Virginia Governor Ralph Northam visited William & Mary Law School last week to sign two bills, House Bill 345 and Senate Bill 265, establishing a new cabinet position for Virginia: Special Assistant to the Governor for Coastal Adaptation and Protection.
The new cabinet position will function as the lead in developing and providing direction and ensuring accountability for a statewide coastal flooding adaptation strategy.
“ It’s our honor as a law school to host this signing ceremony for creating legislation establishing a new position ,” said Davison M. Douglas, Dean of the Law School and Arthur B. Hanson Professor of Law.
“Our law school, and our university, is intensely interested in issues of coastal protection and adaptation; this includes the work of our Virginia Coastal Policy Center, which has become a major center for addressing these issues, as well as William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science.”
During his remarks, Governor Northam said that solving the problem of coastal flooding is one of the most important issues facing Virginia today.
“ It’s important to folks that live on the water; it’s important to our economy; it’s important to our infrastructure and transportation; and it’s also important to our military ,” Northam said.
Northam reminded attendees that the military and government contracting are a very important part of the Hampton Roads economy.