This report supplements the Commission's earlier reports entitled Improving State Governmental Management: A Summary of Priority Recommendations (September, 1976) and Management of Virginia State Government: Tentative Recommendations of the Commission (November, 1975). The recommendations contained in those reports were the subject of broad public debate and eight public hearings across the state. On December 15, 1976, the Commission decided on its legislative proposals for the 1977 session after careful consideration of the views presented by interested citizens and public officials.

The recommendations of the Commission discussed in this report are priority proposals. They were drawn from the several dozen proposals described in the November 1975 report, as modified following public hearings. Some of these recommendations are embodied in legislation which is pending in the form of carry-over bills. Others are substantially the same as the recommendations published in the Commission's September 1976 report. A third category includes substantially modified proposals which were changed in an effort to incorporate some of the suggestions and criticisms received following publication of the Commission's earlier reports.

These priority proposals are important steps to bring state government under control, to make it more accountable, and to eliminate duplication. They are only a portion of the Commission's total package, which includes a number of proposals already adopted by the General Assembly. Other proposals will be presented to the 1978 session of the General Assembly. While reorganization should be given immediate attention by the General Assembly, the Commission recognized that the legislature at this time can only deal with a limited number of priority proposals.