The Council of State Governments (CSG) is a nonpartisan non-profit organization in the United States serving the state governments. It serves state legislatures, state courts, and executive branch officials and agencies, and is the only multi-branch organization of state governments in the United States. CSG was founded by Colorado Senator Henry Toll in 1933. CSG also serves the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands (commonwealths) as well as Guam and the United States Virgin Islands.
CSG is headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, and also operates four regional offices, for the East, Midwest, West, and South. The Council also maintains an office in Washington, D.C. to monitor federal government activities and their impact on state issues and programs.
CSG is funded by an annual fee paid by each state and territory to support CSG's operations, in addition to revenue derived from publication sales, registration fees, corporate grants and contributions, and investment income.
The organization is headed by a governor who serves as President and a member of a state legislature who serves as chairman.
Several Canadian provinces are international members of some of CSG's regional subdivisions, notably the "Eastern Regional Conference" or ERC. In fact, Quebec City was chosen as the venue for CSG's annual national meeting in 1999, as well as ERC's annual regional meeting this summer. The current president is South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds and the current Chair is Kentucky Senate President David L. Williams.
CSG is the precursor and partner of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), with which it shares Executive Committee members, and is the umbrella organization for multiple state leaders' organizations as well as research entities, such as the Healthy States Initiatives, founded by CSG and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), headquartered in Atlanta, GA, as well as the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators.