The Virginia Liaison Office (VLO) represents the Governor before both Congress and the federal administration, advocating for the Commonwealth's interests in Washington, and monitoring federal developments that affect the state. The Office is responsible for monitoring and tracking federal legislation that is of interest to the Commonwealth and keeping the Governor's Office and state agencies up to date on the status of federal legislation and regulations. The Office is also tasked with influencing the development of federal legislation and regulations by keeping the Virginia Congressional Delegation informed about the Governor's priorities and maintaining contact with Congressional staffs, key federal agency officials and public interest groups. Other duties include alerting state agencies and local government to federal grant opportunites and monitoring the progress of any grant applications, writing or advising on testimony to be presented by the Governor or state agency heads before Congressional committees, resolving administrative issues between state and federal agencies and maintaining liaison with other states and interstate groups. The VLO is also required to report twice a year to the Senate Finance Committee, the House Appropriations Committee and to the Governor's Office on all federal mandates and regulations which may have an affect on the Commonwealth. In addition to this, the VLO also works with interstate and regional organizations in which the Governor participates, such as the National Governor's Association, Southern Governor's Association, Appalachian Regional Commission, Southern States Energy Board, Southern Regional Education Board and the National Capital Region.
During the administration of Governor Timothy Kaine, Alfonso Lopez served as the Director of the Virginia Liaison Office (2006-2010) and Bennett Blodgett served as Deputy Director (2006-2009).
The Virginia Liaison Office records, 2003-2010 (bulk 2006-2009), are housed in 34 boxes. The collection includes Director's correspondence and subject files, Policy Analyst correspondence and subject files, National Governors Association records, and Southern Governors Association records.
Issues of concern to the Virginia Liaison Office during the Kaine Administration include: American Recovery and Reinstatement Act (ARRA) and transit projects, Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), Byrne-Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program, Chesapeake Bay Revitalization, child care funding, climate change, Community Development Block Grant funding, Dulles Corridor Metro Rail Project, Eastern Shore Broadband, Farm bill, Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA), Fort Monroe, foster care, Homeland Security, housing, land conservation, Medicare and Medicaid, No Child Left Behind Act Reauthorization, REAL ID, State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), veterans services, Virginia Wounded Warrior Program, Wallops Island Research Park, and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and workforce development.
Alphabetical.
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Records of the Virginia Liaison Office, 2003-2010 (bulk 2006-2009), Accession 44693, State records collection, The Library of Virginia, Archives Branch, Richmond, Va. 23219.
Accession 44693 was transferred by the Office of the Governor, January 14, 2010.
This series includes the correspondence and subject files of Alfonso Lopez, Director of the Virginia Liaison Office, 2006-2010, and also includes some holdover files from the the previous Director , Jan Faircloth, 2002-2005. These files are arranged alphabetically by topic and include correspondence, the majority with the Virginia Congressional Delegation, but also with federal and state officials, as well as event briefing materials, grant information, legislation, meeting materials (agendas, briefs, notes, minutes, supporting documents), policies and procedures, presentations, promotional materials, proposals, publications, reference materials, reports, statistical and issue summaries, and transcripts.
This series includes the reference and research files of multiple federal policy analysts in the Virginia Liaison Office. These files are arranged alphabetically by topic and include briefing materials, correspondence, fact sheets, federal appropriation requests, legislation, presentations, promotional/informational materials, notes, publications, reports, and testimony before Congress. Policy Analysts included Aaron Ver (2005 Dec-2007), Dominic Gabello (2007 Jan-2008 Feb), Shaylah Nunn (2007-2009), Melinda Glazer (2008 Feb-2009 June), Aaron Turner (2009 May-Nov), and Kwame Boadi (2009 Oct-2010 Jan).
This series includes Congressional Delegation Briefing binders and Federal Priority binders. The Virginia Liaison Office (VLO) assists in influencing the development of federal legislation by keeping the Virginia Congressional Delegation informed about the Governor's policy and budget concerns. The Governor and his Cabinet meet annually with the Virginia Congressional Delegation to discuss these major legislative and regulatory priorities. The Congressional Delegation Briefing binders and Federal Priority binders are developed by the VLO in conjunction with the Governor and his Cabinet, and are distributed to meeting participants. The binders are organized by Cabinet area or topic and include federal issues of importance to the Commonwealth. Each priority includes information related to priority number, Virginia goals, request details, federal funding requested, appropriate Congressional Committee or Sub-Committee, background information, and impact of Virginia. This series may also include correspondence, presentations, procedures, and speeches.
The National Governors Association (NGA) files include meeting materials prepared by the NGA and event briefing binders prepared by the Virginia Liaison Office. Meeting materials include agendas, background information, correspondence, legislation, and policy position papers related to bi-annual NGA meetings. Event briefings include the daily conference schedule for the Governor and event briefing forms with meeting and conference session details, including logistics, attendance and background information. This series does not include the event briefing for the 2009 Winter meeting.
The National Governors Association is the nonpartisan, collective voice of the nation's governors and helps governors to identify priorities and work collectively on issues of public policy and governance at the national and state level. Governors meet twice yearly to discuss common issues and challenges and promote action on national priorities. The winter meeting, held in Washington, D.C., focuses on state-federal priorities. The annual meeting, held in a different state each summer, focuses on state and intergovernmental issues. The NGA maintains four standing committees: Economic Development and Commerce; Education, Early Childhood and Workforce; Health and Human Services; and Natural Resources, to allow governors to examine and develop policy and address key national issues; and also creates special ad hoc task forces to focus on high priority issues for states.
The Southern Governors Association (SGA) files include Annual Meeting and Staff Advisory Committee (SAC) briefings prepared by the SGA, event briefing binders prepared by the Virginia Liaison Office (VLO), and subject files. Annual Meeting and SAC briefings include agendas, background information, correspondence, issue briefs, and policy position papers related to the meetings. Event briefings include the daily conference schedule for the Governor and event briefing forms with meeting and conference session details, including logistics, attendance and background information. Subject files (Council of State Governments and Climate Change Initiative) include correspondence, agreements, best practices, presentations reports, and white papers.
The Southern Governors Association (SGA), founded in 1934, represented the common interests of Southern chief executives and provided a mechanism for promoting their concerns. SGA was a nonpartisan forum for exchanging ideas, data, information and expertise on issues of importance to southern states. SGA was officially dissolved on June 30, 2016.