Members of the authority met virtually to finalize their annual report and agreed to forward a package of statutory edits to the General Assembly’s drafting office.

At the meeting, the chair said she would “bring us back to the annual report” as staff displayed a marked-up draft that removed duplicate references and tightened recommendations for research, development and innovation. Members agreed to delete redundant language describing a “CVOW East” reference that repeated the description of a 176,500-acre lease east of the Seaview East project and to remove editorial comments marked in yellow in the draft.

The discussion moved to proposed statutory changes covering membership and operations. Members agreed to replace several currently designated seats (for example, a space or Navy representative) with general qualification language requiring appointees be citizens of the Commonwealth and have appropriate qualifications and experience. They also discussed, and ultimately removed from the proposed language, a provision to codify a deputy director position after concluding that specifying such a post would create a budget impact and could require a fiscal impact statement.

Department of Energy (DOE) staff and authority members discussed staffing and administrative support. DOE-represented staff confirmed that the division that would staff the authority could be named the “division of offshore wind” and that existing DOE/state energy office personnel would provide administrative support.

After discussion and technical cleanup, the chair moved that staff forward the authority’s approved edits to Legislative Services so they can be drafted into a bill. The motion was seconded and carried by voice vote. According to the authority’s direction, staff will (1) transmit the marked-up language to Legislative Services, (2) seek one or more patrons in the General Assembly to sponsor the draft, and (3) provide ongoing updates to the authority on bill drafting and sponsorship.

Members emphasized next steps rather than immediate policy changes: the approved action sends the committee’s corrected text into the formal legislative drafting process and does not itself change statute. The authority asked staff to report back at the next meeting on progress with Legislative Services and potential legislative patrons.