Legislator Stipend Program

About Legislative Stipends

In many states, legislators’ travel expenses are extremely limited or are paid entirely out-of-pocket. The stipend program works in part with the state dues structure by allocating funds for states to send two legislators (one per chamber) per meeting, in an effort to help underwrite the cost of participating.

Stipends reimburse the NCOIL registration fee and provide $1,500 to cover reasonable travel and meal expenses.

Per NCOIL policy, all stipend requests must be made 21 days before the meeting they wish to attend.  Current year’s NCOIL dues must be paid for Spring Meeting participation; however, the prior year’s dues and a commitment to pay may suffice. Please refer to the guidelines below to review the selection process of stipend recipients.

For further information, please contact the NCOIL National Office at info@ncoil.org or (732) 201-4133.

NCOIL Legislator Stipend Program Guidelines

The following guidelines shall be used for distribution of legislator stipends to NCOIL National Conferences to help underwrite the cost of participating. All stipend requests must be made 21 days before the meeting:

1. Current year’s NCOIL dues must be paid; however, the prior year’s dues and a commitment to pay may suffice.
2. Stipends shall be limited to one (1) legislator of each chamber per contributing member state per National Meeting. If a member from one chamber cannot attend, the other chamber may utilize both stipends.
3. All legislators are eligible for legislator stipends. A legislator may choose to delegate their stipend to a staff member
4. If only one (1) legislator per chamber per contributing state attends the National Meeting, (s)he becomes the stipend recipient by default.
5. If more than one legislator per chamber per contributing state applies for a stipend, the Chair, Ranking Member, or Vice-Chair of the committee that oversees insurance matters has priority over receiving the stipend.
6. If #5 above has been exhausted and there remains more than one legislator per chamber, then members serving on the committee with authority over insurance matters shall have preference.
7. If more than one legislator per chamber per contributing state applies and all are members serving on the committee with authority over insurance matters, the presiding officer of that chamber or the dues-paying department will provide authorization by naming participating legislators per meeting.
8. If both stipends are not utilized by legislators, a legislative staff member may be eligible to receive a stipend.
9. Authorized legislators and staff must submit receipts for reimbursements within 30 days of the conclusion of the NCOIL meeting.
10. A legislative stipend cannot be transferred to a future meeting. Once the meeting has expired, the stipend has expired with it.