The Appalachian Regional Commission, created in 1965, is the oldest of the four regional commissions and authorities chartered by Congress to address development and related issues affecting multi-state regions and substate areas experiencing long-term economic distress and isolation. In 1960, governors of nine states (Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia) formed the Council of Appalachian Governors. The ad hoc group's mission was to press for greater federal involvement in addressing the region's common problems. In 1963, President Kennedy established the President's Appalachian Regional Commission (PARC), appointed Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., as its chairman, and charged it with devising a comprehensive development program for the region. The resulting PARC report, issued in 1964 during the Johnson Administration, expanded the definition of the region to include selected counties in the state of Ohio. It detailed the problems and shortcomings of the 10-state region, including low per capita income, high employment, educational deficiencies, and poor public infrastructure. The report identified four priority areas of action, including: regional infrastructure, particularly highways, as a means of reducing regional isolation; water and wastewater management resources; natural resources development; and human resources development, including housing, education, job skills, and health care. The report called for the creation of a new independent agency capable of coordinating state and federal actions. On March 9, 1965, President Johnson signed into law the Appalachian Regional Development Act, P.L. 89-4. The act identified three purposes of the Appalachian Regional Development Commission (ARDC) based on the PARC recommendations. These included assisting the region in addressing its special problems; promoting economic development in the region; and establishing a framework for joint federal and state efforts in developing basic facilities essential to promoting coordinated regional responses to the region's problems. The 1965 Act authorized the creation of several new programs intended to address the most pressing issues in the region. These new initiatives included: the Appalachian Development Highway System, which was administered by the Department of Commerce, with the federal government covering 50% to 70% of the construction cost of such projects; a health facilities demonstration program administered by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, with the federal government covering 100% the operating cost of such facilities for the first two years; land stabilization, conservation, and erosion control agreements with private landowners and the Secretary of Agriculture; technical assistance to timber development organizations to aid in developing sound timber management policies; mining restoration; water resource control; and sewage treatment works grants. The act directed the ARC to give priority consideration to funding for projects using such factors as: the relationship of the project to an area's growth potential; the per capita income of an area's population; a state or local area's financial resources; and the potential of a project to improve the long-term employment outlook of an area. The act also required the submission of an annual progress report to Congress on the activities carried out under the act. The 1965 Act identified several counties in 11 states within the purview of the ARDC. The Appalachian Regional Development Act Amendments in 1967 ( P.L. 94-188 ) added counties in New York and Mississippi, increasing the number of state members of the ARC to 13, which has remained unchanged. During its 40-year history, the ARC Act has been amended several times in an effort to refine its mission. In 1975, Congress amended the ARC, to require the governor of each member state to serve as a member of it. The act also required ARC decisions regarding policy, approval of state and regional development plans, and the allocation of funds to be made with a quorum of state members present. In addition, the 1975 amendments: directed the ARC to publish regulations specifying minimum guidelines for public participation in the development, revision, and implementation of all ARC plans and programs; required that states consult with local development districts and local units of government; and authorized federal grants to the ARC for assistance to states for a period not exceeding two years to strengthen the state development planning process for the region, including the coordination of state planning under this act and the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965, which authorized funding for the Economic Development Administration. The amendments also stated that no funds authorized by the act could be used to reclaim, improve, grade, seed, or reforest strip-mined areas, except on lands owned by federal, state, or local government bodies or by private, nonprofit entities organized under state law. Such reclamation efforts could only be undertaken if the land was to be used for public recreation, conservation, community development facilities, and public housing. It also authorized the Department of Housing and Urban Development to make grants and loans from the Appalachian Housing Fund to nonprofit, limited dividend, or cooperative organizations, and public bodies. Such grants and loans were designated for planning and obtaining federally insured mortgage financing or other financial assistance for housing construction and rehabilitation projects for low- and moderate-income families and individuals. Further, the 1975 amendments authorized grants for education projects which served to demonstrate area-wide education planning, services, and programs, with special emphasis on vocational and technical education, career education, cooperative and recurrent education, and guidance counseling. It required each state member to submit to the ARC a development plan for each area of the state within the ARC. The state development plans were to reflect the goals, objectives, and priorities identified in the regional development plan approved for the subregion of which such state is a part. It also required the ARC to conduct a study and report on the status of Appalachian migrants, current migration patterns and implications, and the actual and potential impact the Commission program has or might have on out-migration and the welfare of Appalachian migrants. The Appalachian Regional Development Reform Act of 1998 directed the ARC to designate counties as: distressed counties—those that are the most severely and persistently distressed; competitive counties—those which are approaching economic parity with the rest of the country; and attainment counties—those which have attained or exceeded such economic parity. The act provided for annual reviews of county designations and permitted designation renewals for another one-year period only if a county still met the designation criteria. It also required the ARC to give special consideration to counties designated as distressed, limited ARC's contribution to 30% of project costs for projects located in a county designated as competitive; and prohibited assistance for a county designated as an attainment county, but provided for exceptions and an authorized waiver by the ARC. The 1998 amendments also brought administrative and programmatic changes. They included provisions that required the ARC to meet at least once a year, and allowed the ARC to conduct additional meetings by electronic means; required the ARC to obtain a quorum of state members before reaching certain decisions; permanently extended the authorization of appropriations for ARC administrative expenses and empowered the ARC to make grants for administrative expenses; limit the ARC federal contribution supporting health care and vocational and educational initiatives to 50% of total project cost, down from 100% of cost, with an exception of an 80% federal contribution for projects in distressed counties; and reduced from 75% to 50% the federal share of program costs of research and development projects, with an exception of an 80% federal contribution for counties designated as distressed. Section 208 of the act repealed the programs and provisions under the act relating to: the land stabilization, conservation, and erosion control program; the timber development program; the mining area restoration program; the water resource development and utilization survey; the Appalachian airport safety improvements program; the sewage treatment works program; and amendments to the Housing Act of 1954. On March 12, 2002, the President signed the Appalachian Regional Development Act Amendments of 2002. The 2002 amendments called for the ARC to: support local development districts; encourage the use of eco-industrial development technologies and approaches; and coordinate economic development activities of, and the use of economic development resources by, federal agencies in the Appalachian region. The act limited all ARC grants to 50% of project costs or 80% for projects when carried out in designated distressed counties and eliminated the requirement that an area have significant growth potential as a criterion for programs and projects to be awarded assistance under the act. It allowed, at ARC's discretion, coverage of up to 75% of the administrative expenses of local development districts that have a charter or authority that includes the economic development of a county designated as distressed. It also directed the President to establish the Interagency Coordinating Council on Appalachia. The amendments added language that authorized the ARC to undertake three new initiatives in the areas of telecommunications and technology, entrepreneurship including development of business incubators, and regional skills partnership. Specifically, the ARC is directed to provide technical assistance, make grants, and enter into contracts with persons or entities in the region for projects to provide increased access to advanced telecommunications information technologies and to electronic commerce. The 2002 amendments encouraged the ARC to provide increased support for the development of homegrown businesses. It authorized the ARC to provide technical assistance, make grants, enter into contracts, or otherwise provide funds to persons or entities in the region for projects that would: provide entrepreneurial training and education for youths, students, and businesspersons; improve access to debt and equity capital, including the establishment of venture capital funds; aid communities in identifying, developing, and implementing development strategies for various sectors of the economy; and develop a working network of business incubators, including supporting entities that provide such services. Further, the amendments authorized the Commission to establish regional skill partnerships comprised of representatives from business or nonprofit entities, labor organizations, educational institutions, and state and local governments. The Commission provides technical assistance and award grants to eligible entities to be used to assess and improve the job skills of workers in specified industries.