, and also provides institutional support. NCSL operates on a bipartisan basis and does not advocate for policy positions. The Legislative Policy Specialist will work in NCSL’s State Services Division, whose mission is to assist legislators and legislative staff with resources and support on a wide array of institutional issues such as staff management, fiscal management, legislator demographics, legislative operations, parliamentary procedure, legislative structures and management, and legislative history. With all projects, the goal for the Legislative Policy Specialist’s work will be to extend NCSL’s body of knowledge so it can be shared with, and used by, our constituents. At the core of the work for all NCSL staff is to be responsive to the needs of legislators, which can require discernment, research, synthesis, and a deft touch with the requestors.