Campaign Reform, In-Person Education Amendment Top Petersen Priorities

FAIRFAX, VA — When lawmakers head back to Richmond for the start of the Virginia General Assembly on Wednesday, they’ll find that general fund revenues for fiscal year 2022 have exceeded estimates by $1.9 billion.

While that might sound like great news, in reality that $1.9 billion matches inflation, according to State Sen. Chap Petersen, who serves on the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.

“In other words, our dollars are worth less now than they were a year ago,” Petersen told a group of Northern Virginia business leaders on Friday morning. “To the extent we've collected more money, it’s not that we're wealthier, it’s just that those dollars are worth less.”

Virginia’s economic recovery from the pandemic has been slower than in other states, according to Petersen.

“Virginia tends to be less cyclical than the rest of the country,” he said. “About a third of our economy is based directly on the federal government. It’s either federal employees, such as military or more directly federal employees up here in Northern Virginia. As a result, our ups and downs tend to be less radical than the rest of the country.”

Petersen, who represents the 34th District, made these comments during his 2023 Business Leaders Breakfast fundraising event at the Westwood Country Club in Vienna.

Ever since Petersen was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2001, he’s used the annual event as a way to update local business leaders on the state of the economy. He also shares his legislative priorities for the upcoming session.

As Petersen has done every legislative session, he will be filing two bills aimed at campaign finance reform. Senate Bill 803 seeks to limit political contributions to $20,000 to any candidate in an election cycle, which is more than twice what the federal law allows.

“It has been defeated each year and I bring it back,” he said. “It's something that's important. Money plays too large a role in the General Assembly.”

Petersen acknowledged that it was an odd thing for him to say at a fundraiser, adding he would not say something different at a town hall meeting.

“If you have a check for 25 grand you’ve got to cut it down to 20,” he joked. That elicited laughs from the audience, which had paid $65 a plate to attend Friday’s breakfast.

Petersen’s other campaign reform bill, SB 804, aims to prohibit public utilities, such as Dominion Energy, from making political contributions.

“They're a state-regulated monopoly,” he said. "Why should they be able to make donations to people that set their rates? It's crazy.”

In February 2022, Petersen introduced an amendment to allow families to opt out of mask mandates enacted by their local schools. He’s considering introducing a constitutional amendment in the 2023 session dealing with in-person education.

“I may even make it more simple,” he said. “Just make sure that Article 8 of our state constitution, which deals with education, makes it clear that the purpose of public education is for the benefit of the children.”

In the area of healthcare, Petersen plans to introduce legislation to establish limits on prescription drug costs and expedite the review of certificate of public need applications.

"That's a bill I've had for the last several years, just making the process more friendly for bringing new medical technology and new medical facilities to the market,” he said.

As a self-described “Civil War buff,” Petersen was not happy with the siting of a data center near the Manassas Battlefield. For that reason, he plans to introduce a bill that will set limits on the placement of data centers.

“At some point, we’ve got to put some guardrails on this,” he said. “We are getting eaten up by data centers, particularly in Loudoun and Prince William County.”

Petersen will also introduce legislation to permit full deductibility on Paycheck Protection Program loans, which many businesses used to help them weather the pandemic. Currently, companies are only allowed to deduct up to $100,000 in expenses on the state tax returns.