State & Local News
Vol. 20, No. 4, Summer 1997
Chair's Message
Janice C. Griffith is Chair of the Section and dean of the Georgia State University College of
Law in Atlanta, Georgia.
By Janice C. Griffith
Much Accomplished, Much to Do
The Section embarked on a number of new initiatives this year, many of which fulfilled
goals outlined in the Section's strategic plan. They included:
The Section Serves as a Forum for Public Law Issues
Reinventing Government as a Theme for Discussion
The Section must continue to perform its important role as a forum that serves attorneys
dealing with public law issues, the impact of which peculiarly affect state and local governments.
This year marks the Section's first identification of a public policy theme for in-depth treatment
throughout the year. The selection each year of one or more public law issues for exploration
causes the Section to promote awareness of the scope of the designated issues, to devise
strategies to address their dimensions, and to formulate solutions. Because reinventing
government constitutes an important nationwide substantive public policy issue, the ramifications
of which require ongoing analysis and public discussion, it was chosen as this year's contemporary
public law issue.
Throughout the year our programs have touched upon the number of different ways in
which state and local governments have responded to the public's demand that they reinvent
themselves to become more inclusive, efficient, and productive. Privatization activities,
outsourcing of governmental functions, regionalism, the expansion of cooperative arrangements
among governmental units, the creation of public/private partnerships, and the devolution of
power from central to more local units all come within the rubric of reinventing government.
Benefits stemming from the selection of a theme include:
the opportunity for collaboration with outside liaisons who share an interest in the
theme;
encouragement of greater cooperation among the Section's committees as they
explore how the theme affects each committee's area of specialization;
new publication opportunities as one theme is given more thorough treatment;
the ability to showcase issues as a membership retention and recruitment vehicle;
the opportunity for media exposure and increased Section visibility from
exploration of a hot topic; and
the opportunity to improve the Section's long-term planning process as themes are
analyzed for applicability in future years.
The success of this approach has been amply demonstrated this year. Last fall's conference
on privatization activities in Indianapolis and the April seminar, held jointly with the International
Municipal Lawyers Association (IMLA), covering the nuts and bolts of how governmental units
can contract out automation and technology services, brought a number of experts together who
attracted large audiences. An important feature of both programs was a question and discussion
period between the speakers and audience. Another aspect of the reinventing government theme
will be explored at the Annual Meeting in the program entitled: "So You Say You Want a
Devolution . . . . Is the Power Really Shifting? The Welfare Reform Example." Our International
Committee will also present a program at the Annual Meeting focusing on decentralization as a
form of reinventing government.
Service to Young Lawyers and New Practitioners
For the first time, in San Francisco, the Section will offer an Annual Meeting program that
will cover the underlying concepts and institutional framework an understanding of which is
necessary to practice in the area of state and local government law. Encourage new practitioners
in your office to attend this program entitled: "Nuts & Bolts of State and Local Government Law:
A Primer for Young and New Practitioners."
Technology Initiatives
The Internet The explosion of information technology continues to revolutionize the
practice of law. The Section both wants to encourage its members to learn how to take advantage
of this technology and to use the Section's homepage as a resource. This year we created online
discussion groups that enable a practitioner with a specific question to post it on the Internet for
possible helpful advice from others who have encountered the issue. Each committee now has
appointed a member to be its technology liaison. We hope that these liaisons will provide
leadership for more productive use of the Section's Internet resources. The Section's Executive
Committee has targeted information technology as an area in which the Section must expand its
services in future years.
CLE Brought to You Through Telephone Conferencing In February, the Section
initiated its first telephone conference program that enabled land-use specialists at our Midyear
Meeting to share their expertise via telephone with parties in locations throughout the country.
Since then we have refined a procedural checklist to facilitate future telephone conference
programs.
Liaison Outreach Joint Program with IMLA
In April, for the first time, the Section held a joint program with IMLA, a nonprofit
organization that has served as a legal resource for local government attorneys since 1935.
Several members of our Section worked with IMLA's staff attorneys to select the conference
topic, to develop the program, and to select the speakers. The topic selected, reinventing
government through the privatization of automation and technology services, explored the
Section's reinventing government theme and complimented IMLA's focus at its midyear meeting
on the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Seven experts in the field presented papers covering the
following program topics:
Do's and Don'ts in Contracting for Automation and Technology Services;
The Year 2000 Problem If You Don't Know What It Is You Could Be in
Trouble; and
Other Lessons Learned from Outsourcing Technology Services.
Model Procurement Code Project
At the Midyear Meeting the Council voted to join the Public Contract Law Section in a
project to review proposed revisions to the Model Procurement Code in light of the advent of
electronic commerce and technological changes in the purchasing environment. The two sections
sponsored the drafting of the original code almost twenty years ago. The code has been adopted
in full by fifteen states and thousands of local jurisdictions. A project steering committee,
comprised of two members from each section and an honorary chair, will assist in the
development of the project. A downloadable website, established for the receipt of information
and reports related to the project, will enable interested persons to keep up to date on proposed
revisions to the code.
Participation in Section activities have enriched my life over the last decade. I wish to
express my appreciation and thanks to the many people who have made this experience so
meaningful.
State & Local Law News home page | Current Table of Contents
|
