Bill Text: VA SJR167 | 2024 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commending the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)
Status: (Passed) 2024-03-04 - Bill text as passed Senate and House (SJ167ER) [SJR167 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-SJR167-Enrolled.html
WHEREAS, electric cooperatives were formed during the 1930s and 1940s in hundreds of communities across the United States by rural citizens who joined together to provide themselves with the reliable electric service that their urban neighbors had enjoyed for years, thereby making farm life more comfortable and efficient, ultimately enabling American farmers to feed the world; and
WHEREAS, the Virginia REA Association was incorporated on July 7, 1944, by more than a dozen member-owned electric cooperatives in the Commonwealth to empower themselves and enable them to work together more effectively; and
WHEREAS, the Virginia REA Association advocated for cooperative members at the state level, facilitated the training of cooperative line workers, provided continuing education for cooperative engineers and other professionals, and, starting in 1946, communicated regularly with cooperative members through the Rural Virginia home-delivered newspaper, a periodical which is today known as Cooperative Living magazine and reaches millions of subscribers throughout the mid-Atlantic; and
WHEREAS, in the late 1940s, the Virginia REA Association began efforts to amalgamate the power purchases of its member cooperatives, and the power supply committee of the association eventually became Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, the cooperative-owned generation and transmission provider for the region, which the association and its member cooperatives incorporated in 1948; and
WHEREAS, the Virginia REA Association was later joined by electric cooperatives from neighboring states and became the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives; and
WHEREAS, the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives has worked tirelessly and effectively for 80 years to provide high-quality services to its 16 member electric cooperatives, adding over the years to its original portfolio such additional services as mutual aid and recovery following natural disasters and regulatory and legal support programs; and
WHEREAS, the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives coordinates what is now one of the largest regional line worker rodeos in the nation, thereby burnishing its reputation as an excellent example of the Seven Cooperative Principles, in particular the principle of advocating Cooperation Among Cooperatives; and
WHEREAS, in the process of providing these crucial services for many decades, the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives has been and remains an important partner to the member systems it serves, facilitating reliable, affordable, environmentally sensitive, and safely delivered electricity that benefits 1.4 million Virginians and a total of two million citizens in the three states; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives on the occasion of its 80th anniversary; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives as an expression of the General Assembly's admiration for the association's achievements in service to its member cooperatives and communities throughout the Commonwealth.
