The State Science, Engineering and Technology Program: An Evaluation of Lessons Learned during the Planning Phase

摘要

Forty-two state legislatures and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) participated in the legislative branch component of the State Science, Engineering, and Technology (SSET) program, which was designed to assist states to deal more effectively with complex public policy issues. This report presents an evaluation of lessons learned by the states during the program's planning phase. Major findings were: (1) selection of a definition for science and technology (S&T) is essential in determining SSET findings and recommendations; (2) factors influencing S&T definition selection are biases of the major actor(s), institutional setting, and types of required and available information; (3) during the legislative process, reliable information is needed which conforms to requirements regarding content and form and is presented in layman's language; (4) independent external information sources are necessary for legislative oversight; (5) several alternative approaches exist by which legislatures may identify and use external sources; (6) associated and potential problems such as reward systems and cost distribution must be considered carefully before using external (non-legislative) resources; and (7) the success of any S&T mechanism relies heavily on the method by which it is integrated into the legislative system.