Governor Ralph Northam is continuing his ‘Thank You, Virginia’ Tour, announcing that his proposed budget will include $150 million to expand the Virginia Business Ready Site Program.
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The new funding will dramatically increase the marketability of sites across the Commonwealth. These sites are designed to be move in ready for any company, making them strategically important to securing investments and building Virginia’s economy. This is the largest amount of funding ever set aside by the Commonwealth for site development.
“These historic investments will be felt in every corner of the Commonwealth and represent an investment in our collective economic future,” said Governor Northam. “Companies want to invest here, and we can make it easier for them by preparing these industrial sites for their use. We have an opportunity to improve Virginia’s economy and create jobs for thousands of people so we must take full advantage of it.”
Virginia has secured 900 new or expanding projects, 101,000 new jobs, and more than $80 billion in capital investment since 2018. That is four times more capital investment secured than under any previous Governor.
These one time funds will be used to develop a large variety of business ready sites. Of the $150 million, $100 million is dedicated to the development of mega sites that can accommodate the substantial needs and short timelines of businesses considering major investments in the Commonwealth. The remaining $50 million is dedicated to the development of mid sized sites all across Virginia. The more sites that are available, the more competitive Virginia is with other states.
Under Governor Northam, Virginia has secured $80 billion in capital investment and more than 100,000 jobs.
Historic investments in Agriculture and Forestry represent more than $290 million in new capital investment, nearly 1,100 new jobs, and commitments to purchase more than $539 million of Virginia grown agriculture and Virginia successfully competed with California and Texas in landing forestry products.
Virginia’s unemployment rate is 3.8% a full 1.0% below the national rate of 4.8%. Virginia is raising the minimum wage for the first time in a generation to $12 an hour by 2023. It had been just $7.25 an hour over the last 12 years.
Virginia is toughening safety standards and banning discrimination in the workplace. It is providing eight weeks of paid parental leave for state employees for the birth or adoption of a child and passing bipartisan legislation to sign it into law.
Virginia is on track to become one of the first states to achieve universal broadband access by 2024, thanks to historic investments.
Governor Northam signed the Virginia Clean Economy Act to achieve 30% renewable energy by 2030, and setting Virginia on the path to a carbon free electric grid by 2050.
Virginia has secured an agreement to establish the first offshore wind turbine blade facility in the United States Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy is building a plant in Portsmouth to supply Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm and propelling a new manufacturing industry in Hampton Roads.
Virginia ranks fourth in solar installations made in 2020, behind only California, Texas and Florida. Virginia jumped 15 spots, with installations increasing by a factor of more than 10 recently.
The Rebuild Virginia economic recovery plan awarded more than $370 million to help sustain more than 3,000 small businesses and nonprofits during the pandemic. ■
A very active and complex mid-May weather pattern is set to produce numerous areas of severe weather, heavy rain, high winds, and anomalous temperatures through this weekend.