Policy Consensus E-News — Summer 2005
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In this issue:
- Oregon and Massachusetts-Public Policy Dispute Resolution Programs Get New Support
- Arkansas Women’s Legislative Caucus Holds Collaborative Skill-Building Workshop
- PCI Announces September Meeting for State Programs
- November Conference to Focus on Community-based Environmental Collaboration
Legislation Gives New Life to Massachusetts and Oregon Programs
Two long-standing state public policy dispute resolution programs got good news this summer from their legislatures. The Massachusetts Office of Dispute Resolution (MODR), after a tough season of scrambling and lobbying, transitioned from the executive branch to a stand-alone program at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. And the Oregon Consensus Program landed funding – and official status – as a public service program of Portland State University. That means both have successfully transitioned from the administrative branch of government to public universities. This reflects a trend PCI has observed over the past eight years and described in a recent report (406 KB PDF) on the emerging role of universities as forums for collaborative policymaking.
Massachusetts
In
September 2004, MODR made an operational transition from the Executive
Office for Administration and Finance to the University of Massachusetts
Boston (UMB). It was an interim move that enabled the program to survive
another year, said Executive Director Susan Jeghelian. “This year,
we were facing a more permanent transition,” she said. After a
nerve-racking phase of lobbying the House and Senate to override a line
item veto of its budget, MODR became a freestanding institute reporting
to the provost.
Oregon
A
$650,000 appropriation from the Oregon Legislature establishes the Oregon
Consensus Program within Portland State University’s Hatfield School
of Government. Passage of SB 247 follows an uphill rebuilding phase after
the elimination in 2003 of the Oregon Dispute Resolution Commission.
At that time ODRC’s public policy services were transferred to
PSU with a statutory sunset clause that was set to expire in January
2006.
According to Director Elaine Hallmark, the first step in re-establishing the program was to repeal the sunset clause, then to secure an operating budget.
Arkansas Women’s Legislative Caucus
Holds Collaborative Skill-Building Workshop
 Arkansas State Senator Sue Madison |
State Rep. Betty Pickett and Sen. Sue Madison – members of Arkansas’ Women’s Legislative Caucus – hosted a workshop in June on ways legislators can use collaborative processes in the law making arena. The Arkansas “Beyond Bickering” workshop was sponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Policy Consensus Initiative.
Fourteen of Arkansas’s 22 women legislators attended the workshop. PCI Executive Director Chris Carlson and NCSL’s Peggy Kerns – former House Minority Leader in the Colorado Legislature and current Director of the NCSL Center for Ethics in Government, led the workshop. Ruth Craw, coordinator of the Center for Conflict Solutions at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock’s Institute of Government, served as a local resource for the event.
Sen. Madison said she valued the practical guidance offered by workshop leaders on current issues or problems that each participant was asked to bring to the meeting. “Based on the workshop, I’ve already started to apply ideas for a collaborative approach to legislation regarding new school district boundaries,” she said.
State Programs to Meet in Minneapolis
PCI
will host a one-day meeting for state dispute resolution and consensus
building centers from around the country on Wednesday, September 28,
prior to ACR's 2005 Annual Conference in Minneapolis. This is an opportunity
to meet colleagues and share information.
Issues and topics to be covered at the workshop include working effectively with government leaders, strategies for building capacity for competent and ethical practice; and public awareness and outreach. In addition, several cases and projects will be presented, highlighting strategies that worked well, and those that didn’t.
The meeting will be held at the Hilton Minneapolis from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A $75 registration fee covers meals and meeting expenses. Contact PCI for more information.
Conference to Focus on Community-based Collaboration
The national conference of the Community Based Collaboratives Research Consortium is scheduled for November 17-19 in Sedona, Arizona. A major focus of the meeting will be strategies for applying knowledge from both research and field-based experiences about collaboration for environmental protection.
The conference will draw researchers, community collaborative groups, state and federal agencies, local governments, facilitators, and environmental organizations. Its aim is to present and discuss current research from Consortium projects and from leading researchers from throughout the U.S. and Canada.
For the complete conference agenda and more information about how to register, visit the Consortium’s website.
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