Since this is my first posting to StateHouseCall (and actually, my first blog posting ever), I thought I'd tell you a little bit about me (and about ALEC) before I start posting about health policy.

My name is Christie Raniszewski Herrera, and I'm director of the Health and Human Services Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council in Washington, D.C.  ALEC is the nation's largest nonpartisan membership association of state legislators.  ALEC has over 2,400 members, which is about 1/3 of all legislators nationwide.

ALEC's mission is to promote what we call "Jeffersonian principles" in the states -- free markets, limited government, individual liberty, and federalism.  As ALEC's HHS Task Force director, it's my job to work with legislators in writing and promoting model legislation that reflects these Jeffersonian principles.  During the 2006 session, ten states enacted model legislation drafted by ALEC's HHS Task Force.

Because I work with state legislation on a daily basis, most of my posts on StateHouseCall will discuss trends in state legislation, with a few "Why Did They Do That?" bills thrown in for good measure.  I'll also be reporting on a few quirky ALEC issues that are sometimes not often-discussed in the health policy community, including financial incentives for organ donation, cancer drug donation, "Fair Share Health Care," and the like.

If you have a tip for submission that you'd like to share, or if you'd like to discuss one of my posts, feel free to drop me a line at christie@alec.org.  Thanks for reading!