by Mary Janicki
L. Allan Green, a legislative staffer in three states and enthusiastic contributor to NCSL, died on July 1 after a brief struggle with cancer. Allan began his legislative career in Colorado as an analyst with the Legislative Council there. He was the director of the Legislative Research Office in Oregon from 1976 to 1984, leaving there to accept the director’s position in the Connecticut Office of Legislative Research (OLR). At OLR, Allan promoted professional development, accuracy and clarity in the office’s written work, and innovative products and services. After his retirement from the Connecticut General Assembly in 1998, Allan demonstrated his dedication to teaching and the legislative process by working with parliamentary staff in new and emerging democracies. In 2004, he became the director of the Institute for Representative Government. Allan’s impressive international experience included consulting and training in Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He developed and presented training materials for the Romanian Parliament, Palestinian Legislative Council, Macedonian Parliament, South African Development Community Parliamentary Forum, Gulf Cooperation Council in Oman, and Qatar’s legislative body, among others.
Allan’s extraordinary service to NCSL included membership on the Executive Committee and the Legislative Staff Coordinating Committee. His emphasis on developing and maintaining superior writing and research skills for legislative staff was demonstrated in several ways. After the 1979 founding of the Research and Committee Staff Section (RACSS) which focused on research and service agency managers, Allan and other officers agreed to broaden its membership to include non-managerial staff in 1987. He was instrumental in developing its Professional Development Seminar, hosting the first such event in Hartford in 1994. For over a decade, he was on the faculty for the research track of the Skills Development Seminar for junior legislative staff.
Allan received RACSS’s Staff Achievement Award in 1998 in recognition of his state work and contributions to many NCSL- and RACSS-sponsored programs.
Those who worked with and were mentored by Allan are saddened by his passing.
Mary Janicki is a former director of the Connecticut Office of Legislative Research.
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