62nd Annual Meeting
of the Southern Legislative Conference
Oklahoma City | July 11-15, 2008


Legislative Service
Agency Directors

Legislative Service
Agency Directors

Preliminary Program Agenda

Friday
July 11		 Sunday
July 13
LSA Directors’ Workshop
9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Ballroom B

Presiding: Jerry Bassett, Director, Legislative Reference Service, Alabama

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE STRUCTURE AND STAFFING PATTERNS: THE OKLAHOMA MODEL
An overview of the legislative staff agencies in the Sooner State, and the similarities and differences between the upper and lower chambers' committee organization.
• Rick Farmer, Ph.D., Director of Committee Staff, House of Representatives, Oklahoma
• Caroline Dennis, Committee Staff Director Senate, Oklahoma

LEGISLATIVE REFORM:
can legislators be trained to identify with and be committed to the legislature as an institution?
A discussion of the major "reform" legislatures can make—not campaign finance, not ethics regulation, not fewer committees, nor unicameralism—but rather the building of a legislative identity and commitment; can this be accomplished under present-day conditions with educational and training programs?
Alan Rosenthal, Ph.D., Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University, New Jersey

 Legislative Service Agency Directors’ Luncheon
noon - 2:00 p.m.
Invitation only

LSA Directors’ Workshop
noon - 3:30 p.m.
Oklahoma State Capitol

TOUR AND BRIEFING: OKLAHOMA HOUSE COMMITTEE STAFF FACILITIES
Box lunch and transportation provided; bus will depart the Cox Center at noon.

Southern Legislative Conference

Southern Office of The Council of State Governments
phone: (404) 633-1866 | fax: (404) 633-4896 | email: slc@csg.org
P.O. Box 98129, Atlanta, Georgia 30359