Agency compliance in preparing and disseminating federalism assessments is rare. The National Conference of State Legislatures believes that all of these shortcomings merit attention. We maintain that each of these deficiencies is repairable without further statutory changes at this time. The consultation process can, and should be, improved dramatically. State and local governments should expect no less than a uniform and predictable process for consultation throughout all federal agencies.
Consultation is inconsistent across agencies.
Levels of commitment vary. There are, however, enough worthwhile practices across federal agencies to create the foundation for a uniform consultation process. Consultation must include collaboration with state elected officials and their representative national organizations. Too often, agencies have ignored elected officials and their representative national organizations and focused instead on outreach to state and local agency representatives. State and local elected officials clearly bear the burden of addressing the fiscal impacts of federal unfunded mandates and must be included in consultation.