Improv comedy may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of public policy, but Tane Danger suggests maybe it should be. Danger is the keynote speaker at this year's professional development seminar for two legislative staff groups—the Research Editorial, Legal and Committee Staff (RELACS) and the Legislative Research Librarians (LRL). The meeting is Sept. 19-22 in Minneapolis and at the state Capitol in St. Paul.

Danger co-founded the Theater of Public Policy in Minnesota, which combines serious public policy discussion with improv comedy. On the podcast, he discussed how the skills you need for improv, such as careful listening, are also skills that can help in a legislative environment. He also laid out how his two-day presentation to the legislative staff groups will involve both a talk and a workshop. 

Resources

• RELACS/LRL Professional Development Seminar
• Tane Danger website
• The Theater of Public Policy

The 911 system was created in the U.S. more than 50 years ago to provide people with a single number to call in an emergency. Changes in technology have created enormous challenges for the system, which now receives more than 80% of its 240 million calls annually from cellphones and about 500,000 texts. 

On this episode, we sat down with Brian Tegtmeyer, the National 911 Program Coordinator. The program is part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA. 

Tegtmeyer discussed some of the challenges facing the system. Like so many sectors of government and private industry, the 911 system is facing workforce shortages, so much so that nearly half of all call centers face staffing shortfalls even as the number of emergency calls rise every year.  

He also discussed the advantages of the Next Generation 911, the progress states have made in adopting to these new standards, funding to help with the transition and how legislators can find out more about the 911 system in their states.

Resources

• 2022 Key Enacted 911 Legislation, NCSL
• National 911 Program
• National Highway Safety and Traffic Administration

Host Tim Storey’s guest on this episode is Lou Jacobson, a senior correspondent with PolitiFact and a longtime reporter with extensive experience covering politics and policy at the state and federal level. Jacobson is among the most astute observers of our political process, especially in the states. He proudly notes that he has filed stories from 49 states and 43 state capitols. 

Storey sat down with Jacobson to discuss the 2024 edition of “The Almanac of American Politics,” a 2,000-page plus tome that will answer every question you might have and some you haven’t thought of about the state of our politics.

They also talked about how rapidly the political scene has changed in the last 20 years and his assessment of the key Electoral College states in the 2024 election.

Resources

• The Almanac of American Politics

The charitable nonprofit sector of the economy is substantial, employing about 10% of the workforce and contributing about 6% of GDP.

To better understand how charitable nonprofits work with legislatures and the states, we sat down with David Thompson, vice president of public policy for the National Council of Nonprofits, the nation’s largest network of nonprofit organizations. 

Thompson explained the role of charitable nonprofits in our communities and how state government and nonprofits work together to address any number of challenges, and specifically the value of community-based organizations when it comes to helping government implement programs.

He also noted a challenge that charitable nonprofits have in common with state government—a shortage of workers—and ways government and the nonprofit sector can advance policies to try to address those shortages. 

Thompson also invited legislators around the country to join the National Nonprofit Legislative Caucus. For more information or to be added to the caucus for future communications, please contact the office of Maryland Senator Cheryl Kagan  or Tiffany Carter at the National Council of Nonprofits.  

RESOURCES

• National Council of Nonprofits
• National Nonprofit Legislative Caucus

Every state has rules governing interactions among legislators, legislative staff and lobbyists, whether those lobbyists represent business interests, nonprofit groups and others. The rules have evolved over the past few decades and are often being updated. 

On this episode, three experts on lobbying and compliance with ethics rules sat down to discuss how ethics rules have evolved and how attitudes about ethics rules have changed. Our guests are Doug Himes, the House ethics counsel in Tennessee; Mark Quiner, director of NCSL’s Center for Ethics in Government; and Elizabeth Bartz, the CEO and president of State and Federal Communications. 

Resources

• Code of Ethics, National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics 
• House Ethics Committee, Tennessee General Assembly
• State and Federal Communications

Redistricting of state and congressional legislative districts happens every decade following the census. But once those maps are drawn and implemented, there are still ongoing court cases and state legislation that affect redistricting. Just in recent weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on two significant redistricting cases. 

For this podcast, the guest is Ben Williams from NCSL, an expert on redistricting who discussed some of the interesting developments around the topic, including efforts in some states to reallocate inmate data. 

He talked about the recent legal developments and also about the efforts in 13 states to reallocate inmate data, for purposes of redistricting, from where people are incarcerated to where they lived before going to prison. Williams explained the pro and con arguments for such legislation. He also talked about what you can expect in the next several years around redistricting before the next census, and what attendees at the NCSL Legislative Summit in Indianapolis in August can expect from NCSL’s Elections and redistricting team.

This is a fast-moving policy area and just since this recording was finished, two more states have approved policies. As of today 15 states have adopted the policy—13 for the 2020 cycle and two more, Illinois and Maine, for the 2030 cycle.

Resources

• Inmate Data Reallocation in the 2020 Redistricting Cycle, NCSL
• NCSL 2023 Legislative Summit

Darcy Luoma, a coach and consultant, will speak at the Legislative Staff Breakfast at NCSL’s Legislative Summit in Indianapolis in August. Before founding her consulting business, Luoma had extensive experience working on Capitol Hill, working on two presidential campaigns and as a senior adviser to a governor.  She has also worked with state legislators and staff.

Luoma discussed her Thoughtfully Fit approach and how it can help legislative staff and the rest of us cope with stress. She also shared that her Summit presentation will focus on how to develop flexibility that allows you to work well with people who are different from you. 

She also talked about resilience in the face of trauma and tragedy in her own life that helped her hone these coping skills.

Resources

• Darcy Luoma Coaching and Consulting
• NCSL 2023 Legislative Summit

Even before the pandemic, there was a growing shortage of registered nurses in the majority of states. From 2020 to 2021, during the height of the pandemic, more than 100,000 registered nurses left the workforce, the largest exodus in at least 40 years. Adding to the problem, in 2019, nursing schools turned away about 80,000 qualified applicants because of too few faculty, clinical sites and preceptors, and the problem persists.  

Our first guest is Dr. Cynthia McCurren, a dean and professor at the School of Nursing of the University of Michigan in Flint. McCurren, who also serves as the board chair of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, discussed the role of nurses in the health care system, a variety of initiatives aimed at increasing the number of qualified faculty, and state and federal efforts to help address the problem. 

Our other guest is Sarah Jaromin from NCSL, who drilled down into a variety of state efforts aimed at increasing the supply of nursing faculty and also where legislators can learn more about different approaches being tried around the country. 

Resources

• Addressing Nursing Shortages: Options for States, (NCSL, 2022) 
• American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)
• National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice (NACNEP)
• National Conference of State Legislatures - Health (NCSL)
• Nursing Faculty Shortage Fact Sheet, (AACN, 2020) 
• Preparing Nurse Faculty and Addressing the Shortage of Nurse Faculty and Clinical Preceptors, (NACNEP, 2021)