NCSL Podcasts

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Election 2024: State Legislative Races and Ballot Measures | Oct. 27, 2024 Oct 27, 2024

Show notes

On this episode, we sat down with two election experts from NCSL to discuss the state legislative races and statewide ballot measures in the Nov. 5 election.

Ben Williams, NCSL’s associate director of Elections and Redistricting, discussed the 5,508 legislative seats on ballots in 44 states, more than 78% of all legislative seats nationwide. He also explained how the outcomes could affect legislative control in the states, overall state control and veto-proof majorities in some states.

Helen Brewer with NCSL explained the range of topics covered by the more than 150 statewide ballot measures voters will decide. She discussed the large number of abortion-related measures and others uses such election administration, taxes, criminal justice and education.

Resources

NCSL State Elections 2024

NCSL at 50: Evolution of the Legislature | OAS Episode 220 Oct 20, 2024

Show notes

This is one of the series of shows this year and next reflecting on the 50th anniversary of NCSL. For this episode, our focus is the legislative institution and how today’s legislatures evolved over the last 400 years.

Guests include historian Pev Squire, who sketches out how legislatures developed both from the colonial assemblies and from the territorial legislatures. We also spoke with three people who have spent considerable time in legislatures and given a great deal of thought to the institution itself— Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie and Raul Burciaga, who recently retired as director of the New Mexico Legislative Council Service. They reflected on where the institution is now and the challenges it will face in the next 50 years.

Resources

NCSL Marks 50 Years of Service to State Legislatures, NCSL

Legislatures Focused on AI in 2024 | OAS Episode 219 Sep 29, 2024

Show notes

Artificial intelligence, most broadly thought of as the use of computer systems to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, is being employed in a wide array of ways, from self-driving cars to health care. But concerns about the potential misuse and unintended consequences of AI is prompting legislatures around the country to study the issue and in many cases, pass legislation.

In 2024, NCSL is tracking more than 400 pieces of legislation related to AI. This year at least 45 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Washington, D.C., introduced AI bills, and 31 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands adopted resolutions or enacted legislation.

Our three guests on this episode offer a look at AI’s legislative impact. Chelsea Canada from NCSL, who tracks state legislation around the country related to AI, is one of our guests and she explained the breadth of the legislation proposed in the states and also noted a trend in some states toward comprehensive AI laws focused on consumer protection.

Our other guests are Sen. Shelley Hughes (R) of Alaska, who worked this year to move a comprehensive bill through the legislature but was unsuccessful. She explained her bill and her hopes for its passage in the next session.

Our third guest is Colorado Rep. Manny Rutinel (D). He was one of the House sponsors of a successful bill focused on consumer protection and trying to remove discriminatory results from the use of AI.

Resources

The Debate Over Weight-Loss Drugs | OAS Episode 218 Sep 08, 2024

Show notes

A class of drugs that are used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity are becoming increasingly popular as a weight-loss drug. However, the high cost of these GLP-1 drugs—the annual list price is around $12,000—has posed a dilemma for states as they decide whether to cover the drugs in their own state health plans, Medicaid and possibly require private insurers to cover the drugs.

On this episode, we get perspectives from three people involved in the debate: Kristen Niakan, a pharmacy management consultant with the actuarial and consulting firm Milliman; North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell (R); and Colorado Senator Dafna Michaelson Jenet (D).

Niakan explained the background of these drugs, who's using them, the costs involved, and the insurance coverage landscape across the country. Folwell walked through the decision in his state not to cover GLP one drugs for the state's employee health plan, and also discussed a separate decision in his state to extend coverage of the drugs to Medicaid recipients. Michaelson Jenet discussed her efforts to pass legislation that would've required all private insurance companies and the state Medicaid program in Colorado to provide coverage for the treatment of the chronic disease of obesity and the treatment of pre-diabetes, including FDA approved anti-obesity medication.

Resources

A Lesson in Civics | OAS Episode 217 Aug 18, 2024

Show notes

Americans of all ages do not score well on surveys of civic knowledge. One recent survey found a large majority of respondents could not pass a basic civics literacy test and another indicated a third of respondents could not name all three branches of government. And testing of eighth graders in the U.S. and other industrialized countries also reported a decline in civics proficiency.

The vast majority of states, however, do require at least one course in civics and every state has some form of civics education. On this podcast, guest Tammy Wehrle, the legislative education and outreach officer in the Wisconsin State Legislature, talked about what she’s learned about the state of civics education.

Wehrle, who was a classroom educator and holds a doctorate, oversees a variety of programs in the legislature that can involve kids as young as 12. She thinks there is real value in young people seeing the legislature from the inside and understanding the range of roles necessary to run the legislature.

Resources

Civics Education at NCSL
Senate Scholar Program, Wisconsin State Legislature
Staff Snapshots | Tammy Wehrle, NCSL

NCSL Turns 50 | OAS Episode 216 Aug 04, 2024

Show notes

This podcast is the first of several to observe the 50th anniversary of NCSL. The organization has been an integral part of the change in state legislations over the last half century. NCSL provides research to the states on myriad public policy topics, offers a unified voice in Washington where it lobbies on behalf of the states, and serves as a convener of scores of meetings every year in person and virtually to help legislators and legislative staff from across the nation share ideas and solutions. On this episode we track the development of legislatures over the last 400 years and talk with a range of guests about the role of legislatures in the jigsaw puzzle of American governance.

Our guests include political scientist Don Kettl; former NCSL staffer Karl Kurtz; Sabrina Lewellen, assistant secretary of the Arkansas Senate and current staff chair at NCSL; Bill Pound, longtime NCSL executive director; historian Pev Squire, former NCSL staffer Brian Weberg; and Natalie Wood, NCSL’s vice president of policy and research.

Oregon Campaign Finance Reform ATA Episode 15 Jul 28, 2024

Show notes

After a tsunami of campaign spending on the 2022 governor’s race in Oregon – a record-breaking $70 million – a broad coalition and lawmakers worked together to pass the state’s first campaign finance reform this spring. Legislators scrambled during a short 5-week session to keep everyone at the table. Otherwise, it was shaping up to be a costly and confusing fight over campaign finance reform at the ballot box this fall with two competing measures. This episode of Across the Aisle examines how it came together.

The Role of Data Centers in Rising Energy Demand | OAS Episode 215 Jul 21, 2024

Show notes

Data centers, the increasing use of AI and reindustrialization in some parts of the country are driving a big increase in energy demand that concerns officials at all levels of government. State legislators in particular, are concerned about the ability of their state utilities to meet that growing demand and the effect on the price residential and business customers pay for energy.

We sat down with two experts on data centers to find out what’s coming in the next several years. Our guests are David Porter, vice president of electrification and sustainable energy strategy at the Electric Power Research Institute or EPRI, and Mukul Anand, global director at Johnson Controls dealing with data center cooling and energy management.

Porter explained the range of energy demand scenarios and the very significant demand that will be put on both the generation and transmission of power in the next several years. Anand discussed the work he does to help data centers explore alternative energy sources and find innovative ways to dissipate the extraordinary amount of heat generated by the racks of servers in the centers. He also expects a tremendous increase in power demand and suggests more planning may be needed to be ready.

Resources

Powering Intelligence: Analyzing Artificial Intelligence and Data Center Energy Consumption, EPRI

What I Wish I Knew | OAS Episode 214 Jul 14, 2024

Show notes

This is the third of a three-episode series exploring the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic in legislatures and how it affected state legislative staff.

We sat down with Jill Reinmuth, staff director for the Office of Program Research in the Washington House; Eric Nauman, principal fiscal analyst for the Minnesota Senate; and Sabrina Lewellen, assistant Secretary of the Arkansas Senate and the current NCSL staff chair.

The three legislative staff leaders discussed how procedures changed in the aftermath of the pandemic, what they learned personally about leadership and how their staff performed under the extraordinary challenges of the health emergency.

Resources

Lessons Learned: Legislative Staff and the Pandemic, NCSL's OAS podcast
Dr. Melissa Furman on the Pandemic and the Workplace, NCSL's OAS podcast

Where Transit and Housing Meet | OAS Episode 213 Jun 23, 2024

Show notes

Housing historically has been a local issue that was handled by cities and counties. The rising crisis of housing cost and availability, however, has brought more attention from state governments. States have enacted more than 700 laws in 2022 and 2023 related to housing.

The focus of this podcast is the nexus of housing and transportation, and particularly transit-oriented development. We sat down with Cameron Rifkin, a policy expert at NCSL who tracks housing legislation, and Doug Shinkle, who heads NCSL’s transportation program, to discuss housing, transportation and the efforts by state legislators to take on challenges in both those areas.

They discussed the types of legislation passed, how some states have passed legislation directly addressing transit-oriented development and why parking requirements for housing developments are sparking conflict.

Resources

Characteristics of Middle Housing, Missing Middle Housing
Economic Mobility Enacted Legislation Database, NCSL
Expanding Affordable Housing Opportunities: Zoning and Land Use Case Studies, Bipartisan Policy Center
Housing and Homelessness Legislation Database, NCSL
“Housing and Homelessness Toolkit,” NCSL
“Increasing the Housing Supply by Reducing Costs and Barriers,” NCSL
“Middle Housing: Filling a Gap in Available Housing Options,” NCSL
A Series of Policy Briefs on Zoning, Land Use, and a Solution to the Nation’s Housing Shortage, American Enterprise Institute
Transit-Oriented Development, Federal Transit Administration

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