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NCSL briefing tells Nevada senators legislatures vary widely; compensation commissions and CRMs rising topics
Summary
Emily Ronco of the National Conference of State Legislatures told the Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections that legislatures differ widely in staffing and session structure, that compensation commissions are increasingly discussed, and that constituent relationship management software is becoming more common.
The Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections heard a presentation from Emily Ronco, policy specialist with the National Conference of State Legislatures' Center for Legislative Strengthening, on trends in how state legislatures operate, including typologies of legislatures, compensation changes and growing use of constituent relationship management software (CRMs).
Ronco told the committee the NCSL classifies legislatures along a spectrum from part-time to full-time and that Nevada is categorized as a “gray” or hybrid legislature under that typology. "If you know 1 legislature, you know exactly 1 legislature," she said, emphasizing that institutional differences make blanket comparisons difficult.
The presentation covered three main trends the NCSL is tracking: how states are categorized by session length and staff levels; movements to create or revive compensation commissions; and the adoption of CRMs to manage increasing constituent communications. Ronco said the typology weights session length, legislator pay and staff size, and noted subcategories such as “full time light” and “part time light.” She cited New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado and Oregon as examples that illustrate differences in staffing, session timing and compensation approaches.
On legislator pay, Ronco said many states are revisiting compensation structures and that several states are creating or expanding compensation commissions to make pay-setting less politically fraught. She described variation in commission authority: in some states recommendations take effect automatically unless the legislature acts; in others the commission offers nonbinding recommendations. "Legislator pay is a third rail issue," she said, noting commissions can move the decision outside the legislature and invite citizen input.
Ronco also reviewed CRMs, systems that track constituent contacts and generate reports on issues and volume. She said CRMs are deployed in different ways—centrally by legislatures, by caucuses or chambers, or by individual offices—and gave examples including Michigan's IndiGov Constituent Service Platform and custom Microsoft-based systems in Arkansas, Kentucky and Oregon. She noted New York and Massachusetts have released open-source CRM code that other legislatures can reuse.
Nevada senators questioned some data points cited by NCSL staff. Senator Krasner said Nevada’s staffing during most of the two-year cycle is lower than the census figures referenced; Ronco acknowledged the typology and staffing census are due for an update and offered to follow up to reconcile the numbers.
The presentation also flagged other areas of interest to legislatures, including AI policy, drafting office workloads and session/interim workloads. Ronco closed by inviting committee members to contact NCSL with follow-up questions and materials.
The committee received the briefing as background; no committee action was taken on the topics Ronco presented.
