Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Sen. Chap Petersen (Fairfax City) introduced the bill, which will make it easier for local officials to enforce a growing number of zoning violations across Fairfax County.
A new Virginia law will make it easier for localities to prosecute the renters behind illegal boarding houses. Gov. Bob McDonnell signed the bill, SB 894, into law in March, giving local officials the power to issue summons and fines directly to renters, leasers or subleasers for zoning violations. Sen. Chap Petersen introduced the bill. "Unfortunately illegal boarding houses have become a problem in Virginia,” Petersen said in a statement. “What this law means is that if you have an illegal boarding house in your community, law enforcement can go directly to the person living in that home and breaking the law." In Virginia, no more than four unrelated people are legally allowed to live in a single-family home. But last year NBC …
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Sen. Chap Petersen spoke out against the bill earlier this year.
- GOVERNMENT
-
Sunday, February 24
By Stephen Nielsen, Capital News Service A divided Virginia Senate on Saturday passed Gov. Bob McDonnell’s signature issue of the 2013 legislative session – a bill to overhaul the state’s system for funding transportation. Just hours before the session’s end, the Senate voted 25-15 for House Bill 2313, which will raise about $880 million a year more for roads and mass transit by increasing sales taxes while lowering the fuels tax. The debate over how to increase revenue continued right up to the vote. Fairfax-area Sen. Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax) voted against it. “This isn’t any bill. This is the only bill,” said Senate Majority Leader Thomas Norment, R-Williamsburg. He said it’s the only way to provide the revenue Virginia’s transportation…
Friday, February 22, 2013
Virginia Sen. Chap Petersen speaks out against police power in bill headed to governor's desk.
- GOVERNMENT
-
Friday, February 22
Editor's Note: Written by Sen. Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax). One of the biggest public safety concerns over the past few years has been “texting while driving." There have been countless accidents, including fatal ones, caused by foolish people who send texts while operating a moving motor vehicle. It’s hard to think of a more dangerous activity. As with all public safety problems, the General Assembly of Virginia has the answer. Or at least an answer. In 2010, we outlawed “driving while texting” and made it a civil infraction. As noted before in this column, that was a mistake. By establishing a lesser penalty for “DWT,” we essentially removed that activity from the list of “reckless”driving offenses. So drivers who caused a fatal …
Friday, February 1, 2013
Virginia Sen. Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax City) leads charge against proposal, which now goes before the House.
- GOVERNMENT
-
Friday, February 1
By Shelby Mertens, Capital News Service Starting in 2017, Virginia voters could have the opportunity to re-elect the governor to a second consecutive term if the House joins the Senate in seeking to amend the state’s Constitution. The Senate this week approved a proposed constitutional amendment to allow governors to serve two terms in a row. The vote was 25-15. The resolution now moves to the House of Delegates, where its fate is uncertain. “I’m not real optimistic about its chances, but I think it’s the right thing to do,” Sen. John Miller (D-Newport News) said. "We ought to give the voters the opportunity to decide whether a governor should keep his job and be re-elected." Virginia is the only state that does not allow governors to …
Virginia Senate bill prohibits smoking in a vehicle when carrying kids aged 15 or younger.
By Paige Baxter, Capital News Service The Senate today passed a bill to prohibit smoking in a vehicle when a child under 15 is present. Senators voted 30-10 for the bill, which now goes to the House of Delegates for consideration. All Democrats — including Fairfax City's senator Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax City) — supported the bill, along with half of the Senate Republicans. Under Senate Bill 975, proposed by Sen. Ralph Northam (D-Virginia Beach and Norfolk), people who violate the proposed law would face a civil penalty of $100. On the floor of the Senate, Northam said the legislation was inspired by a third-grader who told Northam his parents smoke in the car with him. “It will protect our children and improve their health and in the end …
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Sen. Chap Petersen speaks out against eliminating the gas tax.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s controversial transportation bill passed the House of Delegates Finance Committee on Wednesday, moving past its first hurdle in the state's 2013 General Assembly session. In a 14-8 vote along party lines, the committee passed McDonnell’s package, which calls for eliminating the state’s 17.5 cents per gallon gas tax and raising the state sales tax from 5 percent to 5.8 percent. The plan would also keep the 17.5 tax on diesel fuel and increase vehicle registration fees. It would also raise the amount of the state’s sales tax that goes to transportation from 5 to 75 cents over a five-year period. McDonnell said the bill would raise approximately $3 billion in that time, including $1.8 billion for new construction…
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Petersen stands to lose Vienna, Dunn Loring, part of Centreville and Fairfax Station.
A Republican effort to redistrict Virginia's state senate would change the makeup of Chap Petersen's district. Though all of Fairfax City would remain in Petersen's 34th District, the changes look to remove its neighbors. The changes, introduced as an amendment to a larger bill late Monday, are awaiting House approval, but Democrats — who called the move an attempt to gain control of the evenly-split senate — are gearing up for a fight. Republicans called the redistricting attempt "an effort to create another majority black Senate district." It comes two years after Gov. Bob McDonnell signed the state's traditional redistricting plan, crafted every 10 years with census data in years that end in "1." Introducing yet another plan is …
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Tie vote sends part of senator's proposal to restore voting rights of felons to full Virginia Senate committee.
- GOVERNMENT
-
Tuesday, January 15
By Sam Isaacs, Capital News Service RICHMOND – A Senate subcommittee tied 3-3 Tuesday on proposed constitutional amendments — including one proposed by Sen. Chap Petersen (D-34th) — to restore the voting rights of nonviolent felons who’ve completed their sentences. The vote occurred in the constitutional amendments subcommittee of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee. The tie vote is adequate to send the matter to the full committee for consideration. The subcommittee considered constitutional amendments proposed by Democratic Sens. Chap Petersen of Fairfax, Louise Lucas of Portsmouth and Donald McEachin of Richmond. The panel combined the measures and then voted on them. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and other officials spoke …
Monday, January 14, 2013
At town hall in Vienna on Saturday, residents push for early voting, more online options.
Though it's January, the long wait times at Fairfax County polls in November's election are still fresh in many voters' minds. When Sen. Chap Petersen asked the more than 100 residents at a town hall meeting Saturday in Vienna who among them stood for hours in hopes of casting a ballot, hands flew into the air — and calls to improve the process came with them. One way Petersen is hoping to prevent such long wait times, which plagued polling stations across the state in the 2012 General Election, is SB739, which would require there be at least one voting device for each 500 registered voters in a precinct, instead of the current 750 voter standard. Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova has already called for a review of …
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Ahead of 2013 General Assembly, legislators from Vienna-Oakton area take issue with some parts of Gov. Bob McDonnell's plans during town hall with residents Saturday.
When Del. Mark Keam (D-35th) first ran for office four years ago, he said the two issues almost exclusively on voters' minds were transportation and education. Four years later, as he hosted a town hall Saturday in Vienna with fellow legislator Sen. Chap Petersen (D-34th), the issues haven’t changed, he said. And while Keam was optimistic he and Petersen would see some progress through bills they’ve introduced this year, both Keam and Petersen said they anticipate “a fight” with certain parts of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation and education plans, which the governor unveiled last week as the General Assembly began its 45-day session. Transportation Petersen has introduced his own plan in response to McDonell’s transportation overhaul, …
Non Boarding house renter
9:12 am on Sunday, April 7, 2013
It would be awesome if Chap or any Northern VA lawmaker addressed the problem that leads to boarding houses: the outrageously high cost of rent in the area. more ›