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9 | Page March 7 I ssue LEGISLATIVE UPDATESHelping veterans, with an assist from counties, is %u2018priority number one,%u2019 VA secretary saysCounty officials can %u201ctouch more lives than any member of Congress or any governor,%u201d because they see their constituents every day, said Doug Collins, the new VA secretary. Padilla calls for common sense bipartisanship to tackle disasters, mental health crisisSen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) started learning about wildfire damage firsthand as a Senate staffer in the 1990s, which gave him experience and perspective seeing how counties responded after disasters.Read moreRisk mitigation, education top counties%u2019 AI prep goalsMembers of NACo%u2019s Artificial Intelligence Exploratory Committee spent a year considering the capabilities, opportunities, threats and best practices that the rapidly developing technology sector poses for county governments.Read more2025 NACo Legislative Conference coverageRead reports from Legislative Conference committee speakers, workshops and General Session addresses. Read more