State Science and Technology Policy Advice Issues, Opportunities, and Challenges: Summary of a National Convocation (2008) / Chapter Skim
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4 Institutional Structures for Enhancing State Science and Technology Policy Advice
4 Institutional Structures for Enhancing State Science and Technology Policy Advice
Pages 29-42
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From page 29... ...
Colleges and Universities Holly Harris Bane described the many ways in which colleges and universities can provide science and technology policy advice to state officials. Colleges and universities -- in addition to educating students and creating new knowledge -- can directly provide state policy and decision makers with information.
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"The world is political in terms of influencing public policy, and [it] definitely helps when all the political stars are aligned." Proponents of change need to try to align the political forces to move a policy ahead.
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research and development system, and this funding shortfall needs to be a focus of policy makers' attention, she observed. State Academies and Councils The more than 40 state academies of science in the United States have great potential to offer science and technology policy advice, but today that potential is largely untapped.
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State academies have many options in seeking to influence state science and technology policy (many of these options are discussed in the next chapter "Communicating Science and Technology Policy Advice Effectively")
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A science and technology advisor, said McMahon, can demonstrate that science and technology are actually "organizing principles for government and policy." According to Elfner, "the policy arena is much broader than the policy du jour, so to speak. We need to keep in mind that there are mechanisms that need to be in place to affect policy all across the board, in all the fields of science, technology, and engineering." Many policy makers tend to view science and technology as a filter on policy -- in other words, science and technology are factors in some poli cies but not others.
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But if we want to have a real impact, we need to set up some effective way of helping them, of supporting them, and [offering them] incentives." Jay Cole, education policy advisor to Joe Manchin III, governor of West Virginia, suggested that the National Academies work with the National Governors Association to create a network of state science advisors.
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Working with State Legislators and Their Staffs Matt Sundeen of the National Conference of State Legislatures, which is a bipartisan nonprofit organization based in Denver with about 200 employees, spoke about his experience providing scientific and technological information to state legislators and their staffs to help inform their policy- and decision-making work. There are currently 7,382 state legislators in the United States.
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Almost all legislators and their staffs need help in dealing with science and technology policy issues. They may want enough neutral and honest information to establish a position on an issue.
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• nformation should be easy to understand, so policy makers know I how it relates to an issue. Policy advisors also should make clear what the limits are on the information being providing.
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So if you can have five constituents contact their legislator about an issue, that makes it more important for the legislator." The National Conference of State Legislatures has launched a new policy initiative to create permanent links between state legislatures and the science community. According to Sundeen, "we want to centralize some of the resources that we have on this issue [and]
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William Harris, president of Science Foundation Arizona, recounted that, when he was working in Ireland, he and a group of science and technology policy advisors met over breakfast about once a month with small groups of legislators who were interested in science. The discussions, which revolved around topics like vaccination, were informal but dealt with important subjects.
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"So we could put the word out to our chapters to say this is another way we can serve the public understanding of science, which is one of our key missions." Nancy Huddleston of the National Academies suggested that a survey of the executive and legislative branches of state governments be conducted to ascertain from where and how they get their information about science and technology. Based on the results of the survey, organizations could structure events and activities to provide legislators with information in the most effective ways.
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6. Which state in the continental United States has the southernmost capital?
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Drawing a distinction between liquid transportation fuels and energy for power generation may be necessary, although trade-offs between the two exist. Science and technology policy advice should try to anticipate how policy mak ers will respond to advice and what they will say to their constituents.
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