We are now one week away from the scheduled end of our 45-day legislative session. Last week was a productive week for the House of Delegates.

We are finishing committee work, reviewing amendments from the Senate and continuing to work on the budget.

As we wind down our General Assembly session, I want to update you on a few important areas of interest.

The House has adopted a conservative and balanced state budget. Our recommendations adhere to our commitment to spend your taxpayer dollars on strategic and targeted investments that fund the core functions of state government.

We also took several steps to advance Virginia on a fiscally responsible course to include the elimination of several fees and reduction in borrowing.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe included several fee increases in his budget to generate more revenue.

The House eliminated a proposed increase in restaurant inspection fees that would have generated $3.2 million in fee revenue.

We also eliminated a proposed increase in the shellfish facility inspection fee that would have generated $116,000 in fee revenue.

Finally, we eliminated a proposed new fee for behavioral health adult service providers that would have generated $300,000 in fee revenue and required a new full-time state employee position.

The House reduced the amount of proposed debt by almost $70 million.

We also continue to cut under-performing or erroneous government programs.

This year, we cut four different programs for a savings of $2.1 million.

Tommy Wright represents Lunenburg in the House of Delegates, and lives in the county. His email address is Deltwright@House.Virginia.ov.