Legislative Exchange Series
November 16-19, 2026
As demand for electricity grows and the West’s energy landscape evolves, regional transmission planning is becoming central to keeping the grid reliable, affordable, and resilient. Join members of the CSG West Energy & The Grid Committee for a virtual briefing with leadership from the Western Transmission Expansion Coalition (WestTEC).
Participants will learn about WestTEC’s work to study and plan for the West’s long-term transmission needs, hear how state perspectives inform that process, and explore ways legislators can engage to help shape a stronger regional grid. The session will include time for questions and discussion.
Who should attend: Western state legislators and legislative staff interested in energy, transmission, and grid reliability.
Please register to reserve your space and receive programming updates.
We encourage you to submit your questions ahead of time for a more valuable experience!
Unsheltered (“street”) homelessness is one component of the broader challenges surrounding homelessness and housing availability, accessibility, and affordability. However, it remains the most visible. Among the approaches being explored by state and local governments are strategies to expand temporary shelter capacity while supporting the development of permanent housing.
Join California Senator Catherine Blakespear, who represents Senate District 38 spanning northern San Diego County and southern Orange County, and Elizabeth Funk, Founder and CEO of DignityMoves, to learn about the path to functional zero unsheltered—a benchmark indicating that sufficient housing options are available to accommodate a jurisdiction’s unsheltered, chronically homeless population based on its most recent point-in-time count.
Elizabeth Funk was named to Forbes’ 2026 50 Over 50: Impact list, and her organization, DignityMoves, has been recognized through Fast Company magazine’s “World Changing Ideas” two years in a row. She and Senator Blakespear will discuss:
- Innovative approaches to building interim supportive housing, including cabin communities
- Policy and systems-level change
- Using San Jose, California, as a case study, learn about tactical strategies for implementation and resulting outcomes
With several Western states experiencing some of the nation’s highest per-capita rates of homelessness, this discussion offers legislators an opportunity to explore an additional policy level to reduce unsheltered homelessness.
Who should attend: Western state legislators and legislative staff.
Please register to reserve your space and receive programming updates.
We encourage you to submit your questions ahead of time for a more valuable experience!
Aquatic invasive species, particularly invasive mussels, have been detrimental to U.S. water infrastructure, power generation, agriculture, ecosystems, and economy. Western states’ invasive mussel policy has mainly focused on preventing the spread of invasive quagga and zebra mussels, which were unintentionally introduced into the Great Lakes in the mid-1980s and have since spread throughout most river systems in the United States.
In recent years, a new invasive species threat has appeared: golden mussels. Possessing the same destructive abilities as quagga and zebra mussels, golden mussels were first detected at California’s Port of Stockton in October 2024. In less than two years, golden mussels have spread throughout many of state’s water systems, reaching as far south as San Diego.
Join CSG West’s Agriculture and Water Committee for a virtual Legislative Exchange featuring aquatic invasive species experts from across the West. The discussion will explore how legislators can cooperate to prevent further spread and eradicate existing golden mussel outbreaks.
Who should attend: Western state legislators and legislative staff.
Please register to reserve your space and receive programming updates.
We encourage you to submit your questions ahead of time for a more valuable experience!