Emilie Ritter Saunders reports: The 2013 Idaho Legislature is ready for business. Now that the organizational session has wrapped up, and committee assignments have been made, lawmakers will launch into what’s sure to be a packed session one month from today.
Here’s a list of committee assignmentsfor the Senate. One of the panels we watch closely is the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee, or JFAC. That’s the committee that puts together Idaho’s annual budget.
On the Senate Finance side of JFAC, Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, will continue to chair the panel. Although, as the Spokesman Review reports, the Finance Committee has a large number of new members.
Among them: Sens. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens; Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood; Cliff Bayer, R-Boise; Dan Johnson, R-Lewiston; Steven Thayn, R-Emmett; Dan Schmidt, D-Moscow; and Roy Lacey, D-Pocatello. Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, continues as vice chair; and Sen. Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, will continue to serve on the panel.
Vick, a second-term senator, said he’s wanted to get on the joint committee since he arrived in the Senate. “Not everybody likes to do it, because it is a lot of work and a lot of numbers,” he said. “I spent eight years in the appropriations committee in Montana.” Vick said the panel, which writes the state budget, is “the most important committee,” and said his goal there will be to “keep government spending low.” — Eye on Boise, Spokesman Review
On the House side, 13-term Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, will continue to chair the Appropriations Committee (that’s the House part of JFAC).
