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 Read
Introduction Read Saturday's
Entry Read Sunday's Entry Read Monday's Entry Read Tuesday's
Entry Read Wednesday's Entry Read Thursday's Entry Read
Friday's Entry View
Slideshow of Pictures from Summit
During the week of July 20 – 24, I am attending the 2009 Legislative Summit – the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). I have been honored to serve this year as Vice President of this national association of America’s 7300 state legislators. To help keep my constituents informed about my active role in this important organization, I will be writing an electronic diary on this web site. I am somewhat used to walking in the footsteps of giants since the halls of the Massachusetts State House, where I am privileged to work each day, have echoed with the footsteps and voices of America’s presidents, congressional lions, war heroes, noted authors and poets, and sports celebrities for over two centuries. Yet, it still inspires me to visit a city like Philadelphia which was the place where American independence was first proclaimed and where our basic structure of national government was drafted. It was in the summer of 1787, representatives chosen by the state legislatures of America gathered in Philadelphia to draft a Constitution creating our federal system of government. It was a bold experiment, developed by “plain, honest men” that launched the United States of America on a still-evolving course to improve our system of democracy. Two hundred and twenty-two years later, a few thousand representatives of state legislatures are again gathering this week in Philadelphia to continue the discussion about that federal system as the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) holds its “Summit of the States.” As with the first convention, most of today’s delegates will travel to Philadelphia at their personal expense. The NCSL is the bi-partisan forum for America’s public policy ideas and represents state interests in dealings with the federal government. There are important differences in the two gatherings. The convention of 1787 consisted of 55 Caucasian men from all 13 states who left their families at home while they hammered out the details of a new national government. The convention next week will include legislators – men AND women; including African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans from all 50 states, commonwealths, and territories, and most will bring their families along this time. The modern day gathering is not as historic as the first convention, although it is a continuation of discussion and debate of many of the same issues including the role of these states in a federal system. Arguably more representative than the first gathering, today’s state legislators and legislative staff are just as committed to improving their states and responsibly representing their people with intelligence and integrity. There are also some fundamental similarities between the two historic gatherings. The founding fathers gathered during difficult economic times, and today’s state legislators will meet to share ideas and policy proposals to respond to the current economic crisis. America’s legislators will also express their concerns about a powerful central government and its attempts to mandate new programs and costs on states or to pre-empt state authority – a debate that was never fully settled in those earliest sessions in Philadelphia. The drive to Philadelphia through the Berkshire hills during a major thunderstorm was one of the more stressful travels in recent memory. The rain came down so fast, whipped by strong wind gusts, that I was forced to pull off the Turnpike several times until the torrent eased. As I later read an account of the arrival of delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention written by Dr. Richard Beeman in his book, "Plain, Honest Men," my sympathy for the founders traveling over colonial roads took on greater understanding. Beeman wrote of the reasons why it took some time to establish a quorum of delegates during the first few days of the historic conclave: "Heavy rainstorms up and down the East Coast during the previous two weeks had turned dirt roads, already soggy and treacherous in the springtime, into veritable rivers of mud." At least I had the benefit of the relative safety and dryness of my
Chrysler 300, compared to the horseback and carriage methods of 222 years earlier on the road from Boston to Philadelphia. However, I don't think John Adams or other delegates to the Constitutional Convention had to contend with speeding 18-wheel trailer trucks whizzing by in the torrential rains. Nevertheless, my trip ended safely just as it did for those earlier delegates to the convention in Philadelphia.
Delegates to the 2009 Legislative Summit began arriving in the “City of Brotherly Love,” during the day on Sunday. A few even arrived the night before. I attended an interesting presentation in the Constitutional Center entitled the “State of the Economy,” from 5:00 P.M. to 6:30 P.M. Beyond the major speakers, panel discussions and seminars throughout the week, America’s state legislators and legislative staff will learn from each other in a series of official business meetings and social gatherings as they discuss steps that states are taking to maintain services in a time of declining resources. Issues such as immigration reform, energy independence, growing “green” industries, and strengthening public official integrity are among the several hundred workshops and committee meetings during the week-long event. Delegates also meet with leaders of civic education initiatives like the Center for Civic Education’s “Project Citizen,” and “America’s Legislators Back to School” program sponsored by NCSL’s Trust for Representative Democracy to explore opportunities to encourage a new generation of state and national leaders. Although it’s not an earthshaking policy, I took special pleasure in launching a new NCSL Annual Meeting Tradition. NCSL Executive Committee members and Pennsylvania Host Committee members were presented with holiday ornaments which contained a picture of the inside of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Dome on one side and an engraving with the NCSL Legislative Summit Liberty Bell Logo on the other. The remarkably attractive ornaments manufactured in Lincoln, Rhode Island are the only holiday ornaments still manufactured in the United States. The ornaments will be used by the organization as a fund raising product sold through the NCSL bookstore during the Summit and on the Internet thereafter. A new ornament will be produced for each annual meeting. I suggested the idea of the ornament to NCSL officers after my election as Vice President last July following up on a suggestion from John Breen of my hometown of Uxbridge, Massachusetts. John is a senior sales associate for the company that also produces ornaments for the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Supreme Court and most of the Presidential Libraries. July 20, 2009: The Week Begins Monday began early with a meeting of the NCSL Officers beginning at 7:00A.M. in Room 309 of the massive Philadelphia Convention Center. There I gathered with President Joe Hackney (D), Speaker of the North Carolina House; Georgia State Senator Don Balfour (R), the President-Elect, Gary VanLandingham of the Florida Legislature’s staff who is the NCSL Staff Chair; Bill Pound, NCSL Executive Director and several other officers and staff of NCSL. We covered a full agenda beginning with an overview of the Legislative Summit Schedule, a discussion of the NCSL budget and dues status, review of policies to be debated and approved later in the week after updating and approval by the various NCSL standing committees and task forces; a discussion of international travel invitations received from foreign governments and associations, plans for a meeting of the new NCSL officers who will take their posts at the end of the week, and a review of the 2009-2010 executive committee and task force membership. At 8:00 A.M. I excused myself from the Officers meeting to chair a joint meeting of the Task Force on Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (which I have co-chaired since the 9-11 tragedy because of my experience as FEMA associate director in the Clinton Administration) and the Task Force on Immigration and the States (on which I serve ex-officio). The meeting of the combined task forces began with a presentation by Mary Evans, an official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) who presented a briefing on the "Secure Communities" program. The program is a comprehensive plan to identify and remove criminal aliens that improves public safety. The program is an integrated approach among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to identify criminal aliens through modernized information sharing; to prioritize enforcement actions to ensure apprehension and removal of dangerous criminal aliens; and to transform criminal alien enforcement processes and systems to achieve lasting results. The program is intended to replace traditional document-based methods of identification that are: labor intensive and time-consuming, limited by the accuracy of the biographic information obtained from the suspect, and complicated by use of aliases and other false biographic data. Complicating the current challenge is the fact that criminal history records and immigration records are held by different, non-integrated systems. By modernizing the information systems, law enforcement agencies should be able to expedite determinations of illegal alien status of those arrested or suspected of committing crimes. Another official of the U. S. Department of Homeland Security presented the task forces with information on a new "National Dialogue on Homeland Security." Policymakers, law enforcement officials, business leaders, academics and government officials now have an opportunity to help shame America's homeland security policies and priorities as part of the Department's quadrennial homeland security review (QHSR). In partnership with the National Academy for Public Administration it is an opportunity to focus on improving counter terrorism and domestic security management; securing the nation's borders; smart and tough enforcement of immigration laws; preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters; homeland security national risk assessment; and homeland security planning and capabilities. You may join the conversation at www.homelandsecuritydialogue.org. The next topic reviewed was the status of the REAL ID Act, a law approved by Congress to standardize state driver licenses to make them more secure as an identification for flying on commercial airlines or entering a federal facility. Fifteen states have refused to adopt REAL ID and all are unhappy about a significantly underfunded federal mandate, even though the Bush Administration did what it could to reduce the cost of the program. Recently, the Obama Administration and the Senate proposed a revised law to eliminate many of the privacy security concerns with REAL ID. Every state was granted until December 31, 2009 to comply, and no state is yet in compliance. States have until October to file for an additional waiver as they work to try to improve license document security. After these presentations, the Homeland Security Task Force and Immigration Task Force ended their joint meeting and moved to different rooms. I continued with the Homeland Security Task Force as it heard presentations on rail security from a Vice President of CSX railroad. The task force also heard from Richard Nathan and Marc Landy of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government on disaster recovery. The presented a report entitled: "Who's in Charge? Who Should be? - The Role of the Federal Government in Megadisasters: Based on Lessons from Hurricane Katrina." I will provide information on these various presentations to the Senate and House Chairs of the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security in the Massachusetts Legislature when I return to Boston. I then attended a meeting of the Board of Directors of the NCSL Foundation for State Legislatures - a public private partnership that raises funds for several imporant NCSL programs. This year the Foundation has raised $1,737,000 in sponsorship fees that are used to support the Health Information Technology Champions (HITCh) Project promoting the use of information technology to improve quality and contain costs in health care; to promote public-privae partnerships to improve transportation; NCSL new member services to provide orientation for new state legislators; legislative leadership services to support the Leader to Leader program; the Trust for Representative Democracy to promote civic education; the Women's Network to promote opportunities for women in state government, and the NCSL ethics center. I am a co-chairman of the HITCh project and also co-chairman of the Trust for Representative Democracy Advisory Board. I also participated in NCSL’s Budget, Finance and Rules Committee of the Executive Committee from 1:00 P.M. to 2:00 P.M. and then chaired the Program and Strategic Planning Committee meeting from 2:00 P.M. to 3:15 P.M. At the Program and Strategic Planning Committee meeting, I proposed the establishment of an award for state legislator participation in the "America's Legislators Back to School Program." This very successful program which provides supporting materials for state legislators to visit schools in their districts to promote a better understanding of representative democracy and the role of state legislators is celebrating its tenth anniversary. I have participated in all ten years, as well as an initial pilot year, visiting schools in my senate district. Massachusetts has been among the national leaders with 100% participation by state senators and 96% participation by state representatives for the last two years. My proposal for the award is to be named in memory of the late Massachusetts Senate President Kevin B. Harrington, founding president of NCSL and, as a former teacher, a strong advocate for civic education in schools. The proposal was unanimously adopted by the Program and Strategic Planning Committee and the NCSL staff will develop the detailed criteria for the award to present to the committee at its fall meeting. These meetings were followed by a meeting of the full Executive Committee from 3:30 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. At this meeting, I reported for the Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Task Force and recommended adoption of an NCSL Policy on Homeland Security entitled: "Homeland Security: An Underfunded National Expectation." The resolution was unanimously adopted by the NCSL Executive Committee and will be presented to the full membership at the Thursday business meeting. I also reported to the Executive Committee on the work of the Program and Strategic Planning Committee that I chaired. The workday ended with a reception honoring Georgia Senator Don Balfour, NCSL President-Elect, who will succeed to the organization’s presidency on Friday of this week. The reception was held at the top of the Comcast Center which offered spectacular views of downtown Philadelphia. Among the guests I met during the reception was Nour Eddine Bouchkouj, Secretary General of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union. He was attending as a delegate with his wife from Morocco, and they told me that his youngest daughter was a junior at Suffolk University in Boston. They spoke highly of Boston and how they enjoyed visiting the city to see their daughter. NCSL annually attracts parliamentary representatives from other countries, and this year is no exception. Among the countries represented at the gathering were about 150 legislators from Algeria, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Burundi, Canada, the People's Republic of China, Germany, Ghana, Greece, India, Italy, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Namibia, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, the Taipei Provincial Consultative Council, and the United Kingdom. July 21, 2009: Meeting with Bill Gates Just as the first Constitutional Convention heard from noted scientist-philosophers like Benjamin Franklin, delegates to the 2009 NCSL convention heard this morning at the Opening Plenary from Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, who has turned his energy and genius to improving education in America. Mr. Gates believes that economic stimulus money for education provides a unique opportunity – a moment in time – to create bold innovations that will redefine educational excellence. I had the honor of personally meeting Mr. Gates with the other NCSL officers just before the plenary session for a photo, and after the session for a private meeting. This is the second time that Bill Gates spoke to an NCSL annual meeting, having spoken to us when we met in his hometown of Seattle, Washington in 2005. [Read summary of Gates' remarks]
During the private meeting with NCSL officers after the plenary, I mentioned to Mr. Gates that I come from Massachusetts where a state senator named Horace Mann launched public education in America. I noted that Horace Mann would support Bill Gates's message of improving the quality of teachers and improving education so that students could be successful in today's economy, but that he was missing the other half of Horace Mann's message - that schools should also prepare students to be active, engaged citizens. We had an interesting discussion of the issue and I agreed to follow up with Vicki Phillips, one of the officers of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to pursue the matter. Prior to the Opening Plenary where Gates was the main speaker, I had the opportunity to meet Mary Wilson, of the famous singing group "The Supremes." Mary sang the National Anthem for the conference opening ceremony. Later in the day, I met Mary Wilson again at a social function and she reminisced how much she enjoyed Boston years ago when she appeared there for a performance. At the opening ceremonies, I had the opportunity to address the several thousand legislators and staff gathered in the Pennsylvania Convention Center Ballroom to introduce a video about NCSL's successful "American's Legislators Back to School Program," which brings state legislators into classrooms to help students understand state government and representative democracy, and which is now celebrating its 10th Anniversary. I told the gathering: "State legislators from all across the country have been teaching real world civics for ten years through America's Legislators Back to School Program. As lawmakers, we are especially qualified to help students understand their roles and responsibilities as citizens." I also thanked the several thousand legislators who have reached out to students and, especially, the legislative staff program coordinators who have organized the event each year in each state. Later in the morning, I joined with former Ohio Senate President Dick Finan to co-chair a meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Trust for Representative Democracy which supports efforts to promote civic education and greater public understanding of the legislative process. Later in the day on Tuesday, I visited with state legislators from the Russian Duma (or parliament) and also joined other officers in meeting with Cecilia Munoz, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for President Barack Obama. The Russian Delegation was led by Senator Alexander P. Torshin, First Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Russian Federation of the Federal Assembly - The Parliament of Russia. Senator Torshin suggested that the Russian Council and the National Conference of State Legislatures enter into a friendship agreement to cooperate on improving U.S. - Russian relations as President Obama recently suggested when he visited Russia. Senator Torshin invited Senator Don Balfour of Georgia and myself to visit Moscow in the coming year to meet his counterparts and participate in meetings with Russian President Medvedev. After the meeting with the Russian Delegation, Senator Balfour and I met with a delegation from the People's Republic of China. The delegation consisted of Yao Mingyu, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries Economic Cooperation Commission; Ma Xiaoming, Director-General of the Association; and Anita An, from the U.S. Division of the Association. The delegation invited NCSL officers to visit China in late August of this year. Once again, following the work sessions, there was time to relax and talk informally with legislative colleagues first, at a reception hosted by the Pennsylvania legislators led by Speaker McCall and Majority Leader Eachus. This was followed by a visit to the Women’s Network Reception, and concluded with Philadelphia’s Opening Event on Philadelphia Freedom Independence Mall.
July 22, 2009: The Current Economy While the nation’s “Founding Fathers” fretted about the economy of their home states and the country as a whole in 1787, America’s state legislators today were anxious to hear from renowned economists such as Simon Johnson of MIT’s Sloan School of Management, David Wyss, Chief Economist at Standard & Poor’s, and David L. Cohen, Vice President of Comcast, who discussed whether the stimulus money is enough to stabilize the American economy, whether or not the United States will lead the economic recovery, and what roles the European Union and China will play. This plenary session, entitled “The Economy: What’s in Store?,” launched the Wednesday program drawing considerable interest, since every legislator is dealing with the effects of the national recession and declining revenues. Though the panelists covered all topics in detail, the main item of contention became the federal stimulus package. Johnson offered that the increasing rates of unemployment may have blunted the effects of the federal stimulus funds, offering that there should be another round of funding. Wyss disagreed, saying that the funding is simply moving too slowly, while Cohen offered that the funds have different intentions from addressing unemployment altogether. The three certainly presented very insightful perspectives on the current economy and the stimulus, as it was the topic on everyone's mind. Summarizing the panel best though, was David Cohen, who stated "The most important thing is confidence, and elected officials have an obligation to help build that confidence." At noon, I made a presentation to the NCSL Legislator Nominating Committee to present my candidacy for the office of President-Elect of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Having made a presentation last year when I was chosen as Vice President, I knew the process and most of the members of the committee, especially Massachusetts State Representative Michael Moran of Boston. It was a friendly discussion of my achievements and activities as Vice President and some outline of what I hoped to accomplish as I moved through the chairs to become President in 2010-2011. Later in the afternoon, I was a speaker at a panel entitled: "ARRA and Health Information Technology (ARRA stands for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), along with Dr. David Blumenthal (a physician from Boston) who was appointed by President Obama to be the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, reporting directly to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The panel was moderated by Senator Judy Lee of North Dakota, a good friend and my co-chair of Project HITCh (Health Information Technology Champions). Dr. Blumenthal stressed the point that the stimulus efforts to advance health information technology "was not so much about the technology, but that the process of health care that is informed by the technology to improve patient care." One of my NCSL assignments is co-chair of the Health Information Technology Champions (HITCh) Project which has been working to help state legislators across the country to understand and advocate for deployment of this vital technology to contain health costs and improve quality and safety of care. I am proud to say that Massachusetts is among the state leading in this effort and No. 1 for the third consecutive year in electronic prescribing. A PowerPoint presentation of my remarks is provided at the bottom of this journal. I was given the opportunity to represent the NCSL Leadership at a special media briefing to kick off "PaintFest," a program where legislators and legislative staffers helped paint three murals that they will leave behind after the Legislative Summit to brighten the lives of the veterans being served by the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Hospital. The PaintFest event gave those attending the Summit an opportunity between attending seminars and committee meetings a chance to demonstrate their artistic talents and relieve stress from a full conference agenda. I spoke to the media and those gathered at PaintFest about state legislators' support for American's veterans and for volunteerism to help the community where our conference was being held. In mid-afternoon, I had the pleasure of moderating a program entitled: “Constitutional Convention – Lessons in Political Leadership. The program featured Professor Richard Beeman, author of the best-selling book about the framers of the United States Constitution “Plain, Honest Men.” Dr. Beeman, a professor of history at the University of Pennsylania and an expert on the American Revolutionarey Era, took those in attendance behind the scenes and beyond the debate of the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to show how the world's most enduring constitution was forged through conflict, compromise, and eventually, fragile consensus. He described ho\w the delegates met in an atmosphere of crisis, many Americans at the time fearing that a combinations of financial distress and civil unrest would doom the young nation's experiment in liberty. Beeman describes how James Madison led a small group of the "founding fathers" in pushing for a strong central government. The day ended with another round of receptions. First came the International Reception honoring all of our visiting international delegates, then the NCSL Foundation Sponsors Reception, a reception for the German delegation and a major event headlined “Taste of Kentucky,” sponsored by the Kentucky Legislature to attract delegates to next year’s annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. July 23, 2009: Health Care Reform
While delegates to the 1787 convention included some who would later serve in federal cabinets, this year’s NCSL gathering on Thursday heard “The Word for Washington,” from Commerce Secretary Gary Locke who spoke about international trade and the prospects for economic recovery. The presentation was followed by our annual NCSL Business Meeting where legislators from across the nation debated and adopted policies to guide the organization’s Washington lobbying effort to represent state interests in the policy debates in Washington such as national health reform, the states’ role in homeland security, environmental and education policies and so much more. A personal highlight was my election as President-Elect of NCSL for the 2009-2010 year. National health care reform was not on the agenda in 1787, but it will take center stage this year as the Congress debates the issue which will impact state government and the people of America in very significant and personal ways in the months and years to come. States that have taken the lead in health reform are interested in making sure that gains they have achieved for their people are not undermined as the federal government tries to bring access to affordable, high quality health care to the rest of the population. The health reform issue generated passionate debate among the NCSL delegates over whether to endorse a policy resolution supporting national health reform. In the end, the resolution was adopted by a ¾ vote of the member states present and voting with 49 states in attendance at the meeting. After the business meeting, I was a featured speaker on a panel entitled “Health Reform: Can States Afford to Innovate?” As one of the architects of Massachusetts’ landmark Health Reform Law (Chapter 58 of the Acts of 2006) which is being used as one of the models for the national health reform effort, I was invited to present my views on the topic. In addition to my report on the Massachusetts experience, delegates heard from House Speaker David Clark about Utah’s health reform effort, which includes a connector similar to Massachusetts, and from Ann Torregrossa, Director of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of Health Reform.
I explained how Massachusetts developed its landmark 2006 Health Reform Law, the similarities with the current proposals being debated for National Health Reform, and concerns that Massachusetts and other states have regarding the proposals to fund national health reform. A copy of my power point presentation is linked to this journal. Later in afternoon, I moderated a second panel on children in disasters featuring Mark Shriver, son of Sargent Shriver and Ethel Kennedy Shriver who chairs a national commission on children who are victims of disasters. The program was a special joint presentation by NCSL’s Health and Human Services Committee and the NCSL Education Committee. Shriver, the son of Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver and a former Maryland State Representative, noted that children were suffering from “benign neglect” in the aftermath of disasters. He said that while the federal disaster policies have been amended in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to make sure that dogs and cats are aided, no such movement has been provided for children. Many schools, day care centers and summer camps, he said, lack disaster plans to protect the children in their care, and he urged state legislators to take the lead in requiring such plans as a condition of licensing. July 24, 2009: Address by Peggy Noonan The sessions on Friday featured a closing plenary with Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal who spoke on the topic: “An Election, A New Direction and the Politics of Change.” As the new President-Elect of NCSL, I was given the honor of introducing Ms. Noonan at this session. Our keynoter for the closing plenary, Noonan is a frequent guest on political talk shows, and is the best-selling author of eight books on American politics, history, and culture. Her days in the Reagan White House as a special assistant to the President and speech writer produced some of the best speeches for President Reagan, including the stirring tribute to the heroes of World War II delivered on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, and the speech on the day of the Challenger disaster in 1986. She was nominated for Emmy awards for the writing of a post 9-11 television special and for her work on the television drama series, "The West Wing." Peggy Noonan shared some interesting and, at times, humorous accounts of the five presidents she has known - Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barrack Obama.
The role of master of ceremonies gave me the opportunity to honor our outgoing NCSL President Joe Hackney, Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives. I stated, "As the Vice President and incoming President-Elect of the National Conference of State Legislatures, I understand the honor, and the privilege, of being part of this great organization. We all know that state legislatures are democracy at its best - we are the creative problem solvers and innovators of public policy closest to the people. The National Conference of State Legislatures is our organization - and it is a critical one. It represents our views in Washington, DC, it recognizes and contributes to our success, it provides us with the tools to do our job better in myriad ways. And it is government by us - Democrats, Republicans, legislative staff - for us. And so, it is with heartfelt thanks that I ask you to recognize our current president, North Carolina House Speaker Joe Hackney, who has served us with great distinction this year." The audience gave Joe a well-deserved standing ovation. While Joe has finished his term as President of NCSL, he will continue to be involved in the organization's leadership as Immediate Past President. At noon I had lunch with Atty. Christopher Marino, a native of Milford, Massachusetts who currently lives and works in Philadelphia. Chris served as my Legislative Assistant for several years when I was a member of the House of Representatives, between his college and law school experience. He now works as a contract compliance officer for the Philadelphia public schools. It was great to catch up on his career and to share news of the activities at the State House. Following more seminars and committee meetings, our Pennsylvania hosts entertained us with a concert on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art – the steps made famous in Sylvester Stallone’s first movie “Rocky.” |
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View
Sen. Moore's PowerPoint presentation on "ARRA and Health
Information Technology" View
Sen. Moore's PowerPoint presentation on "Health Reform: Can States
Afford to Innovate?" View
Slide Show of Photographs from 2009 Legislative Summit in Philadelphia
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