Category: South

Nuclear waste related to nuclear energy can be divided into two categories: low-level waste and high-level waste. Currently, four low-level waste storage facilities exist across the country. Southern states can ship low-level waste out of state (with the exceptions of South Carolina and Texas, both of which house facilities, though South Carolina currently does not accept waste from other Southern states). For high-level waste, there is no long-term high-level waste storage facility in the United States. Therefore, high level nuclear waste is stored onsite or near active and deactivated reactors. This is seen as a temporary solution until a long-term high-level nuclear waste facility is built, which has been delayed for decades.

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The post Nuclear Waste: What It Is and How the United States Handles It appeared first on CSG South.

The conversation on restricting foreign ownership of U.S. land has grown in recent years as debates continue over how the issue affects national security and food security within the country. As a result, state legislators across the country have introduced bills to curb the number of foreign individuals, entities, or governments that can acquire or invest in U.S. real estate, specifically agricultural land and land located near military installations or key infrastructure.

In 2023, more than half of the states in the country took some form of action on this issue and nearly all Southern states have passed legislation enacting some form of restriction of foreign ownership of local land.

As of March 2024, the only states in the South without general prohibitions or restrictions on foreign ownership of land are Georgia, Kentucky, Texas, and North Carolina, though each of these states has introduced legislation on the issue. In addition, South Carolina and Mississippi currently have restrictions, but legislation has been introduced in both states to create additional measures to curb foreign ownership of land. Currently, South Carolina allows up to 500,000 acres and Mississippi allows up to 320 acres.

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The post Restricting Foreign Ownership Of Land In Southern States appeared first on CSG South.

Let the countdown begin! Our highly anticipated Southern Legislative Conference at The Greenbrier is less than 60 days away, and the excitement has begun! The CSG South and West Virginia teams are hard at work ensuring that we deliver the best regional conference experience in the nation. 

Our keynote speakers, policy sessions, government staff tracks, and learning labs are all booked with outstanding presenters and topics selected by you, our members! We guarantee that robust programming and expert insights will spark conversation and inspire innovation. You might find your next big idea at SLC!

We have completed our travel around the South, finishing our 2024 State Visits this past week in North Carolina. Thank you to every member who took our meetings, sat with us, and heard all about CSG South! Don’t forget to always utilize our team whenever you need us—we are here for you! 

Looking forward to seeing you!
Lindsey G.

Click here to read Southern Pulse- May 2024

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Stop Trying to Make FASFA Happen: How Are States Handling the ‘Rocky’ Rollout of the New Free Application?

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The post Question of the Month, May appeared first on CSG South.

Spring has officially sprung at CSG South! We have completed a four-month-long office renovation with our entire team settling back in and enjoying seeing each other’s faces again. If you are ever near the ATL, feel free to stop by for a visit or work from our office. We would love to see you!

We continue to move through State Visits by visiting Louisiana (April 16-18), Alabama (April 23 – 24), and Arkansas (April 30 – May 1) this month. Keep an eye out for emails from my team so that we can schedule a meeting with you to discuss all things CSG South!

Lastly, we are sending out an all-call. Around our region, state agencies and officials are working hard to find innovative solutions to improve customer service, address policy challenges, and save taxpayer dollars while providing for citizens’ needs. As we move closer to awarding the State in Transformation in Action Recognition (STAR) award, presented during SLC, the search continues for programs that exemplify innovative qualities. If you know a program that is a STAR, please click here to apply. The deadline is May 17th. 

All the best,
Lindsey G.

Click here to read Southern Pulse – April 2024

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From The Council of State Governments Justice Center, this report highlights the significant progress made in reducing recidivism across the country over the past 15 years. Since its passage in 2008, the Second Chance Act has invested in state and local efforts to improve outcomes for people leaving prison and jail, with a total of nearly 1,200 grantees from 48 states and 3 territories administering programs that have served more than 400,000 people.

You can read more here or download the full report below.

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The post Examining State-Level Recidivism Trends in the Second Chance Act Era appeared first on CSG South.

What is “Raise the Age” Legislation?

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The post Question of the Month, April appeared first on CSG South.

A bill created in West Virginia that would create a work apprenticeship program for 11th and 12th graders stemmed from conversations and networking held at The Southern Legislative Conference.

Bill sponsor Del. Gary Howell, R-Mineral, said he got the idea by hearing about a similar one while attending the Council of State Governments Southern Legislative Conference last summer in Charleston, South Carolina.

“I was learning about this program — I think it was Mississippi, where they were starting apprenticeship programs the last two years of high school, and that there was some federal money available to do this,” Howell said. “So I thought, this is a really good program.”

Delegate Gary Howell currently sits on CSG South’s Executive Committee, Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, and Economic Development, Transportation, and Cultural Affairs Committee.

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‘Youth apprenticeship program’ bill raises child labor concerns for advocates | News From The States

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In a brief nine-month period between late 2022 and early 2023, users in the United States conducted nearly 19 billion visits to the most popular generative artificial intelligence (AI) application on the web. These American users – more than 5.5 billion – represented more than 22 percent of these AI applications’ worldwide user base. Despite rising to prominence among the cultural zeitgeist, these tools are still in a state of early integration in business and public sector work, with the United States Census Buraeu’s Business Trends and Outlook Survey reporting that, as of November 28, 2023, less than 4 percent of U.S. businesses say they are using artificial intelligence to produce goods or services. Recognizing the urgent need to study how existing regulations apply and what new guardrails are needed for AI, state leaders are taking steps to understand this complex topic as its usage increasingly gains widespread commercial appeal.

In response to the proliferation of AI, state lawmakers across the U.S. introduced more than 780 pieces of legislation concerning aspects of artificial intelligence. From the first proposal filed in 2003 to the more than 200 measures proposed in 2023 alone, this issue has been on members’ minds for more than a decade.

Click Here to Download the Full Issue Alert

The post Southern States Approaches to Regulating Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Decision-Making, and Machine Learning appeared first on CSG South.

From the small towns of Appalachia and the rural Deep South to the college towns in the heartland, the heights of the Ozarks and Smokey Mountains, the vacation destinations of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts, and beyond, abuse and misuse of illicit or prescribed opioids is an epidemic without boundaries. Indeed, every state in the South has suffered dearly from this crisis. Nearly one in four (or 24.9 percent) individuals aged 12 or older reported illicit drug use or abuse in the past year. According to the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, more than 3.5 million youth between the ages of 12 and 17 misused prescription or illicit drugs in the past year – including more than 420,000 who used or misused opiates. Most of these individuals (44.6 percent) reported receiving, stealing, or purchasing opioids from friends or relatives, while another 41.3 percent were prescribed or stolen from a healthcare provider. Others bought from a drug dealer or other unknown individual (8.5 percent) or obtained the drugs some other way (5.6 percent).

This is especially troubling given the seven states that dispense opioids at the highest rate are in the South – Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee – making youth in these states inherently more vulnerable to exposure to these dangerous drugs.

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The post A Tough Pill To Swallow: How States Are Facilitating School Responses to Youth Opioid Overdoses appeared first on CSG South.