Midwestern Governors Association - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Midwestern Governors Association (MGA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that brings together the Midwestern governors of states to work cooperatively on public policy issues of significance to the region. The MGA was created in December 1962 in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, when articles of organization were adopted at the first annual meeting in Chicago. The members of the association include the governors of the following Midwestern states: Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

and Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

.

The purpose of the MGA is "to foster regional development, to attain greater efficiency in state administration, to facilitate interstate cooperation and improve intergovernmental relationships, and to provide a medium for the exchange of views and experiences on subjects of general importance to the people of the Midwestern states." In pursuit of these objectives, the MGA has, through the years, established a wide array of committees, task forces and study groups charged with investigating and reporting on various issues of regional concern.

The MGA staff supports projects undertaken by the governors and by the MGA working groups to promote regional cooperation and problem-solving. These multi-state groups of government officials work to enhance economic development in the Midwestern states and identify opportunities at the federal level to advance the MGA's goals. Issues they have recently addressed include agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

, workforce development, international trade

International trade

International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product...

and tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

promotion.

The Midwestern Governors Association (MGA) has Gold and Silver partners, corresponding to the different contribution and benefit levels. The Gold partners include:
Altria,
American Electric Power

American Electric Power

American Electric Power is a major investor-owner electric utility in various parts of the United States. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S...

,
Enbridge Energy Company, Inc.,
and Alliant Energy

Alliant Energy

Alliant Energy Corporation is a public utility holding company that incorporated in Madison, Wisconsin in 1981. It consists of two subsidiaries:...

.
Silver partners include:
American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity,
American Wind Energy Association/Wind on the Wires,
Bayer Health Care,
Biotechnology Industry Organization

Biotechnology Industry Organization

Biotechnology Industry Organization is an industry lobby group founded 1993 in Washington, D.C. Carl B. Feldbaum was the president until he retired in 2004, and was succeeded by James C. Greenwood.-External links:* *...

(BIO),
BP America. Inc,
Consumers Energy

Consumers Energy

Consumers Energy is a public utility that provides natural gas and electricity to more than 6 million of Michigan's 10 million residents. It serves customers in all 68 of the state’s Lower Peninsula counties. It is a division of CMS Energy. Its headquarters is in Jackson.-History:The company was...

,
CN

Canadian National Railway

The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

,
Dominion

Dominion Resources

Dominion Resources Inc. , commonly referred to as Dominion, is a power and energy company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia that supplies electricity in parts of Virginia and North Carolina and supplies natural gas to parts of West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and eastern North Carolina...

,
Duke Energy

Duke Energy

Duke Energy , headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is an energy company with assets in the United States, Canada and Latin America.-Overview:...

,
Edison Electric Institute

Edison Electric Institute

The Edison Electric Institute is the association of United States shareholder-owned electric power companies. Its members serve 95 percent of the ultimate customers in the shareholder-owned segment of the industry, and represent approximately 70 percent of the U.S. electric power industry...

,
Eli Lilly and Company

Eli Lilly and Company

Eli Lilly and Company is a global pharmaceutical company. Eli Lilly's global headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States...

,
Flint Hill Resources Golden Living,
Hewlett-Packard Company,
ITC Holdings Corporation,
Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500....

,
Kraft Foods Global Inc.,
Madison Gas and Electric Company,
Moore & Van Allen, PLLC,
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the organization that represents over 900 electric cooperatives in the United States. Independent electric utilities are not-for-profit and are owned by their members...

,
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation,
PhRMA,
State Farm Insurance

State Farm Insurance

State Farm Insurance is a group of insurance and financial services companies in the United States. The company also has operations in Canada....

, and
Trade Commission of Spain.

List of current Midwestern Governors

The current MGA Chair is Pat Quinn

Pat Quinn (politician)

Patrick Joseph "Pat" Quinn III is the 41st and current Governor of Illinois. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Previously elected three times to statewide office, Quinn was the sitting lieutenant governor and became governor on January 29, 2009, when the previous governor, Rod Blagojevich,...

of Illinois

Illinois

. The Immediate Past Chair is Terry Branstad of Iowa

Iowa

Current Governor	State U.S. state A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...	Past	Party	Took office	Seat Up
Pat Quinn Pat Quinn (politician) Patrick Joseph "Pat" Quinn III is the 41st and current Governor of Illinois. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Previously elected three times to statewide office, Quinn was the sitting lieutenant governor and became governor on January 29, 2009, when the previous governor, Rod Blagojevich,...	Illinois Illinois Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...	List	Democratic	2009	2014
Mitch Daniels Mitch Daniels Mitchell Elias "Mitch" Daniels, Jr. is the 49th and current Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana. A Republican, he began his first four-year term as governor on January 10, 2005, and was elected to his second term by an 18-point margin on November 4, 2008. Previously, he was the Director of the...	Indiana Indiana Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...	List	Republican	2005	2012 (term-limited)
Terry Branstad	Iowa Iowa Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...	List	Republican	2011	2014
Sam Brownback Sam Brownback Samuel Dale "Sam" Brownback is the 46th and current Governor of Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011, and as a U.S. Representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 1995 to 1996...	Kansas Kansas Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...	List	Republican	2011	2014
Mark Dayton Mark Dayton Mark Brandt Dayton is an American politician, the 40th and current Governor of the state of Minnesota. Dayton previously served as United States Senator from Minnesota from 2001 to 2007 in the 107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses...	Minnesota Minnesota Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...	List	Democratic	2011	2014
Rick Snyder	Michigan Michigan Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....	List	Republican	2011	2014
Jay Nixon Jay Nixon Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon, Sr. is the 55th and current Governor of the U.S. state of Missouri. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as Missouri's Attorney General before his election in 2008.-Political career:...	Missouri Missouri Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...	List	Democratic	2009	2012
John Kasich John Kasich John Richard Kasich is the 69th and current Governor of Ohio. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing from 1983 to 2001...	Ohio Ohio Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...	List	Republican	2011	2014
Dennis Daugaard	South Dakota South Dakota South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...	List	Republican	2011	2014
Scott Walker Scott Walker (politician) Scott Kevin Walker is an American Republican politician who began serving as the 45th Governor of Wisconsin on January 3, 2011, after defeating Democratic candidate Tom Barrett, 52 percent to 47 percent in the November 2010 general election...	Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...	List	Republican	2011	2014

MGA's Leadership

2011 Chair- Illinois

Illinois

Governor Pat Quinn

Pat Quinn (politician)

2010 Chair- Ohio

Ohio

Governor Ted Strickland

Ted Strickland

Theodore "Ted" Strickland was the 68th Governor of Ohio, serving from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, representing ....

2009 Chair- Michigan

Michigan

Governor Jennifer Granholm

2008 Chair- South Dakota

South Dakota

Governor Michael Rounds

2007 Chair- Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Governor Jim Doyle

Jim Doyle

James Edward "Jim" Doyle is a Wisconsin politician and member of the Democratic Party. He was the 44th Governor of Wisconsin, serving from January 6, 2003 to January 3, 2011. He defeated incumbent Governor Scott McCallum by a margin of 45 percent to 41 percent; the Libertarian Party candidate Ed...

2006 Chair- Minnesota

Minnesota

Governor Tim Pawlenty

Tim Pawlenty

Timothy James "Tim" Pawlenty , also known affectionately among supporters as T-Paw, is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Minnesota . He was a Republican candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election from May to August 2011...

Areas of focus

Governor Ted Strickland

Ted Strickland

's agenda focus is Midwestern Jobs: Training Workers and Investing in Businesses for the New Energy Economy. These efforts foster economic growth and opportunities for job creation in the Midwest. Previous chairs' agendas have focused on
transportation, energy, trade, reauthorization of the farm bill, and workforce development.

To convey additional policy viewpoints, recommendations or Midwestern implications, the MGA passes resolutions, produces publications and sends letters to Congress, federal agencies, and the administration.

Some of the letter topics sent to Congress by the MGA include: extending tax credit provisions, increasing ethanol blend limits, supporting Midwestern rail projects, identifying unmet federal recovery and redevelopment needs, and encouraging collaboration on greenhouse gas debate.

Current Initiatives

Current initiatives underway by the Midwestern Governors Association include:

Jobs Initiative

Energy Initiative

Rural Development

Transportation

Energy Initiative

At the MGA's November 2007 Energy Summit, Midwestern governors and the Premier of Manitoba signed ambitious regional goals to provide leadership on energy security and climate stewardship, and to stimulate economic development and job creation across the Midwest. Since then, participating states have appointed diverse representatives to advisory groups charged with developing recommendations for achieving the agreed upon goals and objectives.

Since then, participating states have appointed diverse representatives to advisory groups charged with identifying more precisely what Midwestern states should do to secure their energy future. Three of these groups, focused respectively on energy efficiency, renewable electricity and advanced coal with carbon capture, and on bioeconomy and transportation, have been meeting since 2008. An additional group was formed in 2009, focused on the creation and retention of jobs in the new energy economy. For more information on that group and the MGA's jobs initiative click here.

On October of 2009, the region's governors convened in Detroit for a Jobs and Energy Forum to release three new MGA documents:

Platform for Creating and Retaining Midwestern Jobs in the New Energy Economy,

Midwestern Energy Infrastructure Accord, and

Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Roadmap: Advisory Group Recommendations.

Jobs Initiative

Current MGA chair, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland’s agenda, Midwestern Jobs: Training Workers and Investing in Businesses for the New Energy Economy, will build on previous regional efforts to foster economic growth and opportunities for the Midwest in the new energy economy.

In 2009, then-MGA Chair, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, selected Creating Jobs in the New Energy Economy as her Chair’s Agenda. Toward that goal, the MGA created an Advisory Group composed of leaders from the energy, economic development, education, workforce development and venture capital sectors. The members of the Advisory Group provided their unique opinions and work experience in crafting work products for the governors.

Rural Development Initiative

With quality education systems, low crime rates, small close-knit communities, and numerous outdoor recreational activities, Midwestern states and their rural communities continue to be excellent places to live, work and raise a family. Even with this high quality of life, rural communities have challenges building and maintaining economic activity that supports the quality and well-paying jobs that are needed to promote family success. They lack the resources and economies of scale to address pressing issues such as access to quality health care, educational attainment, and economic development. Additionally federal programs designed for urban needs and high-density service delivery systems fail to meet the needs of rural communities, further compounding the development problems they face. Rural communities need to better leverage the limited federal and state funding they receive in order to maximize the return on these dollars. Rural communities need to plan strategically in order to better earn, keep and grow available state and federal dollars.

In collaboration with the Annie E. Casey Foundation

Annie E. Casey Foundation

The Annie E. Casey Foundation was started in 1948 in Seattle, Washington, by UPS founder James E. Casey and his siblings George, Harry and Marguerite. It was named in honor of their mother. The foundation moved to Baltimore in 1994....

, the MGA has hosted learning institutes focused on rural strategies for economic success. Teams of delegates—all of whom were appointed through their respective governors' offices—share ideas and perspectives on combating rural poverty. The focus is for each team to create an action plan to bring back to their home state.

Transportation Initiative

In 2008, the MGA developed regional recommendations for the reauthorization of the federal transportation bill. The MGA continues to work toward meeting rural and urban transportation needs, achieving full funding for transportation projects and implementing high-speed rail in the region.

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