At the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), in Texas last week, a local lawmaker wanted to urge Congress to repeal the landmark Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010.

Rep. Chris Perone, D-Norwalk, along with every other member of the committee, said no.

“Maybe he was showing off for the home folks,” Perone said, referring to Texas state Rep. Dan Flynn, the lone ‘yes’ vote.

The NCSL is a bipartisan organization made up of state legislators from across the country, and its mission is to lobby Congress for the interests of the states.

Perone is the vice chair of the conference’s Communications, Financial Services, and Interstate Commerce Committee.

“My role was to say [repealing Dodd-Frank] is not the right approach, we’re dealing with legislation that has been not only a long time coming, but has a pretty broad purview,” Perone said.

“I felt it would be premature to repeal it.”

The committee agreed, voting 16-1 to oppose Flynn’s resolution.

The NCSL paid to fly Perone to Texas for its annual conference, where Perone said he is also interested in urging Congress to pass a streamlined internet tax code.

“I would support legislation enabling states to decide whether or not to impose a sales tax, but it should come from the federal level,” Perone said, explaining that the Constitution mandates that the federal government regulate interstate commerce.

“I don’t want to see a tax war between the states.”

Perone was one of the few lawmakers to vote against the state’s decision to go after Internet retailers to collect and remit sales tax to the state. The decision led to some Internet companies, like Amazon, to end their affiliate programs.

It’s still unclear whether the state will be able to successfully collect the sales tax from Internet purchases, even though Revenue Services Commissioner Kevin Sullivan is fond of reminding taxpayers they should be self-reporting sales tax on Internet and out-of-state purchases.

Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington, also attended the Texas conference. She sits on the Agriculture and Energy Committee.