Reminder: My legislative town halls are tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., Fairfax City Hall, and 1:30 p.m., Vienna Town Hall. Consult my constituent website www.fairfaxsenator.com for further details. We hope to see you there.

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Dear Friends, Virginians, citizens of Fairfax:

We are finishing our first month in Richmond. The major news has been the repeal of last year's abuser fee law. I'm proud to say I had a small role in making it happen.

Senator Edd Houck (D-Spotsylvania) was the chief patron on Senate Bill 1, the "repeal and refund" bill. When we reached an impasse on the refund issue, Senator Houck asked me to work with the Republicans to draft a compromise that everyone could support. We did that and the final version passed Wednesday unanimously. It streamlines the refund procedure for those convicted under the repealed law and specifies that no one will lose their license for failing to make an abuser fee payment.

Frankly, that's the easy part. The harder part is finding revenue to replace the deficit in our current state budget. I expect that topic will be the main focus of February, when the Senate Finance Committee presents the 2008-2010 state budget.

In the meantime, we are tackling hundreds of legislative issues. Here are my top priorities and where they currently stand:

SB 446: The "Clean Energy Future Act" which mandates renewables and energy efficiency will be debated Monday in committee
SB 447: This bill which requires new state buildings to meet enviro-friendly standards has passed committee
SB 449: This bill which requires a competitive process for large public-private projects was "carried over" for further study
SB 450: This bill which prohibits those convicted of voluntary manslaughter from profiting from their crime has passed committee
SB 510: The "Student Bill of Rights" which prohibits unfair lending practices at our universities passed the Senate unanimously

As you can tell, the pace is fast and furious, even in the more sedate Senate. I try to make a daily post on my blog www.oxroadsouth.com to keep up with the salient issues. Feel free to make a comment (just keep it civil since my daughters might read it). Please use it as a resource to let me know your honest opinion on an issue.

Otherwise, you can contact me or my assistant Kathy Nielson at (804) 698-7934 or chap@fairfaxsenator.com during the session which lasts until mid-March. Let us know how we can represent you better.

Sincerely,

Chap Petersen

Visit us at www.fairfaxsenator.com