The nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project has posted the lobbying disclosure reports for 30 more companies and trade associations that had representation in Richmond from May 2009 – April 2010.

VPAP now has the top 55 of the 885 clients that registered lobbyists in 2009-10.

View Top 55 Spenders

Note: With lobbyist spending, apples-apples comparisons can be difficult. Lobbyist disclosure laws are general in nature and therefore, in practice, lobbyists report expenditures in different ways.

Unlike most states, Virginia places few restrictions on the interaction between registered lobbyists and officials from executive and legislative branches. Once a year, lobbyists are required to disclose their activities and itemize certain types of expenses.

List of Bills: Many lobbyist provide general statements of their activities, while some provide a list of bills, including their client’s position on each.

Entertainment Expenses: Lobbyists are required to itemize any entertainment expense greater than $50. If the per-person cost is greater than $50, lobbyists also are required to disclose the name of the executive or legislative officials present.

Gifts: Lobbyists are required to disclose items valued at more than $50 to executive and legislative officials.

Compensation: The way lobbyist disclose compensation varies widely. Some report the total amount of their salary or total amount they were paid, while others pro-rate their salary or fees based on percentage of time spent lobbying.

During 2009-10, a total of 885 clients had registered lobbyists. It may be several weeks before VPAP adds to its listing. The Secretary of the Commonwealth is preparing to ship the documents to an outside vendor for scanning. The records will be unavailable during the scanning process. Last year, the scanning process took until mid-October.

Submitted by the Virginia Public Access Project

Virginia’s assistant secretary for commerce and trade essentially works two jobs.

That’s because in addition to his responsibilities promoting foreign trade and investment, Peter Su also is the director of the Virginia Department of Business Assistance.

Officials say this two-part role is a way of elevating the importance of the VDBA. You can read more about that in the Sept.6 issue of the Business Journal. For now, listen as Blue Ridge Business Journal Reporter Annie Johnson talks about Su on WVTF Public radio.

Johnson and WVTF host Fred Echols chat each week about Virginia business. You can search old editions here.

The American Advertising Federation of Roanoke is presenting 22 advertising awards to area non-profits tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Schaal’s Metamorphosis. Here is a press release from AAF:

AAF Roanoke, the local chapter of the American Advertising
Federation, is set to present more than 20 prestigious advertising awards, called ADDYs, to non-profit organizations in the Roanoke Valley at a member appreciation event tonight.

The awards were earned from work accomplished at the 2009 CreateAthon, an annual public service initiative adopted by AAF Roanoke to provide elements of advertising at no cost to non-profit organizations in our region. This 24-hour event is orchestrated by 40 local advertising, marketing and public relations professionals who volunteer their time to develop campaigns and products for selected non-profits. Read more »

Gilded Era ribbon cutting

Fay Harris’s shop Gilded Era, which sells jewelry, handbags and home decor, has moved from Bedford City to 14880 Forest Road in Forest. Here is a press release from the Bedford Area Chamber:

On Friday, July 16^th, the Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce was pleased to assist Shop Owner Fay Harris with a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony celebrating the relocation of her business, Gilded Era, from Bedford City to Forest.  The building to which Gilded Era relocated has experienced a serious facelift on the exterior and Fay – with the help of her associates, Brenda Bondillo, Shirley Phillips, Rachael Toms, and Jackie Willard – has transformed the interior into another distinctively beautiful attraction. Read more »

Virginia has contracted with CH2M HILL Constructors Inc. of Denver to add a 5-mile-long truck-climbing lane to southbound Interstate 81 between Ironto and Christiansburg for $75.4 million.

Reporter Jeff Sturgeon of The Roanoke Times has more details.

Eric Wooten, who ran the short-lived Galloway’s Blueberry Hill restaurant near the Botetourt Athletic Center, was sentenced to 33 months in prison today. Mike Gangloff of The Roanoke Times has more about the fraud case here.

The Virginia State Corporation Commission has substantially reduced the base rate increase sought by Appalachian Power Co. in a ruling issued today. Duncan Adams of The Roanoke Times has details here.

Walmart will hire approximately 350 people to work at a new store slated to open this summer on Old Forest Road in Lynchburg.

The retailer has opened a temporary hiring center at 2225 Lakeside Drive in Lynchburg. Applications are accepted from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Interested applicants also can apply online at http://walmartstores.com/Careers/7745.aspx.

The store is looking for both full- and part-time workers.

New Health and Human Resources and Technology legislation will take effect in Virginia on July 1st. Here is a press release from the Governor’s office:

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell today highlighted several pieces of Health and Human Resources and Technology legislation that will take effect on July 1^st.  This includes legislation dramatically expanding telemedicine coverage for Virginians, as well as the Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act which sets as the policy of the Commonwealth that no individual, with several specific exceptions, can be required to purchase health insurance coverage.  In addition, the Governor highlighted bills that expand the use of technology for economic development and integrating technology in education.  In March, Governor McDonnell worked in a bipartisan fashion to develop comprehensive legislation to restructure and provide more transparency and accountability within the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA).  This successful legislation gave the Governor’s Office, through the Secretary of Technology, direct management control of VITA; the emergency legislation took effect on March 11^th. Read more »

Goodwill opened a new store last week at Botetourt Commons in Daleville.

We have these photos from the event, plus more coverage on our Botetourt County community news site.