About the SLC

The SLC offers numerous services to the policy-making community. Click here to learn more.

Find out more about our staff here.

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For a brief history of the SLC's first 50 years, click here.

The SLC’s mission is to foster and encourage intergovernmental cooperation among its 16-member states. In large measure this is achieved through the meetings, publications and policy positions of the Conference’s six standing committees. Committee members are appointed by their chamber’s legislative leadership and each committee elects its own officers. Through the deliberations of Committee members, an array of issues facing all Southern state legislatures are considered.

Founded in 1947, the Southern Legislative Conference is the largest of four regional legislative groups operating under The Council of State Governments and comprises the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

The Southern Office of The Council of State Governments was opened in Atlanta in 1959. Initially charged with serving all three branches of state government, the duties of the office have evolved to providing services primarily to the more than 2,500 legislative members and staff of its 16-state region. SLC members are appointed by the leadership of the 32 legislative chambers in the South. The SLC Annual Meeting has grown to become the largest regional gathering of state legislators in the country and attracts the largest audience of any of the CSG regional conferences.

The SLC’s mission is to foster and encourage intergovernmental cooperation among its 16-member states. The SLC’s six standing committees, Agriculture and Rural Development; Economic Development, Transportation and Cultural Affairs; Education; Energy and Environment; Fiscal Affairs and Government Operations; and Human Services and Public Safety, provide a forum which allows policymakers to share knowledge in their area of expertise with colleagues from across the South. By working together within the SLC and participating on its committees, Southern state legislative leaders are able to speak in a distinctive, unified voice while addressing issues which affect their states and the entire region.