Southern Governors Association

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The 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 comprises 10 Democrats and 8 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 Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The First Vice Chairman is Democrat Tim Kaine of Virginia. The Second Vice President is Republican Charlie Crist of Florida.

[edit] List of current Southern Governors

Current Governor	State	Past	Party	Elected/took office	Seat Up
Robert R. Riley	Alabama	List	Republican	2002	2010 (term-limited)
Mike Beebe	Arkansas	List	Democratic	2006	2010
Sonny Perdue	Georgia	List	Republican	2002	2010 (term-limited)
Charlie Crist	Florida	List	Republican	2006	2010
Steve Beshear	Kentucky	List	Democratic	2007	2011
Bobby Jindal	Louisiana	List	Republican	2007	2011
Martin O'Malley	Maryland	List	Democratic	2006	2010
Haley Barbour	Mississippi	List	Republican	2003	2011 (term-limited)
Matt Blunt	Missouri	List	Republican	2004	2008 (retiring)
Michael F. Easley	North Carolina	List	Democratic	2000	2008 (term-limited)
C. Bradford Henry	Oklahoma	List	Democratic	2002	2010 (term-limited)
Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá	Puerto Rico	List	PDP	2004	2008
Mark Sanford	South Carolina	List	Republican	2002	2010
Philip N. Bredesen	Tennessee	List	Democratic	2002	2010 (term-limited)
Rick Perry	Texas	List	Republican	2000	2010
John de Jongh	U.S. Virgin Islands	List	Democratic	2007	2011
Timothy M. Kaine	Virginia	List	Democratic	2005	2009 (term-limited}
Joseph Manchin III	West Virginia	List	Democratic	2004	2008