News & Features
General Assembly: May 7, 2008
By Alan Spahr & Christen Duxbury / Alexander Harris
May 7, 2008 - 12:55:11 PM

New Sen. Petersen Wants Assembly to Go Green

As the General Assembly put a focus on the environment this session, a new member of the Senate emerged to urge legislators to go green.

J. Chapman “Chap” Petersen, a Democrat from Fairfax, was elected in November to represent the 34th Senate District. According to his website, the election had the “highest turnout of any 2007 contest in Fairfax Country and was the most expensive legislative race in Virginia history.”

While this is Petersen’s first year as senator, he is no stranger to the General Assembly: He was elected to the House of Delegates in 2001 and held that position for four years.

“The House is a bigger entity, while the Senate is smaller and quieter,” Petersen says.  “I probably had more fun in the House, but I am able to get more done being a part of the Senate.”

One bill Petersen sponsored was Senate Bill 445, which was continued to the 2009 legislative session. If passed, the bill “increases the state motor fuel tax $.01 per gallon with the revenues deposited into the Biofuels Production Fund to fund grants for biofuels production,” according to the Legislative Information System.

Biofuels are plants that can be burned for energy as an alternative to petroleum. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a renewable gas made from corn can decrease greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 percent compared with gasoline.

Another of Petersen’s green bills is SB 448, which encourages tree preservation by local governments. The bill requires that site plans for developments include the preservation or replacement of any tress affected.  SB 448 is a way for localities to improve air quality during development.

“I’d like to see us reach a balance in terms of our use of resources and ability to restore resources,” Petersen says.  “For example, as we’re developing new housing, we’re replanting the trees pulled up for the projects.”

While Petersen’s bill did not get approved this session, SB 710, a similar proposal, did pass the legislative process and has been signed into law by Gov. Tim Kaine.

Petersen also says while striving to preserve nature, open space, and wildlife are areas he
likes to focus on, the most important aspect to him is getting clean energy from renewable energy sources.

“The three biggest issues I’d like to see tackled are clean energy focus act, tree and open space preservation, and wildlife preservation and restoration,” Petersen says.

This session, he put in SB 446, requiring energy companies to generate at least 20 percent of energy sold through renewable energy sources.  The bill was defeated on a 3-12 vote by the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee.

House Bill 1228, which Kaine signed into law, is a step toward the goals Petersen wanted from SB 446.  It requires investor-owned electric utility companies in Virginia to include an insert with their bills describing the availability and options of buying energy from 100 percent renewable energy sources.

“I think this bill is fine; my bill had an actual mandate and was more aggressive,” Petersen says.  “But I think if people are made aware of the option, they will sign up for it.”

Petersen was appointed to the Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources Committee, dealing with environment-related legislation. He also was on the Transportation, General Laws and Technology, and Privileges and Elections committees.

Outside the Capitol, Petersen has been an attorney in a private practice since 1994. He is licensed in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Sharon Kim Petersen, his wife, is also a licensed Virginia attorney.

Petersen admits that he is not the “greenest” citizen outside the Capitol, but he says he does everything he can to help the green movement.  He says he continues to live in a relatively small house and maintains a conservative household when it comes to resources.

“Now, I haven’t gone and torn my house down in an attempt to have a fully environmentally friendly home, but we cut back where we can and value and save the resources we already have,” Petersen says.

Courtesy of Capital News Service

Lawmakers Rev Up for Session on Transportation

Legislators will return to Richmond, probably this summer, for a special session on transportation. Their prime objective will be to figure out how the state should address a growing road-maintenance deficit of $388 billion that is expected to more than double by 2014.

By law, maintenance of roads and highways takes priority over new construction projects. If there isn’t enough maintenance funding to cover the costs of upkeep, the state is legally required to transfer the money from the construction fund. As a result, construction projects throughout the commonwealth have been delayed indefinitely.

Bob Chase, president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, an advocacy group that calls for more funding for transportation projects in the region, says the delays are costing the state millions of dollars.

“If the General Assembly restores the funding in the next month or two, the cost will be minimal. The longer the delays, not only do the projects take longer to complete, but the costs of those projects goes up,” Chase says.

Gov. Tim Kaine and the General Assembly attempted to fix the deficit problem in 2007 by passing House Bill 3202. It raised fees on certain driving offenses and created two regional authorities with the power to collect taxes for transportation – one in Northern Virginia and one in Hampton Roads.

But those revenue mechanisms have since unraveled: In March, the General Assembly repealed the “abusive driver fees” because of complaints that they discriminated against Virginians (the fees did not apply to out-of-state drivers). And the Virginia Supreme Court declared regional transportation authorities unconstitutional, forcing the state to refund the taxes collected by the agencies.

The General Assembly was unable to develop a transportation-funding solution before its regular session ended March 13, so legislators voted to hold a special session on the issue. Kaine said last week that he plans to call the session for mid to late June.

Three general approaches have emerged: a statewide tax, private investment, and a revision
of last year’s attempt at raising revenues.

Virginia has not raised its 17.5-cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline since 1986, and the commonwealth ranks relatively low among states in retail and car taxes. This is the argument that many Democrats, including the governor, are making.

Bob Chase of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance believes the best solution would be a gas or sales tax applied statewide.

Patrick McSweeney, lead attorney for the plaintiff in Marshall vs. Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (not to be confused with the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance), the state Supreme Court case that removed the power to tax from the newly created transportation authorities, says, “If we dispelled the notion that the state is the ultimate payer for all of the demands that the public makes in the form of transportation, things would start happening immediately. There would be investors, entrepreneurs, just as there was when we deregulated communications.”

He believes that transportation infrastructure should be a private venture and that new roads should be paid for the localities that want them instead of by taxpayers across Virginia.

His recommendation is to make secondary roads the responsibility of counties and cities, instead of the state.

Part of last year’s compromise, Albo says, is that Republicans agreed to a tax increase, but only if those revenues remained in the region that raised them. Now that the Democrats control the Senate, hashing out a similar compromise may be more difficult.

Courtesy of Capital News Service


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