Black lawmakers  opened  their annual legislative conference Wednesday, with four days of workshops, panel discussions and town halls planned, designed to educate, involve and influence how they tackle laws and policies impacting the communities they represent.

 The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 39th Annual Legislative Conference  is taking place in the nation’s capital Sept. 23 -26 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. 

Please welcome guest blogger, California Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

By Rep. Maxine Waters (D- Calif.)

Sept. 23, 2009 — Tens of thousands of people will gather in Washington, D.C. this week for the Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.  ALC provides a great opportunity for reconnecting with friends, meeting new people, networking and celebrating.  At its heart though are the issues forums – discussions of

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)

critical issues affecting African Americans by panels made up of elected officials, community leaders and celebrities presenting information and interacting with the audience.

I will be hosting several ALC events, including a banking issues forum where Federal Reserve Chairman Benjamin Bernanke, high-ranking Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation officials, and minority business owners will discuss opportunities for minority-owned firms to do business with federal banking regulators.  I have blogged previously about the importance of this issue: http://blogs.bet.com/news/pamela/2009/07/29/have-tarp-dollars-tapped-into-your-community/ and I have held a series of meetings with Chairman Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Geithner and FDIC Chairman Bair since the financial crisis began about increasing minority participation in the government’s financial rescue programs.  We have had some success creating roles for minority-owned firms within the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Public-Private Investment Program and the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, and we will continue to encourage the inclusion of minority-owned and women-owned firms as the federal banking regulators hire additional outside contractors for legal, accounting, valuation and asset management services. 

U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter and Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree headline a panel of attorneys, advocates and activists during another issues forum I am hosting regarding the topic of eliminating mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug offenses.  This session will examine opportunities for changing current sentencing policy and provide an update on legislation Congress is considering. I have introduced the Major Drug Trafficking Prosecution Act of 2009 (H.R. 1466), which eliminates mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, and Rep. Bobby Scott, who chairs the crime subcommittee, has introduced the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act of 2009 (H.R. 3245), which eliminates the distinction between powder and crack cocaine.  Currently, people convicted of selling crack – who are more likely to be African American – receive significantly longer prison sentences than those convicted of selling an equivalent amount of powder cocaine.  The consequence of this disparity and mandatory minimum sentences is many African Americans being locked up for a long time.

“Young, Gifted and Black” is a forum I created years ago to attract more young people to ALC and get them thinking and talking about issues that directly affect their lives.  YGB features successful, talented people whom our youth can relate to and be inspired by.  It has always been a fun, exciting, provocative and popular part of ALC – and this year promises to continue that tradition.