Legislative Overview of the 107^th Congress
Frederick H. Nesbitt, Executive Director/Legislative Counsel, NCPERS

The frequently changing power structure dominated legislative activities in the first session of the 107^th Congress, Executive Director/Legislative Counsel Fred Nesbitt said during the conference’s opening presentation.

Much of Washington’s attention early last year was focused on the Senate leadership, Nesbitt said, which changed three times. Following the 2000 elections Republicans held a slim majority in the House, but there was a 50/50 tie in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats. From January 3 to January 20, Vice President Al Gore, a Democrat, broke the tie and gave the Democrats majority status. On January 20, with the swearing in of Vice President Dick Cheney, the Republicans became the majority party.

The situation changed again in May when Sen. Jim Jeffords (VT), left the Republican Party, became an independent, and agreed to caucus with the Senate’s Democrats. His party switch made the Democrats the majority party, and Sen. Tom Daschle (SD) was elected the Senate’s majority leader.

Legislatively, passage of the public sector pension reform (PL 107-16) was the single most significant congressional action of the first session. Equally significant, Nesbitt reported that Congress failed to act on legislation that would mandate Social Security coverage for public employees.

The character of the 107^th Congress places additional responsibility on NCPERS and its members, Nesbitt suggested. With younger members and younger, less experienced staffers, there is a greater need to provide institutional memory. Few people on Capitol Hill, for example, understand the difference between public and private pensions. This problem, however, is also an opportunity for the grassroots lobbyists like NCPERS members visiting Capitol Hill this week.

Therefore, Nesbitt concluded, the attendees’ primary objective is to educate the individuals with whom they meet about NCPERS and its legislative priorities. They can serve the organization best by explaining the history of pension legislation. This is essential information that members of Congress and their staffers need if they are to make informed decisions on pension bills introduced during the 107^th Congress.

There are four primary issues for NCPERS members to lobby Congress this year, Nesbitt said:

• mandatory Social Security coverage,
• Social Security reform and private retirement accounts,
• health care, and
• bankruptcy reform.

Reapportionment of congressional districts in several states suggests the potential for further changes in the House following the 2002 elections. The process continues in several states, with the status as of February 4 as follows:

• 31 states have completed redistricting (affecting 325 seats),
• 2 state reapportionment plans are pending in their legislatures (16 seats),
• 2 states are in court (10 seats),
• 7 states have yet to act (75 seats),
• 7 states have only one seat,
• Maine will act in 2003, and
• 13 states must get Department of Justice clearance on their plans.

It’s important to be involved in politics and the legislative process, Nesbitt said in his concluding remarks. He urged the attendees to remember the words of Plato: “Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.”