Public Safety and Legal Counsel

Governors legal counsel serve as senior staff, overseeing legal issues with legislation, policy, executive orders, administrative actions, and executive appointments. Additionally, Governors are focused on public safety, crime, delinquency and related social and economic consequences. NGA serves the needs of governors and their policy advisors in a broad range of criminal, sentencing, corrections and justice-related policies.

Latest

Briefing on Governors Engagement in Foreign Affairs

CJPA Briefing On State Actions To Address Human Trafficking

Briefing on Legal and Regulatory Considerations for States Related to Artificial Intelligence

CJPA Briefing on CCJs 2023 Year-End Crime Trends Report

Meet the team

Ken Hardy, Program Director
Lauren Dedon, Senior Legal Policy Advisor
Erin Daneker, Policy Analyst
Maria Kearl, Policy Analyst
Camille Lodugnon, Policy Coordinator

NGA Public Safety & Legal Counsel networks

Governors Criminal Justice Policy Advisors Network

The Governors Criminal Justice Policy Advisors (CJPAs) Network provides a forum for governors’ criminal and juvenile justice policy advisors to connect with their peers in other states, promote regional information sharing and collaboration, and learn about best practices and the latest research in the field. NGA convenes CJPAs for an annual institute and offers customized technical assistance to them as requested through research and strategic planning support.

Governors’ Legal Counsel
Network

The Governors’ Legal Counsel Network is comprised of chief legal counsel, general counsel, and legal deputies to Governors. As part of this network, counsel have the unique opportunity to share best practices and legal lessons learned with peers across the nation. NGA convenes legal counsel on regular briefing calls, hosts counsel at an annual meeting, and provides ad hoc technical assistance and research support to the network on a vast array of legal and policy issues.

Consortium Of State Public Safety Executives

The Consortium of State Public Safety Executives is a network of cabinet-level secretaries and commissioners from across the country who are responsible for oversight of their state’s public safety enterprise, including state police, fire, corrections, emergency management and/or other related agencies. Members connect with their peers to share lessons learned, receive briefings from national experts on best practices and receive ongoing technical support from NGA staff.

Resources

State and Local Government Organizations Seek Pause on Public Comments on Rulemaking Processes

March 20, 2020 President Donald J. Trump The White House1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: On behalf of the nation’s states, cities, and counties, we write to ...

National Governors Association Advocates Extension of REAL ID Deadline

March 17, 2020 The Honorable Chad WolfActing SecretaryDepartment of Homeland SecurityWashington, D.C. 20528 Dear Acting Secretary Wolf: Governors, states and territories across the country are rapidly mobilizing to respond to ...

Governors’ Urge Swift Passage of the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act

March 4, 2020 The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority Leader United States Senate U.S. Capitol Building, Room S-230 Washington, D.C. 20510The Honorable Chuck Schumer Minority Leader United States Senate U.S. Capitol ...

2019 Novel Coronavirus: Public Health Legal Preparedness

Click here to view fullscreen The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Governors Association, and the American Bar Association hosted the first webinar of the 2019-nCoV legal preparedness webinar ...

Resources for Tracking the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Assessing State Authorities

The following memo outlines the current situation regarding the novel coronavirus, recently named COVID-19,and provides an overview of select legal authorities that may be exercised to prevent and respond to ...

Webinar: Ebola and Beyond: Legal Preparedness for Outbreaks

Download the webinar here. Description: NGA is excited to announce the launch of a webinar series on Legal Preparedness for Public Health Emergencies. This four-part series is hosted in collaboration ...

Emergency Management Assistance Compact: Legal Considerations in 90 Minutes

NGA is excited to announce the launch of a webinar series on Legal Preparedness for Public Health Emergencies. This four-part series is hosted in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for ...

Marking the Road: Infrastructure for Improving Safety

Our roads are at the center of a public health crisis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 100 people die every day in the United ...

Rough Waters: Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery for Hurricanes and Floods

The National Governors Association (NGA) Center Homeland Security and Public Safety division held a webinar on common legal challenges posed by public health emergencies on Sept. 26, 2019. The webinar ...

Driving the Conversation: Safer and Smarter Roadways

Despite several years of improved safety on our roadways, recent trends have shown troubling increases in traffic fatalities. In fact, vehicular crashes, 94-percent of which are caused by human error, ...

Combatting Human Trafficking

Every year, millions of men, women and children are trafficked in countries around the world. The United States is a source, destination and transit country for human trafficking, and all ...

Public Health Preparedness and Response Workshop for State and Territorial Gubernatorial and Legislative Leaders

Phoenix | June 25-26, 2019 From June 25-26, NGA welcomed teams from Minnesota, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Washington and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to this year's Public Health Preparedness ...