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August 1, 2008 - The National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) held its annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana July 22-26. State legislators from across the country met to discuss important challenges facing the states and working committees addressed various NCSL policy positions and explored issues affecting specific industries.
One major theme of this year’s meeting was the budget challenges facing state government. A sluggish economy and falling home values have curtailed tax revenue. At the same time, state and local governments are facing fiscal strains from falling revenue and soaring fuel and health care costs. As a result, state and local governments across the country must weigh the issues of cutting services, furloughing civil servants and raising taxes.
Related to financial services, NCSL’s standing committee on Communications, Financial Services and Interstate Commerce heard testimony concerning state autonomy to regulate consumer protection issues. Increasingly, federal regulators are attempting to consolidate consumer protection enforcement at the federal level while preempting state efforts to safeguard consumers. Several experts presenting to the committee expressed the opinion that federal consolidation of consumer protection would result in less robust consumer protection. NCSL will continue to work with state regulators to resist preemption of state consumer protection authority.
NCSL has policy supporting dual chartering and the state credit union system.
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