CSG West staff conducted capitol visits to Utah on January 25-27 and New Mexico on February 1-3. These were the first in-person state visits since the start of the COVID19 pandemic, providing staff an opportunity to connect with legislative leaders, lawmakers and legislative staff about CSG West programming and available resources and services. Among these is providing information about this year’s 75th CSG West Annual Meeting in Boise and encouraging eligible members to apply to the Western Legislative Academy.

State capitol visits are an important component of our outreach efforts, and we look forward to continue visiting with Western members and legislative staff in the coming weeks.

In a recent letter to the U.S. House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry, Jim Ogsbury, Executive Director of the Western Governors’ Association (WGA), offered four policy resolutions for the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill. Reflecting key issues among western states, the resolutions address compensatory mitigation, federal conservation programs, ecological conditions, and cross-boundary land management. Click below to read the WGA letter.

The CSG Justice Center recently launched the “Living Room Premiere” workshops, which are designed to provide legislative champions and local organizations with tools to achieve two goals.

The first is to engage in dialogue with their communities about the economic barriers caused by collateral consequences that impact formerly incarcerated people seeking occupational licenses or postsecondary education. The second is to raise awareness of the work the CSG Justice Center is doing to track and visually represent the progress states are making to address employment barriers and adopt best practices in fair chance licensing policy. Click below to visit the Living Room Premiere Workshop.

In Sackett v. EPA the U.S. Supreme Court will decide the proper test for determining when “wetlands” are “waters of the United States.” The Clean Water Act (CWA) prohibits any person who lacks a permit from discharging pollutants, including rocks and sand, into “navigable waters,” defined as “waters of the United States.” Click below to read more.

In Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether a state has authority to prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians in Indian country. Click below to read more about this case.