Speaker Saiki Named President-Elect of NCSL

House Speaker Scott Saiki. PC: NCSL

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) named Hawai‘i House Speaker Scott K. Saiki its president-elect, according to a press release from the Hawai‘i House of Representatives.

The bipartisan organization serves the nation’s 7,383 state lawmakers and more than 20,000 legislative staff at the annual Legislative Summit in Nashville, Tenn.

Speaker Saiki, the current NCSL vice president, succeeds Speaker Robin Vos (R-Wis.), Speaker of the Assembly from Wisconsin, who will become NCSL president. NCSL alternates leadership between the two parties each year. Saiki will be named NCSL president at the 2020 Legislative Summit, the release said.

“I appreciate the opportunity to serve as president-elect and look forward to continued collaboration with my colleagues from around the country,” Speaker Saiki said. “NCSL has afforded legislators and staff an unrivaled opportunity to learn from the experiences of other states, exchange ideas and come up with policy solutions that can help propel our respective states and, ultimately, our entire nation forward. I look forward to continued work with our Washington office to ensure federal policies are in line with state priorities.”

Saiki has served as the speaker of the Hawai‘i House of Representatives since May 2017. He had previously served as majority leader. He has also been an active member of NCSL and served on the Task Force on State and Local Taxation as well as the NCSL Executive Committee.

“With almost (25) years of experience since his election to the House of Representatives in 1994, Speaker Saiki, with his vast institutional knowledge of the NCSL coupled with his strong organizational and leadership skills, will be a tremendous asset to the NCSL,” said Hawai’i State Senate President Ronald D. Kouchi. “In these divisive times, Speaker Saiki’s election to preside over one of our nation’s most respected bipartisan legislative organizations speaks volumes about the inclusive nature of the State of Hawai‘i.”

Saiki was born in Honolulu. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and his J.D. from the University of Hawai‘i’s William S. Richardson School of Law.