Virginia HB 1458 2024: Chief Resilience Officer of the Commonwealth Amending and Recodifying

On April 8, 2024, the Virginia legislature passed HB 1458, amending and recodifying the role of the Chief Resilience Officer. Most of the position’s core responsibilities, like coordinating resilience across state agencies and pursuing funding, were already in place under prior law. The bill clarified existing duties, and created a state interagency team to help the CRO coordinate resilience efforts and various committees to inform the state on distribution of existing loan and grant programs related to resilience and development of the state’s flood plan.

The bill clarified the CRO’s authority to act independently and secure funding. For instance, the bill allows the CRO to enter into agreements with federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Defense for increased resilience and flooding initiatives. The CRO can also apply on behalf of Virginia for federal funding under direction of the Governor. The legislation added the CRO as one of the positions responsible for overseeing the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund and Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund and created advisory review committees to review disbursement applications from the funds.

The bill created a statewide advisory body, the Virginia Flood Resilience Advisory Committee, and established the CRO as the vice-chairman of the existing Virginia Coastal Resilience Technical Advisory Committee. The Coastal Resilience Technical Advisory Committee is tasked with ensuring that coastal resilience planning follows the best available science and the state’s planning framework, regularly updating risk and prioritization protocols, addressing statewide and regional needs, reviewing and assisting with updates to the Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan, and receiving progress reports on the Virginia Flood Protection Master Plan. The CRO must also support implementation of these plans. The Virginia Flood Resilience Advisory Committee was established to help the CRO in developing, updating, and implementing the Virginia Flood Protection Master Plan and broader state flood resilience programs. The Committee is composed of leaders from key state agencies along with representatives from local government associations, and it meets at least twice a year in an advisory capacity. Its duties include reviewing updates to the state’s major resilience plans, advising on flood impacts, setting goals and metrics, prioritizing funding and strategies, enhancing intergovernmental coordination, and supporting stakeholder outreach and local government capacity. The Committee may form subcommittees to assist with the Coastal Resilience Master Plan and must also engage with Tribal Nations, universities, the agricultural and economic development sectors, environmental nonprofits, localities, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in shaping statewide flood resilience planning.

Finally, the bill established an Interagency Resilience Management Team, composed of representatives from relevant agencies to support coordinated implementation of resilience strategies. Each agency must designate a resilience coordinator to represent itself on the Team. The Team should advise the CRO on resilience strategies, relate resilience best practices, and recommend resilience effort metrics. The law also requires all agencies of the Commonwealth to assist the CRO in the execution of its duties upon request.

This bill amended §§ 2.2-220.5, 10.1-104.6:1, 10.1-603.25, 10.1-603.29, and 10.1-659 of the Code of Virginia and repealed § 2.2-435.11.

Publication Date: April 8, 2024

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