RICHMOND, Va. — Amid fallout over a racist photo, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has signed legislation which would carry out the state's promise to Amazon for up to $750 million in incentives if it creates almost 38,000 jobs at its new Arlington County headquarters.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Northam, without fanfare, signed the Major Headquarters Workforce Grant Fund on Tuesday. The legislation establishes a fund to receive and distribute $550 million in incentives for the creation of 25,000 jobs by Amazon in the first phase of its HQ2 project in Arlington.
The bill reached Northam's desk last Wednesday, two days before the controversy erupted over a racist photograph on his page of his medical school yearbook in 1984. The governor is weighing whether he can stay in the job despite the uproar over the photo.
