Why 2020 state legislators’ summit in Indiana matters to you
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Lawmakers and from across the nation are preparing for the National Conference of State Legislatures summit in Indianapolis in 2020.
The bipartisan organization expects thousands of people to discuss innovations in public policy and ideas that each state lawmaker can put to use in their own state.
Indiana lawmakers have to figure out how raise to $1.2 million for the state legislatures’ summit. The event itself won’t cost taxpayers a dime.
Nancy Rhyme, deputy executive director of the national conference, said Monday, “Normally, the money is raised by going out to the private sector to get them to support the meeting. We have no expectation and there’s no state dollars provided.”
Democratic State Rep. Cherrish Pryor from Indianapolis said the event is a chance for your district’s lawmaker to share ideas with legislators from across the nation.
The event, she said, is “about bills and legislation that’s affecting their community that we can quite honestly take from one another and make our own.”
State Rep. Holli Sullivan, a Republican from Evansville, said, “I think what people across the entire state and in each legislator’s district will gain is knowledge. Their legislators will come away from the summit more informed on things nationally and statewide.”
Sullivan went to this Summer’s summit in Los Angeles and spoke with lawmakers from California, Rhode Island and Texas about how those states pay for infrastructure changes and maintenance.
Lawmakers can also learn about how to work with other states to accomplish tasks.
“Like our bridge in Evansville,” Sullivan said. “We want to have a bridge from Kentucky to Indiana that will finish I-69.”
The National Conference of State Legislatures said some 5,000 people from across the nation and the world will be in Indianapolis to spend money that’ll stay in the state. “Hotel rooms, meeting locations, a lot of vendors that will be utilized,” Pryor said. “So, the money aspect is something that we should be concerned about.”
On Monday, lawmakers talked about branding, getting the word out to draw people to the summit.
Indianapolis last hosted it in 1999.
The deputy executive director, Rhyme, said, “This is an opportunity for Indiana for the Indiana legislature to showcase all of the great things that they’ve got going on.”
You might be wondering: What about next year? Well, the 2019 Legislative Summit is already set for Nashville, Tennessee. The chair of Monday’s committee meeting said he hopes Indiana lawmakers can make it to that summit.