Utah Senate President Arnold Christensen, R-Sandy, became chairman of the Council of State Governments Sunday.
His installation will take place in Kansas City, Mo., but he was in Washington last week at precursory meetings of an affiliated group, the National Conference of State Legislatures.Christensen said the Council of State Governments has representatives not only from state legislatures, but also from other groups of state officials including those of lieutenant governors and auditors. "About the only ones we don't represent are governors. They have their own group."
He said the council rotates its chairmanship annually among four different regions.
"I was scheduled to be the chairman this next year of the western regional caucus. But it was the West's turn to have the national chairman, and I was nominated for it. So I gave up my regional seat," he said.
He said the group's priorities for the upcoming year will be set at meetings in Kansas City next week. He said he would like the group to find ways to aid private enterprise and to achieve greater state participation in national affairs.
The next annual meeting of the group will be in Salt Lake City - and coincidentally Christensen will then still be its chairman.
"We didn't get the convention just because I'm the incoming chairman. We had to compete for it," he said.