RD19 - Annual Report of the Council on Virginia's Future


Executive Summary:
The Council on Virginia’s Future was established pursuant to House Bill 2097 of the 2003 General Assembly. The Council’s purpose is to create a vision of Virginia’s future and a system for state government that aligns with and supports achievement of the vision. The purpose encompasses several factors – providing a long-term focus on high priority issues, creating an environment for improved policy and budget decision-making, increasing government accountability and transparency, improving government performance and engaging citizens in dialogue about Virginia’s future. The Governor chairs the Council, and its membership is a unique public/private partnership, comprising representatives from the General Assembly, the Governor’s Cabinet and citizens.

Role of the Council

The Council is an advisory board and promotes positive change in the Commonwealth by providing a forum in which legislative, executive branch and citizen leaders can come together for deliberations that transcend election cycles, partisanship, limited organizational boundaries and short-term thinking. Implementation is the responsibility of elected and appointed officials, regional and community leaders and the citizens of Virginia.

Annually, the Council submits two distinct reports: (1) The Virginia Scorecard, which is focused on state government performance, and (2) The Virginia Report, an annual report of the Council’s proceedings. This is the fourth in the annual Virginia Report series. The requirement to develop the Virginia Scorecard is now met through the Virginia Performs website (www.VAperforms.virginia.gov), which provides information on key societal (macro) indicators and state government performance data.

This report contains three chapters. This chapter presents an overview of the Council and a brief summary of the work accomplished beginning in 2003. Chapter two provides more detail on the overall performance leadership agenda that the Council is working to develop in collaboration with the Executive and Legislative Branches of state Government. Chapter three describes the current status and next steps for the Council’s key work tasks.