On this episode, we’re joined by Pev Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri and an expert on state legislatures. 

He's the author of several books on legislatures and government, and he joined the podcast to discuss his latest book, “Reforming Legislatures: American Voters and State Ballot Measures 1792- 2020.” The deep dive into about 1,500 ballot measures related to the operations of the legislature that were put to voters over more than 300 years provided Squire with a number of insights.

We discussed how voters view ethics, the qualities they want to see in their lawmakers and the healthy skepticism voters have about legislatures. Squire also explained what he learned about the notion that voters love their own lawmaker but hate the legislature.

Resources

• Pev Squire Bio

On this episode, we dive into geothermal energy, a process that involves tapping into underground reservoirs of heat and steam and using that heat either directly or to generate electricity. Geothermal is attracting the attention of state lawmakers who are looking for additional clean energy sources, new techniques to generate geothermal energy by pumping water into heated layers of the Earth, make geothermal an option in areas of the country where the underground reservoirs of hot water have disappeared. 

Joining the podcast to explain the issue are Sarah Jewett, vice president for strategy at Fervo Energy, and Alex McWard, who tracks energy issues for NCSL. 

Jewett had explained the history of the geothermal industry, how new techniques have changed the outlook for geothermal and the role she thinks this energy sector will play as demand increases sharply for electricity. McWard pointed to a few states that have taken legislative action to encourage geothermal development and why some state lawmakers are excited about the potential of geothermal. 

Resources

• Fervo Energy
• Webinar: “Heating Up: The Emergence of Geothermal Energy,” NCSL

On this episode, two legislative staffers offer some advice to people new to working at the legislature. 

Kate Wolf, a legislative aide in the Nebraska Legislature, and Morgan Hall, a fiscal analyst in the Georgia House budget office talked about surprises early in their careers, what attracted them to legislative service and what they wish they'd known before they started their jobs.

Resources

• Legislative Staff Resources, NCSL

On this episode we sat down with Zach Rausch, the chief researcher at the Tech and Society Lab at NYU, and the lead researcher for “The Anxious Generation,” by Jonathan Haidt, which was published last year. 

The core thesis of the book is that we've been overprotecting children in the real world and underprotecting them in the online world. The book points to data about Gen Z, the generation born from the mid-’90s to about 2010 showing significant increases in anxiety, depression and suicide. The book goes further and makes the case that it is the combination of the smartphone and social media apps that are the root of the problem.

We recorded this interview on the sidelines of NCSL’s Legislative Summit in Boston where he appeared on a panel with other experts discussing young people, social media and public policy.

Resources

• After Babel Substack
• Social Media and Children, 2025 Legislation, NCSL
• Zach Rausch website

This is our third podcast from NCSL’s Legislative Summit in Boston where the organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Joining today's show with some some international perspective are Mark Daly, the chair of the Irish Senate, and Ruth Bajada, the deputy chief of mission for the European Union delegation to the U.S. 

On Monday and Tuesday I spoke with current and incoming presidents and staff chairs for NCSL. You can check those out wherever you get your podcasts. 

Resources

• Celebrating 50 years of NCSL
• NCSL's Legislative Summit

We're coming to you again today from NCSL’s Legislative Summit in Boston where the organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Today's guests are Illinois Rep. Marcus Evans Jr., the incoming president of NCSL, and Lonnie Edgar, deputy director for Mississippi’s Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review and the incoming NCSL staff chair. They will both assume their new positions on Wednesday at the NCSL Business Meeting.

Resources

• Celebrating 50 years of NCSL
• NCSL's Legislative Summit

For today's episode, we're podcasting from NCSL’s Legislative Summit in Boston where the organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

We're positing podcasts Aug. 4, 5 and 6 with some voices from the Summit. Today our guests are  Utah Sen. Wayne Harper, the president of NCSL,  and John Snyder, the Transportation Committee staff administrator for the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission and the NCSL staff chair. 

Tomorrow, joining us will be Illinois Rep. Marcus Evans Jr., the incoming president of NCSL, and Lonnie Edgar, deputy director for Mississippi’s Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review and the incoming NCSL staff chair.

And on Wednesday, we'll sit down with two international visitors to get their perspective on the Summit and why working with state lawmakers is important for their nations.

Resources

• Celebrating 50 years of NCSL
• NCSL's Legislative Summit

This episode is the fourth and final show in a series celebrating and exploring the 50th anniversary of NCSL. 

On this episode, the focus is on legislators. Along with Senator Lee, two other lawmakers offer their perspective on the role of state legislator. Also joining the discussion are Tim Storey, the CEO of NCSL, two political scientists with deep knowledge of state legislatures and an NCSL researcher with results of the latest survey of legislators. 

Earlier episodes charted the history of legislatures in the U.S., how the institution of the legislature evolved and the critical role of legislative staff. 

Resources

• NCSL Marks 50th Anniversary of Strengthening States

Nearly 60 million people in the U.S. fall into the broad category of independent workers. Those include contract, temporary and gig workers. Their jobs do not fall neatly into employer-connected benefit systems, so policymakers increasingly are exploring benefits that are instead attached to the worker. 

Several states have enacted legislation allowing portable benefits to be set up in their state. Other states have created programs that offer automatic enrollment for employees without access to an employer-sponsored plan. All those efforts are aimed at expanding the ways people save for retirement and other needs. 

On this episode to discuss the issue are John Scott, director of the Retirement Savings Project at Pew, Kristen Sharp of the Flex Association and Karen Kavanaugh, who's working with Tufts University on the Working While Caring Initiative.

All three talked about how the worker benefits system can better serve people in the changing economy and provide them with greater financial security.

Scott laid out the scale of the challenge to improve financial security for Americans and Sharp discussed how portable benefits can help the people her group serves, the millions of people whose work is app-based and need a better system to receive benefits. Kavanaugh is focused on how benefits employers provide can be better shaped to help the tens of millions of people in this country with caregiving responsibilities. She's overseeing a pilot project that's exploring how smaller employers can build in the flexibility needed by many caregivers. 

Resources

• Portable Benefits for Independent Contractors: A Framework for State Policymaking, NCSL
• States, Employers Weigh Portable Benefits for Independent Workers, NCSL
• Workers Without Access to Retirement Benefits Struggle to Build Wealth, Pew

Our focus on this episode is wildlife crossings, underpasses or bridges built just for animals. Millions of animals are killed by vehicles annually on U.S. roads, ranging from large mammals like deer to smaller creatures like squirrels and birds. 

Animal-vehicle collisions result in about 200 human deaths and 26,000 injuries each year.

Joining the podcast to discuss the issue are Matt Skroch, director of Pew’s U.S. Conservation Project for the western U.S. and Alaska; Senator Mimi Stewart, a Democrat from New Mexico; and Rep. Katie Zolnikov, a Republican from Montana. 

Skroch explained the dimensions of the problem and why a nation with about 4 million miles of roadway has a significant challenge with vehicle-animal collisions. He also noted that states are studying and acting on the issue. 

In fact, nine states have enacted legislation related to wildlife crossings since 2020. I asked Senator Stewart and Representative Zolnikov, both of whom sponsored legislation on wildlife crossings in their states, to explain how state lawmakers are tackling the issue.

Stewart discussed the extensive planning that was done in New Mexico and how the fund received $50 million for this legislative year, the largest single amount appropriated for crossings in any state in a single year.

Zolnikov explained that Montana is No. 2 in vehicle-animal collisions in the country on a per capita basis and how the state is building up its fund to pay for crossings.

Resources

• Pew U.S. Conservation Project