Scott Bedke named president of National Conference of State Legislatures

By: Anteia Elswick - August 3, 2022 2:58 pm

Speaker of the House Scott Bedke (R, Oakley) at the Idaho Capitol on April 6, 2021. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun)

Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke was named the president of the National Conference of State Legislatures on Wednesday at the Legislative Summit in Denver, Colorado. He is the 49th president of the national conference, a bipartisan group that provides research and opportunities for policymakers.

Before becoming president-elect in November, Bedke had served as the conference’s vice president for two years. Hawaii House Speaker Scott Saiki was the previous president.

“Through serving as an NCSL officer, I’ve gained immense trust in this organization,” Bedke said Tuesday during his general session talk. “And I know my colleagues in Idaho share those same feelings.”

His talk, titled “Lessons in Trust: The Christmas Truce of 1914,” focused on building trust between legislative representatives across the nation. Bedke’s presentation was streamed live on the NCSL’s Facebook page.

Bedke has been Idaho’s House Speaker for 10 years, a legislator for 22 years and is the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in the 2022 general election.

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Anteia Elswick

Anteia McCollum is an intern with the Idaho Capital Sun. She will graduate from a the University of Idaho with a journalism degree in December. She has served as a columnist, reporter, photographer, graphic designer and editor during her time at The Argonaut, the UI student newspaper. She also freelances with Project FARE, a nonprofit focused on telling Idaho's food stories. In 2017, she joined the Idaho Army National Guard as a combat engineer and will complete her contract in December 2023. She's an avid outdoor enthusiast with an interest in environmental reporting as a lifelong career. Her hobbies collide with her line of work, including reading, photography, design and some outside activities like backpacking and wandering around the local farmers market.