Updates from the NGA Membership Team for November 2024. For more about the programs below and a list of upcoming events please email NGA at: membership@nga.org.
November Spotlight
November 14-15, NGA met with newly elected Governors and current Governors at the 2024 Seminar for New Governors (SNG).
SNG is the first opportunity for Governors-elect and First Spouses to get to know their colleagues. The seminar also provides Governors-elect and First Spouses with essential information to establish a smooth transition and maximize the success of the initial months in office. Topics of discussion included developing the executive budget; hiring the best and the brightest cabinet officials and senior staff members; shaping a vision for the administration; and strategic scheduling, communications and legislative relations.
NGA congratulates the following Governors-elect on their elections:
- · American Samoa Governor-elect Pula’ali’i Nikolao Iuli Tuiteleleapaga Pula
- · Delaware Governor-elect Matt Meyer
- · Indiana Governor-elect Mike Braun
- · Missouri Governor-elect Mike Kehoe
- · New Hampshire Governor-elect Kelly Ayotte
- · North Carolina Governor-elect Josh Stein
- · North Dakota Governor-elect Kelly Armstrong
- · Puerto Rico Governor-elect Jenniffer González-Colón
- · Washington Governor-elect Bob Ferguson
- · West Virginia Governor-elect Patrick Morrisey
More information about this year’s gubernatorial elections can be found here.
Chair’s Initiative
This month, NGA Chair Jared Polis kicked off the first convening of his NGA Chair’s Initiative, Let’s Get Ready: Educating All Americans for Success. Governor Polis led the meeting the morning before the start of the 2024 NGA Seminar for New Governors. The Let’s Get Ready convening featured three speakers:
· Dr. Steven Levitt, the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics at the University of Chicago;
· Marlon Marshall, the CEO of City Fund; and
· Dr. Martin West, the academic dean and Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
NGA Vice Chair Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, Hawai‘i Governor Josh Green and Delaware Governor-elect Matt Meyer (pictured above right to left) also participated in the convening in addition to New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Governor Polis announced the next Let’s Get Ready convening will be held in Las Vegas December 10-11.
Communications
NGA Leadership Releases Statement on Presidential Election
NGA Chair Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Vice Chair Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt released a statement following the election of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States. Read the full statement here.
Center for best practice
Governors Urge Passage of National Defense Authorization Act
NGA Chair Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Vice Chair Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt released a statement urging the immediate passage of the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Read the statement here.
Last month, NGA’s Executive Committee issued a statement urging Members of Congress to support the bipartisan Wilson Amendment during the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) NDAA Conference Committee. The Wilson Amendment underscores a commitment to national security while protecting the statutory authority of Governors to oversee National Guard forces under Title 32.
The October statement came after more than 100 members of Congress sent a letter to Armed Services Committee leaders supporting the amendment “to prohibit the move of Guard units without their governors’ consent as part of a compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act.”
In May, NGA issued a statement commending the Wilson Amendment in the FY25 NDAA Full Committee Mark Up to protect Governor authorities over the National Guard.
Center for best practice
Governor Lamont Speaks at NGA Workforce Institute
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont recently spoke at NGA’s Fall Workforce Development Policy Institute. The convening brought together Governors’ Workforce Development Policy Advisors, the National Association of State Workforce Board Chairs and the National Association of State Liaisons for Workforce Development Partnerships. An overview of the meeting can be found here.
Governors Promote Policies to Support Veterans
In honor of Veterans Day, NGA released a new publication highlighting ways the nation’s Governors are working to recognize veterans through a number of legislative and policy proposals.
The publication also recognizes the Governors currently holding office who served in the armed forces:
· Florida Governor Ron DeSantis,
· Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb,
· Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry,
· Maryland Governor Wes Moore,
· Minnesota Governor Tim Walz,
· Missouri Governor Mike Parson,
· Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo and
· South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster.
NGA Releases Publication on Best Practices from State WIOA Planning
NGA released a new publication highlighting elements of Governors’ Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) State Plans. Read the publication here. In the run-up to WIOA State Plan Submission, NGA and the U.S. Department of Labor partnered to support states as they developed their 2024 WIOA State Plans.
NGA Releases Report on Innovative Travel, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Awards
For two years, NGA partnered with Oregon State University’s Center for the Outdoor Recreation Economy to research and assess the travel, tourism and outdoor recreation grants made by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration based on the American Rescue Plan Act passed by Congress. Read the report here.
NGA Releases Report on Workforce Development Solutions
NGA released the publication “Actualizing the Promise of Youth Apprenticeship: Lessons Learned from NGA’s Policy Academy to Advance Youth Apprenticeship.” The publication highlights key themes from the NGA Policy Academy to Advance Youth Apprenticeship that launched last year, including recounting Governor-led policy changes on youth apprenticeship. The publication also covers what the future of youth apprenticeship policy may hold at the state and federal level.
Monthly Member Update
Governor Guerrero Dedicates New Biosafety Lab
Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero and NGA Executive Director Bill McBride recently participated in the groundbreaking ceremony of the Guam Public Health Training and Laboratory Facility. The Governor shared, “This is our homeland, and we need to protect our homeland. One of the ways to do that is through human health security. That’s why I am so passionate about making this happen.”
November in Photos
NGA routinely shares photos of Governors at work. A sampling of this past month’s photo highlights follows.
Top Row (L to R): Idaho Governor Brad Little, Missouri Governor Mike Parson and First Lady Teresa Parson, and Alabama Governor Kay Ivey
Middle Row (L to R): Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and First Lady Janet Holcomb, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul
Bottom Row (L to R): Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont and First Lady Ann Lamont
