National Black Caucus of State Legislators
The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (also known as the NBCSL) is an American political organization composed of African Americans elected to state legislatures in the United States of America and its territories.
Background
NBCSL was founded in 1977 after a group of about eighteen African American state legislators, attending the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures and perceiving that the NCSL was still "racially exclusive" at that time, decided to call for a national conference in Nashville, Tennessee.[1] About ninety African American state legislators attended. The first president was Michigan state representative Matthew McNeely.[2][3] The organization has grown to more than six hundred members by 2008. Legislators of this organization come from 44 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia.
Since its inception, NBCSL has met annually in a pre-determined host state for its Annual Legislative Conference. [1] Throughout the year, NBCSL sponsors policy symposia to keep members abreast of growing policy trends and educated on policy issues that affect NBCSL’s constituents. When legislators attend the Annual Legislative Conference, policy committees meet and discuss policy resolutions, drawing upon information presented in the symposia, that are voted up or down by the membership. These resolutions become the policy position of the organization. Legislators, corporate partners, and labor representatives take these policy resolutions and use them to influence public policy in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill.
Mission
The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) is a membership association representing more than 600 African American state legislators from 42 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. NBCSL members represent more than 50 million Americans of various racial backgrounds. NBCSL monitors federal and state activity and provides this information to its members through policy symposiums and conferences. Each year, NBCSL members pass policy resolutions that directly impact federal and state policy. The organization focuses on issues that directly impact US domestic policy and is committed to policies that positively affect all Americans.
The primary mission of the NBCSL is to develop, conduct, and promote educational, research, and training programs designed to enhance the effectiveness of its members, as they consider legislation and issues of public policy which impact, either directly or indirectly, upon the general welfare of African American constituents within their respective jurisdictions.
Objectives
The NBCSL has adopted the following fundamental objectives:
- To serve as a national network and clearinghouse for the discussion, dissemination and exchange of ideas and information among African American state legislators and their staffs;
- To provide research, training and educational services to African American state legislators and their staffs.
- To improve the effectiveness and quality of African American state legislators; and
- To serve as a strong, united and effective advocate for African American state legislators and their constituencies at the federal level.
NBCSL Policy Committees
- Committee on Agriculture
- Committee on Business, Finance, & Insurance
- Committee on Emergency Preparedness / Homeland Security
- Committee on Education
- Committee on Energy, Transportation, & Environment
- Committee on Gaming, Sports, & Entertainment
- Committee on Health & Human Services
- Committee on Housing
- Committee on International Affairs
- Committee on Labor, Military, & Veterans' Affairs
- Committee on Law, Justice, & Ethics
- Committee on Telecommunications, Science, & Technology
- Committee on Youth
NBCSL Task Force
- Task Force of Gun Violence
Executive Officers
Representative Joe Armstrong (TN), President
Senator Catherine Pugh (MD), President-Elect
Representative Ulysses Jones (TN), 1st Vice President
Representative Thaddues Kirkland (PA), 2nd Vice President
Senator Kay Patterson (SC), Secretary
Representative Juanita Head Walton (MO), Recording Secretary
Representative Charlie Brown (IN), Financial Secretary
Senator Rodger M. Smitherman (AL), Treasurer
Senator Hillman Terome Frazier (MS), Parliamentarian
Representative Annette Polly Williams (WI), Chaplain
State Legislative Black Caucuses
- Alabama Legislative House & Senate Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Laura Hall
- Arizona Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Leah Landrum Taylor
- Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Kevin Goss
- Chairperson: Holly Mitchell
- Chairperson: Margaret Rose Henry
- Florida Conference of Black Legislators[4]
- Chairperson: Alan B. Williams
- Georgia Legislative Black Caucus[5]
- Chairperson: Representative Stan Watson
- Chairperson: Representative Kenneth Dunkin
- Chairperson: Vernon G. Smith[6]
- Iowa Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Wayne Ford
- Chairperson: Representative Barbara W. Ballard
- Kentucky Black Legislative Caucus
- Chairperson: Senator Gerald A. Neal
- Chairperson: Delegate Aisha Braveboy
- Chairperson: Representative John Bowman
- Legislative Black Caucus (Virgin Islands)
- Chairperson: Senator Usie Richards
- Legislative Black and Hispanic Caucus (Wisconsin)
- Chairperson: Senator Lena Taylor
- Legislative Black and Puerto Rican Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Minnie Gonzalez
- Chairperson: Representative Juan A. LaFonta
- Massachusetts Black Legislative Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Willie-Mae Allen
- Michigan Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Michael C. Murphy
- Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Senator Kenneth Wayne Jones
- Nevada Legislative Black Caucus
- New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Senator Ronald L. Rice
- New York Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat
- North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Beverly Earle
- Chairperson: Representative Barbara A. Sykes
- Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Anastasia A. Pittman
- Chairperson: Representative Thaddeus Kirkland
- Rhode Island Minority Legislator/Leadership Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Joseph S. Almeida
- South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative David Mack
- Tennessee Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Johnny Shaw
- Texas Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Senfronia Thompson
- Chairperson: Delegate Dwight Jones
References
- 1 2 Tyson King-Meadows, Thomas F. Schaller, Devolution and Black State Legislators: Challenges and Choices in the Twenty-First Century (State University of New York Press, 2007), ISBN 978-0791467305, pp. 194-95, 202 & passim. Excerpts available at Google Books.
- ↑ Nina Mjagkij, Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations (Taylor & Francis, 2003), ISBN 978-0203801192, p. 358. Excerpts available at Google Books.
- ↑ "Black Political Caucus Aims at Political Clout", Pittsburgh Press, November 19, 1977.
- ↑ Florida Legislative Black Caucus - Home Archived August 24, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, Inc
- ↑ http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_democrats/iblc_index.html/
- ↑ Welcome to the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Website
- ↑ Untitled Document Archived August 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
External links
- The National Black Caucus of State Legislators website: www.nbcsl.org
- Bio of NBCSL's President Calvin Smyre in the Georgia House of Representatives: Rep. Calvin Smyre in GA