Bylaws
LSCC began as the Special Committee on Legislative Staff Organization established by resolution of the NCSL Executive Committee in 1974 "to define the role and mission of staff in the National Conference of State Legislatures." The name, Legislative Staff Coordinating Committee, was adopted in 1984.
The Legislative Staff Coordinating Committee adopted amendments to its bylaws at Legislative Summit in Minneapolis this year. The bylaws describe LSCC’s purpose, membership, subcommittee and work group responsibilities, professional staff associations, and other institutional issues.
Adopted July 31, 2022
Article I. Name
Section 1: Name
The organization subject to these bylaws shall be known as the Legislative Staff Coordinating Committee (LSCC).
Article II. Scope of Authority and Purpose
Section 1: Scope of Authority
The LSCC is sanctioned under the authority of the Executive Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
Section 2: Purposes
The purposes of the LSCC include:
(1) encouraging the professionalism of legislative staff and the participation by all legislative staff in appropriate professional staff associations;
(2) developing and promoting programs that improve the professional competence of state legislative staff;
(3) advising NCSL on policies and matters of interest to the legislative staff division;
(4) coordinating and supporting the activities and programs of the legislative staff division and professional staff associations of NCSL;
(5) encouraging legislative staff to participate in NCSL’s Standing Committees in order to bolster their knowledge on important policy issues facing state legislatures and to better serve their legislators and legislatures;
(6) advocating the institutional interests of state legislatures and legislative staff; and
(7) supporting efforts to strengthen legislative assemblies of other countries.
Article III. Membership and Duties of officers
Section 1: Membership
The LSCC consists of:
(1) the staff chair, staff vice chair, and immediate past staff chair of NCSL;
(2) the at-large legislative staff members of the NCSL Executive Committee;
(3) two representatives from each professional staff association as determined by the governing document of each association;
(4) four members appointed at the discretion of the staff chair; provided that the discretionary appointments of the staff chair to the LSCC shall be increased by the number necessary to preserve the size of the LSCC in the event that two or more professional staff associations merge, or a professional staff association dissolves; and
(5) staff co-chairs and staff vice chairs of the NCSL overall standing committees.
Section 2: Duties of officers
(a) The staff chair:
(1) serves as the chair of the LSCC and presides over LSCC meetings;
(2) except as provided by Subsection (b), appoints the chair, co-chairs, vice chairs, and members of the LSCC subcommittees, work groups, and task forces listed in Article IV;
(3) serves as staff chair of the Budget, Finance and Rules Committee of the Executive Committee and serves on the Board of Directors of the NCSL Foundation for State Legislatures; and
(4) appoints the staff chairs, staff vice chairs, and legislative staff members of the subcommittees of the Executive Committee.
(b) The staff vice chair:
(1) presides over LSCC meetings in the absence of the staff chair;
(2) serves as the chair and appoints the members of the Strategic Planning Work Group; and
(3) serves as staff chair of the Member Outreach & Communications Subcommittee of the Executive Committee and serves on the Board of Directors of the NCSL Foundation for State Legislatures.
(c) The immediate past staff chair:
(1) serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the NCSL Foundation for State Legislatures;
(2) develops and implements orientation programs for incoming staff members to the LSCC and the Executive Committee, including assigning a mentor to each incoming LSCC member and to each incoming legislative staff member of the Executive Committee; and
(3) presides over LSCC meetings in the absence of the staff chair and staff vice chair.
Article IV. Subcommittees and Work Groups
Section 1: Standing Subcommittees and Work Groups
(a) The LSCC standing subcommittees are:
(1) Legislative Institution;
(2) Programs and Professional Development; and
(3) Information Technology, Social Media, E-learning, and Outreach.
(b) The LSCC standing work groups are:
(1) Professional Staff Association officers;
(2) Standing Committees; and
(3) Strategic Planning.
(c) The staff chair may create additional subcommittees, work groups, and task forces as needed and assign additional duties to the standing subcommittees and standing work groups.
(d) Except as provided in Section 7, the staff chair shall appoint the chair, co-chairs, vice chairs, and members of each standing subcommittee, work group, and task force from among the LSCC membership.
Section 2: Legislative Institution Subcommittee
The Legislative Institution Subcommittee, in partnership with the other LSCC subcommittees as appropriate may:
(1) develop a strategy to prepare LSCC members to perform their duties, including developing and improving the orientation and mentorship programs;
(2) develop programs and materials to assist legislatures in dealing with institutional issues;
(3) serve as a repository for publications and other written materials produced by the LSCC related to institutional issues;
(4) review and update the publications and written materials described in clause 3 on a regular basis;
(3) develop strategies and programs to promote legislative service as a career, including monitoring retention and recruitment issues impacting legislative staff service;
(4) develop strategies and programs to promote the value of both nonpartisan and partisan legislative staff in legislatures; and
(5) identify, support, and create opportunities to positively highlight and promote legislative staff activities and achievements.
Section 3: Programs and Professional Development Subcommittee
The Programs and Professional Development Subcommittee works with other LSCC subcommittees to promote the Legislative Staff Management Institute, the Legislative Staff Certificate Program, the annual NCSL Legislative Summit, the Young and New Professionals program, and various other NCSL programs and services as appropriate. The Subcommittee may:
(1) work with professional staff association officers, at their request, to review and promote professional development seminars;
(2) recommend speakers, programming, and related marketing for LSCC-sponsored sessions at the Legislative Summit, including associated scheduling and program format issues;
(3) oversee the Legislative Staff Management Institute and its marketing efforts;
(4) oversee the Legislative Staff Certificate Program, its selection process, and its marketing efforts;
(5) oversee the Young and New Professional Program and its marketing efforts;
(6) participate as appropriate to assist with other LSCC-sponsored learning opportunities.
Section 4: Information Technology, Social Media, E-learning and Outreach Subcommittee
The Information Technology, Social Media, E-learning and Outreach Subcommittee may develop, monitor, oversee, and promote the use of NCSL resources by state legislative staff. This includes:
(1) providing encouragement and assistance to NCSL professional staff associations to develop e-learning tools for the benefit of the professional staff association members throughout NCSL, and where appropriate the subcommittee shall assist professional staff associations to access resources to improve outreach, e-learning, social media, and information technology programming;
(2) reviewing e-learning data reflecting participation levels and evaluations;
(3) guiding and reviewing, in partnership with the Programs and Professional Development Subcommittee, NCSL programs for state legislative staff professional education, such as:
a. Introductory education regarding state legislatures to new and junior staff;
b. Encouraging the participation of all staff in NCSL;
c. Informing all state legislative of the value of NCSL and its programs for staff; and
d. Promoting legislative service as a career.
(4) developing outreach strategies, in partnership with the Programs and Professional Development Subcommittee, the NCSL marketing team, and other NCSL outreach programs, that effectively communicatee with state legislative staff and facilitate communications among state legislative staff;
(5) ensuring that electronic learning opportunities, the annual NCSL Legislative Summit, and learning and staff outreach opportunities are effectively promoted and marketed to staff; and
(6) ensuring the efficacy and utility of information technology resources deployed by NCSL for state legislative staff use and that the information technology, e-learning, social media, and outreach resources deployed by NCSL include a legislative staff focus and provide a benefit for legislative staff.
Section 5: Professional Staff Association officers Work Group
The Professional Staff Association officers Work Group may:
(1) promote and assist in producing annual professional development seminars and virtual meetings for professional staff associations, including assistance in program planning and coordination;
(2) exchange ideas and share information with professional staff associations;
(3) develop strategies to support the operation of each professional staff association and communicate those strategies to the LSCC as necessary; and
(4) promote professional staff association outreach and encourage involvement in professional staff association activities.
Section 6: Standing Committees Work Group
The Standing Committees Work Group may:
(1) promote legislative staff participation in the NCSL standing committees;
(2) monitor NCSL standing committee activities;
(3) evaluate staff officer involvement and inclusion in NCSL standing committee activities;
(4) engage the standing committee staff officers at least quarterly to update the group on the activities of the LSCC;
(5) provide professional development opportunities for standing committee staff officers;
(6) develop outreach proposals, as needed, to encourage staff to serve on NCSL standing committees; and
(7) relay the outreach proposals to the Subcommittee on Information Technology, Social Media, e-learning and Outreach for consideration.
Section 7: Strategic Planning Work Group
No changes.
(a) The staff vice chair shall serve as the chair of the Strategic Planning Work Group and shall appoint the members of the work group.
(b) The work group may develop, annually, a strategic plan that establishes goals and priorities which are consistent with the purposes of the LSCC and which are to be accomplished in the following year, propose initiatives and programs suitable for accomplishing the goals and priorities, and suggest strategies for implementing the initiatives and programs.
Article V. Establishment, Merger, and Dissolution of Professional Staff Associations
Section 1: Establishment of Professional Staff Association.
(a) The establishment of a new professional staff association may not be considered by the LSCC until the LSCC receives a request from a member of the legislative staff of not less than 20 NCSL member jurisdictions. A legislative staff member who makes such a request must be engaged in the function that would be represented by the new association. A request must be in writing and signed by each legislative staff member making the request.
(b) Upon receipt of the minimum number of complete requests required under Subsection (a), the staff chair shall refer the question of whether to establish the new professional staff association to a task force of legislative staff comprised of not less than one member from each of the existing professional staff associations and not less than one former staff chair. The task force shall verify that each request received by the staff chair satisfies Subsection (a), consider whether the establishment of the new professional staff association would satisfy Subsection (d), and report the task force’s recommendation to the LSCC.
(c) The LSCC shall review the task force’s recommendation and report the LSCC’s recommendation to the NCSL Executive Committee.
(d) In addition to considering any other relevant issue, the LSCC must ensure that the following prerequisites are met before recommending the creation of a new professional staff association:
(1) there is sufficient NCSL member jurisdiction support to justify the creation of the professional staff association;
(2) the NCSL staff has adequate resources to support the proposed professional staff association;
(3) the proposed professional staff association would complement existing professional staff associations; and
(4) the legislative function that would be represented by the proposed professional staff association:
(A) is established in not less than 20 state legislatures;
(B) is of a continuous nature; and
(C) has a professional career orientation.
(e) Upon establishment by the NCSL Executive Committee, a new professional staff association shall organize, adopt bylaws, and submit the bylaws to the LSCC for review and approval.
Section 2: Merger of Professional Staff Associations.
(a) For two or more professional staff associations to merge, a majority of each professional staff association must approve the action.
(b) For purposes of a referendum on the question of approving a merger, a majority of each professional staff association is determined by the bylaws of the professional staff association, but each member jurisdiction shall have an equal vote in deciding the issue.
(c) A merger must be approved by the LSCC. A merger approved by the LSCC may not become effective unless approved by the NCSL Executive Committee.
Section 3: Dissolution of Professional Staff Association.
(a) The LSCC shall consider dissolving a professional staff association if the professional staff association:
(1) holds no meeting in an NCSL conference year, either at the NCSL Legislative Summit or at another site and time;
(2) fails, in a conference year, to elect the officers required under its bylaws;
(3) fails to meet other significant organizational standards established in its bylaws; or
(4) is not represented on the LSCC for a conference year.
(b) Before the LSCC votes to dissolve a professional staff association, the staff chair shall contact leaders or members of the professional staff association, inform them of the LSCC's concerns, attempt to discover the reasons for the inactivity, and report the findings to the LSCC.
Article VI. Meetings
Section 1: Regular and Special Meetings.
(a) The LSCC shall hold regular meetings in conjunction with the scheduled meetings of the NCSL Executive Committee. Other meetings of the LSCC shall be deemed special meetings.
(b) Special meetings shall be for limited and stated purposes and shall be called by the staff chair or by petition of a majority of the LSCC members. A petition for a special meeting shall be delivered to the staff chair, who shall distribute it to the members. Unless an emergency compels otherwise, notice of the meeting shall be provided at least three weeks before the meeting date.
Section 2: Absence of Presiding officers.
If no NCSL staff officer is present at a meeting of the LSCC, a temporary presiding officer may be chosen by the LSCC from among its membership.
Article VII. Voting and Rules of Procedure
Section 1: Voting.
(a) Each member has one undivided vote.
(b) Voting rights may not be delegated to another person or exercised by proxy. On the request of three members, a roll call vote shall be taken on any question. Except as otherwise provided, approval of proposed actions requires a majority of the members present and voting.
Section 2: Quorum.
For the LSCC to conduct business, a quorum consisting of a majority of the membership must be present.
Section 3: Order of Business.
The order of business shall be:
(1) call to order;
(2) roll call;
(3) reading, correction, and approval of the minutes;
(4) reports of professional staff associations, subcommittees, work groups, and task forces;
(5) reports of special committees;
(6) special orders;
(7) unfinished business;
(8) new business; and
(9) announcements.
Section 4: Procedural Authority.
Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure shall be consulted in all matters of procedure not otherwise addressed in the bylaws of NCSL or in these bylaws.
Section 5: Reconsideration of Actions.
Reconsideration motions must be made and disposed of during the same meeting at which the original question was before the LSCC membership.
Article VIII. Nominating Procedures For Legislative Staff
Section 1: Nominations.
The selection of staff officers and staff members of the NCSL Executive Committee shall be conducted in accordance with NCSL bylaws.
Article IX. Vacancies In office
Section 1: Vacancy In The office of Staff Chair.
As provided in NCSL bylaws, in the event of a vacancy in the office of staff chair, the staff vice chair shall succeed to the office of staff chair. The staff chair shall then appoint a nominating committee to recommend a new staff vice chair.
Section 2: Vacancy In The office of Staff Vice Chair.
In the event of a vacancy in the office of staff vice chair, the staff chair shall appoint a nominating committee to recommend a new staff vice chair.
Section 3: Vacancy In The office of Immediate Past Staff Chair.
In the event of a vacancy in the office of immediate past staff chair, the staff chair shall appoint a nominating committee to recommend a new immediate past staff chair. Eligible candidates to fill a vacancy in this office shall be limited to past staff chairs.
Section 4: Executive Committee Vacancy Term.
A member appointed to fill an unexpired term on the Executive Committee shall serve the remainder of that year and shall be required to stand for renomination. A partial year appointment, as indicated by the date of the Executive Committee’s approval of the appointment, of greater than six months shall be deemed one full term.
Section 5: Consideration By Executive Committee.
Pursuant to the NCSL bylaws, the Executive Committee may consider the recommendations of a nominating committee to fill an elected office, if vacant, at any regular or special meeting.
Article X. Amendments
Section 1: Amendments.
(a) These bylaws may be amended at any meeting of the LSCC by a three-fifths vote of the members present and voting, provided that the proposed amendment was filed with the staff chair at least 30 days before the meeting and the staff chair has transmitted the proposed amendment to the members not later than three weeks before the meeting at which it is to be considered.
(b) These bylaws may be amended at any meeting without notice by unanimous vote of the members present and voting.
Section 2: Continuity of Bylaws.
On adoption by a majority vote of the LSCC, these bylaws shall continue in effect except as amended or repealed as provided by Section 1.
Article XI. Effective Date
Section 1: Effective Date.
These bylaws take effect upon adoption by a majority of the members of the LSCC and supersede any other policy or document that is not consistent with these bylaws.