Legislators Exchange Ideas, Solutions at CPA’s Summit on State Issues,

Flemming Fellows Alumni, Action Network and SECPLF Members Featured at Washington Conference

State legislators and elected officials from across the U.S. gathered in Washington to discuss 1998 legislative issues and build partnerships across state lines at CPA’s Summit on State Issues, December 4-7, 1997. The conference was headlined by meetings of the Action Network, the Southeast Community Policy Leadership Forum and the first-ever Flemming Fellows Alumni conference. Participants also attended a White House briefing on children’s health care, a policy dissemination briefing at the Benton Foundation and CPA’s annual “Cocktails and Conversation” reception.

Discussion at the Summit focused on the issues sure to be debated in many state legislatures during the 1998 legislative session — including health care, children’s issues, education and privatization. Legislators also reviewed CPA’s 1998 Progressive Policy Agenda — a compilation of workable policies and non-legislative solutions available from CPA as resources for state policy makers. Issue resources available from CPA include community programs on women’s health and children’s health care, model legislation on business development and economic self-sufficiency, and family and work management strategies for legislators.

Elected leaders and panelists also focused on health care issues — ranging from how women’s health care is impacted by managed care, to children’s health initiatives. Increasingly, states are the battlegrounds for a broad collection of health care programs now being implemented.

The issue panel on education included strategy sharing for effective education reform in the states. Some participants stressed the need to actively promote educational opportunities that progressives can get behind and support. Some participants noted that progressives have typically concentrated energy reacting to conservative attacks on education. There was less consensus on how states can best guarantee a good education for every child. Some states have created a workable charter school model that satisfies concerns unions and non-sectarian interests hold about state support of charter schools.

Technology — and how it might help legislators do their jobs better — also emerged as a key theme of the week. The world wide web contains vast resources that can be useful to legislators, but accessing information on the internet quickly and efficiently remains a challenge for most. A Benton Foundation demonstration and discussion of policy information available on the Benton website (http://www.benton.org) featured a multi-media learning kit, “Destination Democracy,” which explores electronically the campaign financing process (see back page for more information). While at the Benton Foundation, legislators had the opportunity to browse the world wide web and CPA’s website, learn what information is “out there” about their own states and visit sites where reliable and timely information can be found.