STATE LEGISLATION FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT: THE ROLE OF THE UNIVERSITY Brady J. Deaton and Thomas G. Johnson* Introduction The role of state governments in developing and implementing economic policy has taken on greater importance in the U.S. under New Federalism. A recent OECD Conference revealed that similar issues confront most of the Western democracies and, in fact, may indicate the emergence of a new form of governance with profound implications for the distribution of power among levels of governments within each nation (Jequier). 1 Clearly, both economic and political relationships will be shaped by the resulting patterns of authority that emerge from this process. The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first is to describe a rural development institution conceived and borne of the efforts of state government agencies and an academic institution. The second purpose is to relate the process involved in this cooperative undertaking. We hope that it will be obvious how much the product of such a cooperative undertaking is influenced by the day to day twists and turns of the process. We will first discuss the background and assumptions upon which this new institution is based. Secondly, the institution's structure and its underlying rationale will be described. Finally , we will address the university's role in the process, as one example of an academic institution's contribution to state policy. Background and Assumptions A close working relationship between research and extension faculty at Virginia Tech and state government was strengthened by Title V of the Rural Development Act of 1972. State government personnel were members of the Title V Advisory Committee and were participants in various workshops and conferences conducted as part of this rural development program. The demise of funding for inte- grated research-extension work under the auspices of a state-wide advisory committee has not diminished either university-state government cooperation or the emphasis on rural development work in Virginia. Title V was an important building block in a process that has been carried forward by socio-economic changes and attempts to redefine the roles of federal, state and local governments . The New Federalism has forced all levels of government to take a new look at the potential resources, including leadership, that can be provided by a creative partnership between the public and private sectors. A Convergence of Efforts The need to develop a state rural development policy was recognized by both university and state government officials as early as 1980. For example, a working group of research-extension faculty at Virginia Tech developed a statement in 1980 which included the following points: 1. Virginia citizens should establish a viable rural development policy for the state in order to: (a) provide guidelines for allocating federal revenue in programs designed to improve rural areas of Virginia, and (b) provide an important set of constructs to steer state and local resources and to provide incentives for private capital investment, job training programs, volunteer activities, and *The authors are Professor and Assistant Professor, respectively, Department of Agricultural Economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia. 29