Legislative Success:
2024 - Defeated bills that would have been harmful to Virginia exporters, restricted energy supply to manufacturers and increased the costs of freight transportation on rail.
2024 - Secured millions in annual and one-time investments to fund Virginia's International Trade Plan, Virginia Business Ready Sites Program, and the Mount Rogers Planning District Inland Port Feasibility Study.
2023 - After a successful year of advocacy, the General Assembly approved funding for the following:
- $150M devoted to complete widening Interstate 64 all the way to Richmond and the 1-95 corridor.
- $125M devoted to the Virginia Business Ready Site Fund, plus $75M to empower the Commonwealth to procure and prepare sites for large industrial development projects.
- $10M devoted toward developing an inland port in Southwest Virginia.
- $9M annually for Virginia's Talent Accelerator Program to help large new employers meet their workforce needs.
2022 - After several years of advocacy work, the Norfolk Harbor widening and deepening project was fully funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Originally started in 2019 with state funding, the project is expected to be completed late 2024, giving Virginia the deepest water on the East Coast.
2022 - The General Assembly approved funding for the following:
- $4.6M per year for Virginia International Trade Plan
- $150M for Virginia Business Ready Sites
- $2.5M for Offshore Wind Supply Chain Grant Program
- $266M for NIT North Densification
- $470M for I-64 Gap Widening
2022 - The Hampton Roads Workforce Council received an $11M USEDA Grant for maritime-related job training. The grant will be used to build and train a pool of workers with a focus on the “blue economy,” energy, and related cybersecurity.
2021 - $40M was approved by the General Assembly for the repurposing of Portsmouth Marine Terminal for Offshore Wind use, and funding was allocated for the creation of the state Office of Offshore Wind.
2021 - The General Assembly appropriated $1.35M towards the first-ever International Trade Plan for Virginia. Funding the International Trade Plan advances the goal to increase international trade output by nearly 50% within the next 15 years. The plan is built on two distinct efforts: first, expand the reach and impact of trade development services to existing Virginia businesses in every region of the state, and second, enhance Virginia’s focus, capabilities, and resources to support existing trade-intensive businesses in expanding and to attract new export-intensive companies to the Commonwealth.
2018 - Wider Deeper Safer® - America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 fully authorizes the Norfolk Harbor Project with a 50/50 state/federal cost-share and the General Assembly authorizes $350M for dredging of the Thimble Shoals Channel to 56 feet and the Atlantic Ocean Channel to a depth of 59 feet, and for the widening of the Thimble Shoals Channel to 1,400 feet. These new depths will allow for two-way traffic and accommodate ultra-large container vessels.
2016 - Historic $350M bond package approved to add the capacity to handle an additional 400,000 containers through Norfolk International Terminals.
2014 - Appropriation of $6.2M made that year for the planning and preliminary engineering for dredging the Norfolk Harbor to a depth of 55 feet and the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River to depths up to 45 feet, and the strengthening of state laws pertaining to privatization of Virginia’s state-owned terminals.
For additional information: Historical Advocacy Milestones