VCC Magazine Fall 2018

V irginia C apitol C onnections , F all 2018 20 DBA Introduces New App By Sarah Alderson If you want to access the latest Virginia Capitol news, political calendars, videos, and publications—yes, you guessed it, there’s an app for that. Since it has become such a high-tech, smartphone world, we’re all used to hearing about apps. While you certainly use ones already loaded onto your device, they won’t cover everything you need. When it comes to finding the simplest, best and most useful ones, you could end up doing a lot of research. And for much of the information you’re looking for, you’ll still just end up trying to search the web. What you might not have guessed is that all of the information mentioned above is now readily available right at your fingertips on any of your devices in one newly-launched, easy-to-use app– at www.virginiaredbook.com . If you work around the Capitol, you’re probably familiar with, and even reliant upon, the Virginia Capitol Connections Handbook, also known as the Red Book. It’s the ultimate guide to the Virginia Executive Branch and General Assembly. You can pick up a print version easily in many of the buildings and offices. But even though you may have a copy in your desk and/or your briefcase, you may not always have it readily available at the spur of the moment. You could do a regular search for the information you need online, which takes extra time. However, now you have one simple app for that. "Virginia Capitol Connections and the ‘Red Book’ are my go-to resources when I need to contact my elected representatives. Their new app makes accessing this information even easier and gives me the confidence that I always have the most up-to-date data, says Mark Cipolletti of Pinch Hit Partners. Published by David Bailey Associates since 1987, the “Red Book” has provided essential contact information for the Governor's office, Cabinet members, Senators, Delegates and United States Congress members. Over the years, it has become an important guide to the Executive Branch and General Assembly for a wide range of Virginia companies and citizens. The legislative directory now includes photos, telephone numbers, FAX numbers, addresses and birthdays for everyone you need to know in Virginia government. The names and numbers of their assistants and other local legislative office information is also provided. While the new app can be found at www.varedbook.com , it has much more information to offer beyond a normal print copy. You can access Virginia’s Legislative Information System along with the Virginia Law Portal. It also includes each legislator’s committee standings, the list of all committees, links to “This Week in Richmond” and the Quarterly Magazine, a political calendar, and links to information on the Capitol Press Corps. "I look forward to using this during session and whenever I need to quickly access information about the General Assembly,” says Olivia Garrett, Chief of Staff for Delegate Betsy Carr. This new and improved Virginia Capitol Connections app is called a “Progressive Web App” or PWA. Technologically-speaking, it’s basically one of the latest steps forward in better accessing the web on all of your devices, especially your phone. Nefari Steele, Virginia State University student, describes it this way: “The app is not only easily accessible, but also very detailed and organized. The links are all functioning and the appearance of the site is aesthetically pleasing.” Wikipedia defines a Progressive Web App as an application that loads like a regular web page or website, but can offer users extra functionality such as working offline, push notifications, and device V i r g i n i a R e d b o o k . c om D ow n l o a d O u r A p p C APITOL C ONNECTIONS V I R G I N I A Connect with the Governor & Cabinet members, Legislators & staf f . Access the latest news , pol it ical calendars, videos, publ icat ions, & much more! Continued on next page