NCSL Annual Meeting 2004.

• Position: The Legislative Reality

Today's state legislators serve in a complicated world. Technological advancements and cultural shifts have brought us to a time when it seems most anything is possible. As a result, more difficult choices bombard policymakers than ever before.

At "The New Legislative Reality," the 30th Annual Meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures, lawmakers from across the nation gathered in Salt Lake City to discuss their most pressing concerns. Medicaid, No Child Left Behind, offshore outsourcing and electronic voting are just a few topics on which legislators shared advice and listened to it.

"Today, we're having to deal with issues that, five or 10 years ago, we never even knew were problems," said Immediate Past NCSL President Marty Stephens.

EXPERTS OFFER GLOBAL ANALYSIS

The meeting drew more than 4,000 people: state legislators and staff, industry and government representatives, news reporters and international attendees. They heard from renowned speakers. David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's, and John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, discussed trade, outsourcing and economic indicators. Improving education, reforming tax systems and reigning in the costs of health care and litigation in American would help the country's economy continue its upward trend, they said.

"Long regarded as laboratories of democracy, let states now become laboratories of productivity," Castellani said, "providing innovative solutions to economic challenges that we face, from improving human capital to removing many disincentives that hold businesses back from doing their best."

Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, told legislators that compromise is not the best way to reach consensus or solve problems. When people engage in a...