Delegate Landes sponsored legislation creating the Governor's Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund which establishes an economic development grant and loan program targeted specifically at agricultural and forestry operations. He sponsored a bill creating the Office of Inspector General to investigate complaints for fraud, waste, abuse, corruption, or mistreatment of citizens of Virginia by public officers and employees. Landes also sponsored legislation creating a Small Business Jobs Grant Fund administered by the Department of Business Assistance for jobs created. To promote agriculture and assist rural areas in Virginia, he introduced legislation creating the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry as part of the Governor’s Cabinet and legislation establishing the Center for Rural Virginia.

Steve also serves as a House Budget Conferee and is Chairman of the Economic Development, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Subcommittee of House Appropriations, and Chairman of the Studies Subcommittee of House Rules. He is a Member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates, representing the House of Delegates, and serves on the Major Employment and Investment (MEI) Projects Approval Commission, the Federal Action Contingency Trust (FACT) Fund Approval Commission, and the Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission.

Landes is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Center for Rural Virginia. In addition he also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia.

From 1988 to 1992 he served as Legislative Assistant to his predecessor, former Delegate A.R. “Pete” Giesen, Jr., and from 1993 to 1995, he served as Congressman Bob Goodlatte’s District Director and District Representative.

Steve is presently a Consultant, specializing in public and government relations. Most previously he served for six and a half years as Community Relations Coordinator for DuPont Community Credit Union, which is headquartered in Waynesboro, Virginia. He served as Executive Director of NewBiz Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley’s small business incubator, for five years. Steve was a Life Insurance Agent and Registered Representative with Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. Steve also worked at Davis & Davis Marketing, Inc. — a Staunton based marketing and advertising firm as a Media Buyer and then as an Account Executive.

Steve is a graduate of Buffalo Gap High School in Augusta County, and he received a Bachelor of Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. He and his wife Angela, who is an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for Augusta County, live in Weyers Cave, Virginia, with their son Roth. He is also President and a Member of the Weyers Cave Ruritan Club. Steve and Angela are both Members and Elders of Mt. Horeb Presbyterian Church.