                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

AUTHORITY OF AGENCY DIRECTORS (§ 2.2-603)

A. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the agency director of
each agency in the executive branch of state government shall have the power and
duty to (i) supervise and manage the department or agency and (ii) prepare,
approve, and submit to the Governor all requests for appropriations and to be
responsible for all expenditures pursuant to appropriations.

B. The director of each agency in the executive branch of state government,
except those that by law are appointed by their respective boards, shall not
proscribe any agency employee from discussing the functions and policies of the
agency, without prior approval from his supervisor or superior, with any person
unless the information to be discussed is protected from disclosure by the
Virginia Freedom of Information Act (&#xA7; 2.2-3700 et seq.) or any other
provision of state or federal law.

C. Subsection A shall not be construed to restrict any other specific or general
powers and duties of executive branch boards granted by law.

D. This section shall not apply to those agency directors that are appointed by
their respective boards or by the Board of Education. Directors appointed in
this manner shall have the powers and duties assigned by law or by the board.

E. In addition to the requirements of subsection C of &#xA7; 2.2-619, the
director of each agency in any branch of state government shall, at the end of
each fiscal year, report to (i) the Secretary of Finance and the Chairmen of the
House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance and
Appropriations a listing and general description of any federal contract, grant,
or money in excess of $1 million for which the agency was eligible, whether or
not the agency applied for, accepted, and received such contract, grant, or
money, and, if not, the reasons therefore and the dollar amount and
corresponding percentage of the agency&#8217;s total annual budget that was
supplied by funds from the federal government and (ii) the Chairmen of the House
Committees on Appropriations and Finance, and the Senate Committee on Finance
and Appropriations any amounts owed to the agency from any source that are more
than six months delinquent, the length of such delinquencies, and the total of
all such delinquent amounts in each six-month interval. Clause (i) shall not be
required of public institutions of higher education.

F. Notwithstanding subsection D, the director of every agency and department in
the executive branch of state government, including those appointed by their
respective boards or the Board of Education, shall be responsible for securing
the electronic data held by his agency or department and shall comply with the
requirements of the Commonwealth&#8217;s information technology security and
risk-management program as set forth in &#xA7; 2.2-2009.

G. The director of every department in the executive branch of state government
shall have the power and duty to comply with the provisions of &#xA7; 2.2-1209.

HISTORY: 1985, c. 212, § 2.1-20.01:1; 1992, c. 672; 1995, c. 219; 1996, c. 98;
1997, c. 491; 1999, cc. 70, 892; 2001, c. 844; 2004, cc. 488, 638; 2015, cc.
261, 768; 2017, c. 527; 2022, cc. 626, 627.