District 21 Legislators Get Committee Assignments

District 21 legislators received committee assignments today, laying the way for the upcoming legislative session.

House representative Cliff Bayer continues his membership on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC), which handles budgeting; in addition, he is on the Business and Local Government committees. 

Major issues for JFAC are, of course, continuing to provide state services within the economic limitations we currently have.  The Business Committee handles banking and insurance issues; local government covers city/county issues and taxing districts.

Newcomer Rich Jarvis was assigned only to two committees, Business and Transportation & Defense.  As an insurance agent himself, it will be interesting to see which perspective he chooses to bring to the business committee: that of the insurance industry, or that of the citizen. 

Major issues for the Transportation Committee are fuel taxes, state and local highways, and motor vehicle issues -- such as how much your gas tax will be, road building and maintenance, and how much your auto registration will be.

It's interesting that Jarvis wasn't put on the education committee, since his first platform point was "improve the quality of education," and his endorsement interview with the Statesman suggested making high school graduation mandatory -- though he wasn't specific about just how high schools were supposed to enforce this. (Incidentally, he did not receive the Statesman endorsement.)

State Senator Russ Fulcher is also on only two committees. Like Bayer, he continues his membership on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee; in addition, he is vice-chair of the Education Committee.

Fulcher also attempted to challenge Assistant Majority Leader Joe Stegner (Lewiston) for his leadership position, but was unsuccessful. As was pointed out in the Boise Weekly, we know this only through reports, because this was held during the Republican caucus, which is closed, unlike the Democratic caucus, which is open to the public. 

Committees where District 21 has no representation on either the House or Senate side include Agricultural Affairs, Resources & Conservation, Revenue & Taxation, and State Affairs. The seven committee assignments shared by the three legislators cover only five committees.