Raleigh — Rep. Michael H. Wray will be among the thousands of legislators who will gather in New Orleans this summer for the National Conference of State Legislatures’ annual Legislative Summit.
The gathering serves as the annual business meeting for state legislators and legislative staff members from all 50 states. During this time, they will share ideas on solutions to the nation’s most pressing matters, including driver’s license security, global climate change, the mortgage crisis and transportation funding.
NCSL is a formidable lobbying force in the nation’s capital on these and other issues. Recently, the organization convinced the Department of Homeland Security to change its REAL ID regulations in a way that will save states $10 billion over the next five years. The group also helped secure badly needed additional funding for surface transportation and for the State Children’s Health Program. As a result, North Carolina is on track to receive an additional $171 million in transportation money for 2007-08 and $320 million more for transportation in 2007-09.
This will also be an important time for education. NCSL’s Legislative Summit offers nearly 150 sessions on policy issues such as immigration, redistricting, higher education, climate change, transportation, mortgage crisis and fiscal conditions, to name a few.
“I am looking forward to working with NCSL to help North Carolina and make our nation better,” Rep. Wray said. “I plan to take advantage of a number of policy sessions that are important to my constituents: Investing in Our future: The Status of America’s Youth; Bridging the Transportation Funding Gap; Building a Workforce for the Future-The State Role; Can We Afford Our Health Care? New Directions and Solutions; Controlling Prison Populations and Price Tags; Property Taxes Back on the Radar Screen; and Move your Message with Technology. The knowledge I gain from these experiences will help me find solutions for many of the challenges facing our community today.”
The NCSL Legislative Summit will run from July 22-26. Speakers will include former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Charlie Cook, one of the nation’s leading authorities on U.S. elections and political trends; David Wyss, chief economist at Standard and Poors and one of America’s leading experts on the economy; and Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Company.