December 2021 | Issue 1

Announcements
CSG West Will Host the 2021 Class of the Western Legislative Academy Next Week
CSG West looks forward to hosting the 36 members that will participate at this year's Western Legislative Academy (WLA), the West's premier legislative training program. WLA has graduated 756 alumni since 2000, many who have gone on to serve as leaders in their state legislatures, including several members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. To view the 2021 class roster and learn more about WLA, click below.
Member Resources
Available Now – Legislative Learning Labs Content
During this year’s Annual Meeting in Colorado Springs, the Legislative Learning Labs provided a space for our private sector partners to convene educational sessions. Topics varied from financial literacy to advanced recycling, to cannabinoid technology. These sessions enhanced the conference by offering annual meeting attendees additional opportunities to learn and engage on topics of interest to Western legislators.

Whether you missed your chance to stop by the Lab, or you would like to re-watch one of your favorite sessions, you can now view these sessions on our YouTube channel via the links to the left. So sit back, relax, enjoy… and be sure to mark your calendar for the 75th CSG West Annual Meeting that will convene July 19-22 in Boise, Idaho. Happy viewing!
Western States Featured in Mental Health Resource Guide for State Policymakers
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on the nation’s mental health. As the pandemic entered its second year, The Council of State Governments embarked on a nine-month partnership with The Commonwealth Fund to assemble a mental health resource guide for state policymakers, highlighting challenges and solutions across four focus areas in mental health policy.

Several Western states are featured, with particular focus on legislation addressing social isolation, maternal mental health, social determinants of mental health, and mental health insurance parity.
The guide also includes case studies of Senior Reach, an evidence-based program serving older adults in Colorado and Montana, and Family Spirit, a culturally tailored home-visiting intervention for Native American teenage mothers in Arizona, California, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. Click below to access the resource guide and Executive Summary.
Supreme Court
SCOTUS to Decide State Legislature Lawsuit Intervention Case
In Berger v. North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the North Carolina legislature has a right to intervene in a lawsuit to defend North Carolina’s voted ID law when the North Carolina Attorney General is already defending the law. Notably, the Supreme Court will now be deciding three cases involving the question of when state actors can intervene in litigation. For further reading, click below.
THE COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS WEST www.csgwest.org
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