What's Happening at CSG

Justice Counts, a new initiative led by The Council of State Governments Justice Center and supported by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance, is designed to help policymakers and criminal justice practitioners make better decisions using data. The initiative centers on intense collaboration to provide policymakers with data to develop a set of criminal justice metrics that are attainable and impactful for any state or agency. Justice Counts establishes a large network of partners with connections in all 50 states and thousands of counties and cities across the U.S., representing key officials in the areas of policymaking, law enforcement, courts, corrections, behavioral health and more. Visit justice-counts.org to learn more.

For decades, members of the U.S. military and their families have been hampered by the variations in state occupational licensing regimes. States have prioritized license portability for military spouses by enacting legislation to streamline or expedite licensure, but barriers to true reciprocity still exist. In September 2020 the CSG National Center for Interstate Compacts entered into a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense to support development of new interstate compacts for occupational licensure. CSG will help develop interstate occupational licensure compacts, addressing multistate professional licensing issues that impact transitioning military spouses and professionals in statelicensed occupations. To learn more, visit compacts.csg.org.

Due to the COVID-19 health crisis and in an effort to best serve our members, CSG moved its national conference online in 2020 and offered eight weeks of virtual programming on topics including health care and Medicaid, disability employment policy, interstate compacts and occupational licensure, criminal justice, emergency management, COVID-19, equity and inclusion, sustainability, cybersecurity and more. If you missed any of these sessions and are interested in viewing this free content, visit web.csg.org/2020 and select “Past Events” in the menu.

Following the conclusion of the work of the two CSG National Task Forces — Healthy States and The Future of Work — and the resulting recommendations, The Council of State Governments will launch a new two-year task force in 2021 to continue this great collaborative work. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic created an abrupt disruption to state revenues and immediate implications for state leaders charged with oversight of fiscal, health, education and public safety systems. To assist states with recovery and rebuilding, the CSG Healthy States National Task Force will address major public policy issues arising from the pandemic in 2021–22. CSG will bring together 80 state officials and CSG Associates to identify challenges faced during and as a consequence of this unprecedented crisis.

CSG invited legislative leaders from across the country to participate in a series of virtual roundtable discussions with leading experts. The groups were brought together to equip CSG members with insights and data-driven information to lead in a time of national crisis. Spanning August through December, the CSG 2021 Forecast for Legislative Leaders was made up of eight collaborative conversations that provided a trusted, non-partisan environment for candid and collegial discussions among legislative peers and intellectual authorities on an array of topics. As states continue to lead amidst COVID-19, legislative leaders are beginning to ponder long-term fiscal impacts and how to rebuild post-pandemic. To learn more about this series and the upcoming 2022 Forecasts, visit web.csg.org/forum.