Rhode Island Executive Order 23-07 (2023): Rhode Island Resilience
In 2023, Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee issued Executive Order 23-07, “Rhode Island Resilience,” establishing a state Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) in the Department of Environmental Management (DEM). The new CRO will coordinate across all resilience actors in the state, including agencies, municipalities, businesses, and other state agencies. They will also advise the Rhode Island Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (RIEC4, established by the 2021 Act on Climate) and produce biennial reports on Rhode Island resilience efforts for RIEC4, the governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the President of the Senate.
Rhode Island is experiencing higher than the national average sea-level rise and extreme precipitation, among other climate change impacts (such as rising temperatures). The coastal zone underpins Rhode Island’s economy and provides protection from sea-level rise and storms, which have become more severe and frequent over the last few decades due to climate change.
Several initiatives laid the framework for this Executive Order (EO), including:
- CMRC Shoreline Change Special Area Management Plan Beach SAMP (2018)
- Statewide climate action strategy Resilient Rhody (2019)
- Municipal Resilience Program (MRP) (2019)
- Rhode Island Act on Climate (2021), and
- Ocean State Climate Adaptation and Resilience Fund (OSCAR) (2021).
The new CRO will coordinate with the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank on implementing MRP and OSCAR moving forward.
As outlined in the EO, the CRO will be responsible for advocating for resilience policies and actions broadly, monitoring potential sources of funding and applying to federal resilience grants, and ensuring that climate resilience and mitigation (carbon reduction) projects are aligned. They will propose and implement state resilience policies with the guidance of RIEC4, and conduct risk assessments for coastal communities. DEM and the CRO will collaborate to implement habitat conservation and restoration projects.
Subsequent to this EO, the CRO’s responsibilities were further elaborated through the Rhode Island Legislature’s passage of the 2024 Act on Coasts, which mandated the development of a coastal resilience plan to be overseen by the CRO.
Publication Date: May 22, 2023
Related Organizations:
- State of Rhode Island
Sectors:
- Coastal
- Land management and conservation
- Land use and built environment
Resource Category:
Resource Types:
- Executive order
States Affected:
