NAST 2022 Legislative Conference Recap

As I stop to take a breath and reflect on the jam-packed schedule at the Legislative Conference this week, I’m amazed at all I learned, mostly in part to the caliber of presenters we heard from.

Still amazed at the history and grandeur that is Washington D.C., I found myself sitting in relative awe that I was actually at the Watergate Hotel with 200 colleagues from around the country and hearing from Mayor Mitch Landrieu, President Biden’s Senior Advisor tasked with implementing the largest-ever infrastructure investment, only minutes after he was discussing the same topic with the President at the White House. Talk about getting the message from the source!

To say I enjoyed and got a lot out of this conference is an understatement. One of the aspects of the conference I enjoyed most was the fact that it was in-person. Like many of you, I feel like it’s been too long since I’ve been around other colleagues, and it was nice to talk and meet with the people that I’ve only seen on Zoom calls. Getting together in-person allowed us to better recognize a couple of the giants in our field when Allen Mayer, Illinois Treasury Chief of Staff, and Jim MacDonald, First Deputy Treasurer of Massachusetts and CEO of the Massachusetts School Building Authority, were both awarded the Chris Allen Memorial Award for Outstanding Advocacy in Public Finance.

Additionally, attendees learned from policy experts about what Congress is doing and what needs to be done to improves access to ABLE accounts and college savings plans. We received a sneak peek at the mid-term elections from folks running the campaigns on both sides of the aisle. We learned the latest developments and what to expect on retirement issues both at the state and federal level. Most importantly, we were provided marching orders from political leaders on how we can effectively advocate for our shared priorities.

While we’ve heard and said a lot about NAST priorities this week, it is now time to take them to the Hill. Throughout the month of March, we encourage all NAST and Network members to meet with your key members of Congress. We’ve updated our advocacy primer for this current Congress to assist those efforts. Be sure to make your appointments with your congressional delegation to discuss your state and national issues! If you need any assistance in the process, please contact me at dillon@statetreasurers.org.

While this was my first NAST Legislative Conference, I’m certain it won’t be my last as I’m already looking forward to next year’s. I’m also wishing I didn’t have to wait until June for the TMTS conference in San Antonio to see you all again!

Sincerely,

Dillon Gibbons
NAST Policy Director

P.S. If you attended the conference, NAST would greatly appreciate your feedback. Your comments are taken seriously; NAST strives to make programmatic and logistical improvements based on attendee input. Click here to start the five-question survey.