Southern Governors' Association

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Southern Governors' Association (SGA) was founded in 1934, and is the oldest and historically the largest of the USA's regional governors' associations. Since its first meeting 70 years ago to discuss the repeal of discriminatory rates for transporting goods by rail, the Southern Governors' Association has represented the common interests of Southern states' chief executives and provided a vehicle for promoting them. The ongoing mission of SGA is to support the work of the governors by providing a bipartisan, regional forum to help shape and implement national policy and to solve state and regional problems. Currently, the association is comprised of 8 Democrats and 9 Republicans.

SGA pursues this mission by coordinating regionally collaborative initiatives, tracking and analyzing federal legislation and regulations of interest to the Southern states, advocating before Congress and the executive branch the Southern governors' policy agenda as expressed through approved policy resolutions and by convening meetings for governors and their staffs.

The current SGA Chairman is Republican Haley Barbour of Mississippi. The First Vice Chairman is Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia (who will assume the chairmanship in 2007). The Second Vice Chairman is Democrat Tim Kaine of Virginia.

[edit] List of current Southern Governors

Current Governor	State	Past	Party	Elected/took office	Seat Up
Robert R. Riley	Alabama	List	Republican	2002	2006
Mike Huckabee	Arkansas	List	Republican	1996	2006 (term limits)
Sonny Perdue	Georgia	List	Republican	2002	2006
Ernie Fletcher	Kentucky	List	Republican	2003	2007
Kathleen Blanco	Louisiana	List	Democrat	2003	2007
Robert L. Ehrlich	Maryland	List	Republican	2002	2006
Haley Barbour	Mississippi	List	Republican	2003	2007
Matt Blunt	Missouri	List	Republican	2004	2008
Michael F. Easley	North Carolina	List	Democrat	2000	2008 (term limits)
C. Bradford Henry	Oklahoma	List	Democrat	2002	2006
Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá	Puerto Rico	List	Democrat	2004	2008
Mark Sanford	South Carolina	List	Republican	2002	2006
Philip N. Bredesen	Tennessee	List	Democrat	2002	2006
Rick Perry	Texas	List	Republican	2000	2006
Charles W. Turnbull	U.S. Virgin Islands	List	Democrat	1998	2006 (term limits)
Timothy M. Kaine	Virginia	List	Democrat	2005	2009 (term limits}
Joseph Manchin III	West Virginia	List	Democrat	2004	2008