HD69 - Report of the A. L. Philpott Southside Economic Development Commission Pursuant to HJR 451


Executive Summary:
Study Authority

In 1990, the General Assembly adopted House Joint Resolution No. 106, establishing a commission to propose recommendations to improve and enhance the economic development of Southside Virginia. The 23-member Southside Economic Development Commission, chaired for two years by the late A.L. Philpott, Speaker of the House of Delegates, included one member each from the House Committees on Appropriations, Finance, Agriculture, Education, and Labor and Commerce; one member each from the Senate Committees on Finance, Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, Commerce and Labor, and Education and Health; and members from Southside Virginia, including two representatives each from local governments and from the business and industry communities, two local economic development officials, one representative each from the banking community, a major utility, and a four-year institution of higher education, and a community college president. The manager of the Southern Regional Office of the Division of Industrial Development, Department of Economic Development, served as an ex officio member of the Commission. The Commission defined Southside Virginia to encompass a 20-county, 5-city region.

Renamed the A. L. Philpott Southside Economic Development Commission in 1992, the Commission has continued its examination of economic, educational, financial, infrastructural, and industrial challenges facing the region pursuant to House Joint Resolution No. 300 (1991), House Joint Resolution No. 71 (1992), House Joint Resolution No. 412 (1993), House Joint Resolution No. 353 (1994), and House Joint Resolution No. 451 (1995). Over the past six years, the Commission's intense study has yielded numerous recommendations for the revitalization of the Southside region, such as the establishment of the Southside Business and Education Commission, the Southside Virginia Marketing Council, and the Southside Virginia Development Authority, and the support of the new Governor's School for Global Economics and Technology in Southside Virginia and the A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Research Center at Patrick Henry Community College. In 1994, the Philpott Commission was allocated $675,000 to make grants in support of regional economic development initiatives. An additional $25,000 was appropriated to the Commission in the 1995-96 budget. (*1)

1994 and 1995 Study Directives

House Joint Resolution No. 353 (1994) challenged the Commission to monitor the implementation of its previous recommendations and to "serve as a resource for the Southside Virginia Business and Education Commission, the Southside Virginia Marketing Council, and the Southside Virginia Development Authority." House Joint Resolution No. 451 (1995) directed the Philpott Commission to implement its grants initiative; to review and monitor the progress of the Route 58 Corridor Development Program; and to consider such other issues as may be appropriate. Bolstering the directive to monitor the progress of Route 58 was House Joint Resolution No. 452 (1995), which stated that additional review by the Philpott Commission "may facilitate the continued progress and completion of this crucial highway initiative."

Responding to these directives, the Philpott Commission has met seven times in the past two years in locations in Richmond and throughout Southside Virginia. In addition the Commission has addressed the status and process for disbursement of its grants; reviewed and approved additional grants applications; and examined the status of the Lake Gaston Pipeline Project, the activities of Regional Advisory Councils on Economic Development, and the future of Southside education and economic development entities.
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(*1) 1994 Acts of Assembly, c. 966, § 1-35, Item 103(I); 1995 Acts of Assembly, c. 853, § 1-35, item 103(I).