CSG National Task Forces Share Results on Two Key Issues Members worked together to collaborate on pressing public policy topics impacting every state. These reports detail more than 80 strategic recommendations to improve public policy.
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ISSUE 1 2021 | CSG CAPITOL IDEAS
n early 2019, The Council of State Governments launched two national task forces focused on the future of the workforce and healthy states, each with 50 members from around the country. The CSG Healthy States National Task Force and the CSG Future of Work National Task Force were bipartisan and made up of state government officials from executive and legislative branches as well as a handful of non-voting advisors from the private sector.
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Each task force was divided into four subcommittees, and the two-year goal was to convene four times in order to hear from experts, engage in robust discussions, share experiences and develop consensus around the areas of focus for each subcommittee. CSG policy analysts worked alongside each subcommittee to assist with research and fact-finding and to facilitate communication and information sharing in the interim between formal in-person meetings. The goal was that at the end of the two-year period, each task force would develop a framework offering recommendations and innovative solutions paired with state examples and opportunities for addressing pressing policy concerns.
When these task forces first convened in 2019, no one could have anticipated the onset of a global pandemic. However, topics including telehealth, access to broadband and the possibility of a worldwide health crisis were already being discussed. The COVID-19 pandemic added value and importance to the work of both national task forces. One of the realizations that surfaced as these groups convened and conversed during the pandemic is just how interconnected and integral both of the task forces are, as states worked diligently to implement technological solutions to navigate health-related issues while simultaneously working to solve the myriad of impacts resulting from COVID-19 on the workforce, on education, on businesses and on communities and families across the country. The importance of cross-sector work and the value of partnerships in solving our nation’s greatest challenges is now more apparent than ever. CSG is releasing the reports of its Healthy States National Task Force and its Future of Work National Task Force, as well as shorter summaries that include a checklist of suggested state strategies and opportunities. While the state examples and intricate narrative around each recommendation are outlined in each report, the checklist offers a visually scannable list of directives, potential investments and legislative opportunities, as well as partnership ideas that can guide states in addressing some of the themes outlined in the report. These are available on their respective websites at web.csg.org/healthystates and web.csg.org/futureofwork.
