The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) is a national association funded by the state and territorial legislatures in the United States. The organization is officially nonpartisan and its executive committee is divided among Democratic and Republican lawmakers with the annual national chairmanship alternating between a Democrat and Republican; however, the organization has historically promoted left-of-center public policy at the state level. The group offers annual events, training, and extensive research publications for legislators and staff on state legislative policy areas. The group is similar to the Council of State Governments in that it is funded by taxpayer dollars as well as corporate sponsorships and differs from ideological groups such as the right-leaning American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which offers voluntary individual memberships to state lawmakers and is privately funded. ^{1 2 3 4}

NCSL also operates a foundation arm, the NCSL Foundation for Legislators, which receives funding from companies and advocacy groups hoping to influence the state legislative process. ^{5 6}

History

The National Conference of State Legislatures was formed from a 1974 merger of three organizations: the National Legislative Conference, an arm of the Council of State Governments mostly comprised of legislative staff; the National Society of State Legislators; and the National Conference of State Legislative Leaders. The three organizations began merger talks in 1970 with assistance from the Citizens Conference on State Legislatures, a private nonprofit organization, and the NCSL as it is known today began operations on January 1, 1975. The Council of State Governments provided $500,000 in seed money to the fledgling organization. One reason given for the formation of a central organization of state lawmakers was to provide a forum that was not dominated by staff members and that would rival the National Governors Association. ⁷

One early leader in the NCSL was now-U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD), then a Maryland State Senator and later Majority Leader of the U.S. House, who urged the creation of the NCSL annual meeting as the main governing body of the organization. The group also formed a close working relationship with the State Government Affairs Council (SGAC), which is comprised of state-level lobbyists, and began lobbying at the federal level on issues of importance to state governments. ⁸

In 1982, NCSL founded the NCSL Foundation for State Legislatures, a nonprofit charitable organization that receives funding from corporations and whose board is comprised of legislators, advocacy group leaders, and lobbyists. ⁹ The foundation raised $5.84 million according to its 2022 tax forms and included sponsorships from companies and organizations including Amazon, Everytown for Gun Safety, Stand Together, the Environmental Defense Fund, the American Chemistry Council, and BlackRock. The majority of NCSL foundation sponsors are industry groups or companies. ¹⁰

Funding

The National Conference of State Legislatures is funded by grants from foundations and the federal government; however, its core funding stems from annual appropriations made by state legislatures. In legislative budgets, NCSL funding is often tied to funding for the Council of State Governments, a separate but similar organization, and appropriations are requested from states and referred to by NCSL as the state’s “dues” based on the size of the state, among other factors. ^{11 12}

NCSL does not publish its funding sources, but state budgets reveal state legislatures appropriate funds to the organization. The group receives annual dues from all 50 states. In 2023, the organization requested $145,000 in annual dues from the Maine Legislature, and the New York State Legislature’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget included a $454,000 appropriation to fund the group. ^{13 14}

Organizational Structure

The National Conference of State Legislatures is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, with an additional office in Washington, D.C. that focuses on federal relations. The organization is governed by a 63-member executive committee which includes a relatively even split of Democratic and Republican legislators as well as legislative staffers. The organization’s national chairmanship alternates annually between a Republican and Democrat. The executive committee includes ex-officio members, including the regional and national chairs of the Council of State Governments. ^{15 16}

Federal Lobbying Activity

In addition to the its headquarters in Denver, the national Conference of State Legislatures operates an office in Washington, D.C., which houses its federal relations staff. The group states that NCSL “engages with members of Congress and the administration on state-federal priorities and advocates on behalf of state legislatures according to the policy directives and resolutions adopted at the NCSL annual meeting.” Federal resolutions passed by the organization cover topics including energy, climate, change, agriculture, international trade, immigration, and other public policy issues. ¹⁷

Regarding federal immigration policy, NCSL passed a resolution stating that “Federal immigration reform legislation must also provide a path to citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigrants and immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children (DREAMers), have lived most of their lives in the U.S., and Identify as American.” ¹⁸

State Policy

The National Conference of State Legislatures provides a variety of “consulting services” to state legislatures, which includes helping “draft bills, organize workshops and convene legislative-executive teams.” The group operates a bill tracking database and focuses heavily on certain trending policy issues such as election administration in 2022 and 2023. NCSL states that it answers more than 20,000 requests for information annually. ¹⁹

Criticism

The National Conference of State Legislatures, despite being comprised of all state legislators in the nation and being funded by public funds from all 50 state legislatures, has been criticized for a left-leaning bias in the policies adopted at its meetings. In 2010, a report in Governing magazine cited conservatives arguing that while the organization had long had a left-leaning bias, the organization recently adopted a “more blatant liberal agenda.” Several Republican legislators from states including Utah, Texas, and Virginia threatened to pull out of the organization after it adopted “resolutions supporting health-care reform and cap-and-trade legislation, as well as a number of measures backed by labor unions” in 2010. ²⁰

Leadership

Tim Storey is the executive director of the National Conference of State Legislatures. He worked for the organization for over 20 years prior to being appointed executive director in 2019, having previously worked for the organization’s Redistricting and Elections Committee and led NCSL’s StateVote effort to collect and analyze state election results. ²¹

1. “NCSL 2022 Annual Report.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.ncsl.org/about-us/ncsl-2022-annual-report
2. “About Us.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.ncsl.org/about-us
3. “S8301/A8801.” State of New York Senate-Assembly. January 16, 2024. https://www.budget.ny.gov/pubs/archive/fy25/ex/approps/leg-judi.pdf
4. “Executive Committee.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.ncsl.org/about-us/executive-committee
5. “Become a Sponsor.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.ncsl.org/resources/details/ncsl-foundation-for-state-legislatures-become-a-sponsor
6. “Executive Committee.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.ncsl.org/about-us/executive-committee
7. Kurtz, Karl. “The History of Us.” State Legislatures Magazine. July/August 1999. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/archive/clippings/265918-29451.pdf
8. Kurtz, Karl. “The History of Us.” State Legislatures Magazine. July/August 1999. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/archive/clippings/265918-29451.pdf
9. Kurtz, Karl. “The History of Us.” State Legislatures Magazine. July/August 1999. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/archive/clippings/265918-29451.pdf
10. “NCSL Foundation for State Legislatures Sponsor List.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.ncsl.org/resources/details/ncsl-foundation-for-state-legislatures-sponsor-list
11. Kurtz, Karl. “The History of Us.” State Legislatures Magazine. July/August 1999. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/archive/clippings/265918-29451.pdf
12. “S8301/A8801.” State of New York Senate-Assembly. January 16, 2024. https://www.budget.ny.gov/pubs/archive/fy25/ex/approps/leg-judi.pdf
13. “S8301/A8801.” State of New York Senate-Assembly. January 16, 2024. https://www.budget.ny.gov/pubs/archive/fy25/ex/approps/leg-judi.pdf
14. “130^th Legislative Council.” Maine Legislature. February 24, 2022. https://legislature.maine.gov/doc/8250
15. “NCSL Current and Past Presidents 1975-2023.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.ncsl.org/about-us/executive-committee/ncsl-current-and-past-presidents-1975-2023
16. “Executive Committee.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.ncsl.org/about-us/executive-committee
17. “Policy Directives and Resolutions.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.ncsl.org/in-dc/standing-committees/policy-directives-and-resolutions
18. ^[1] “Policies.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.ncsl.org/in-dc/standing-committees/law-and-public-safety/policies
19. “Research.” National Conference of State Legislatures. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://www.ncsl.org/research
20. Greenblatt, Alan. “NCSL: Too Liberal?” Governing. April 8, 2010. https://www.governing.com/archive/ncsl-too-liberal.html
21. “Tim Storey.” SHRM. Accessed February 2, 2024. https://conferences.shrm.org/presenter-12