Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Governor Lawrence Douglas Wilder, Records of the Policy Office: Legislative Guidance Memoranda, 1990-1994. Accession 35539, State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Accession 35539 was transferred by Gov. Lawrence Douglas Wilder, October 31, 1996.

Processing Information

Original folder titles have been retained.

Historical Information

Lawrence Douglas Wilder was born in Richmond, Va., on January 17, 1931. He graduated from Virginia Union University in 1951 and afterwards was drafted into the Army, where he served in the Korean War from 1952-1953 and received a bronze star. He then attended the Howard University School of Law and graduated in 1959. Douglas Wilder was elected to the Virginia Senate in 1969 as the first African American member since Reconstruction and served in the Senate for five terms. In 1985, he was elected to the office of Lieutenant Governor as the first African American to be elected to statewide office in Virginia. L. Douglas Wilder won the election for Governor of Virginia in 1989 and served from January 13, 1990 to January 14, 1994. He was the first African American to be elected as Governor in United States.

During the Wilder Administration, the Policy Office was headed by Walter McFarlane, Executive Assistant for Policy, and four Special Assistants: Richard Taylor (Health and Human Resources, and Education), Robert Blue (Finance and Natural Resources), Jeff Nuechterlein (Economic Development and Transportation), and Lynne Porfiri (Administration and Public Safety). The Policy Office was responsible for review and coordination of all policy matters, including: review of proposed legislation from agencies and Cabinet; formulation of the Governor's legislative initiatives; tracking legislation and serving as legislative liaison; review of General Assembly approved legislation submitted to the Governor for signature, amendment or veto; review of death penalty clemency requests, as well as other pardon and restoration of rights requests; review of legal settlements and other legal matters from the Office of the Attorney General's Office; review of proposed regulations; review of all matters pertaining to the judiciary and writs of habeas corpus; review of proposed executive orders; assistance with speech writing; serving as staff for Governor's special commissions; administrative support for Governor's Fellows program; serving as special interest liaison; acting as in-house counsel; and all correspondence with policy implications or pertaining to sensitive or controversial issues requiring legal overview.

Scope and Content

Legislative Guidance Memoranda, 1990-1994, are housed in 23 boxes and are arranged chronologically by year of legislative session, and by Secretarial area thereunder. The legislative guidance memoranda document legislative proposals submitted by Cabinet Secretariats and state agencies, and the subsequent review of the proposals. Initial legislative packages submitted by cabinet secretaries and state agencies include a summary of the legislation, objectives, needs assessment, impacts (internal, external, program/client, budgetary), and may also include correspondence, draft legislation and other background information. Legislative guidance memoranda are decision summaries that consist of summary sheets that may include a brief summary of and justification for the legislative proposals; impacts of the legislation; agency and Attorney General reaction to the legislation; and tracking of required reviews and recommendations of the Dept. of Planning and Budget, Cabinet Secretary, Policy Office, and the Governor's final decision (approve, disapprove or approve with modification). Recommendations include a signature and date. These files may also include supporting documentation such as correspondence, notes, draft legislation, news articles and reports. If approved, the proposals become part of the Governor's legislative package.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into the following series: