One of the chief architects of the landmark 1996 federal welfare reform law was among the speakers at Empire Center policy forum exploring the law's impact nationally and in New York.

Ron Haskins, who helped draft the Welfare Reform bill a decade ago while staff director of the Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee, delivered a keynote speech at the Oct. 26 half-day forum. Haskins is now a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, co-director of Brookings' Center on Children and Families, and author of the new book "Work Over Welfare: The Inside Story of the 1996 Welfare Reform Law."

Other speakers at the forum included Lawrence Mead, a professor of politics at New York University who is among the nation's foremost academic experts on welfare policy; and Robert Doar, commissioner of the state Office of Temporary and Disability Services (OTDA), which oversees New York's welfare-to-work programs.

A complete look at the event, including slideshows and streaming video and audio, can be found here. The forum was sponsored by the Empire Center in cooperation with the Donald and Paula Smith Family Foundation.