The Alabama House of Representatives released committee assignments to the public this week.
Speaker of the House Mac McCutcheon, R – Monrovia, made a statement regarding the member assignments for the 25 House standing committees.
“Most of the hard, complex, and important work of vetting and amending the measures that come before the House is completed in the trenches of the body’s standing committees,” McCutcheon said. “Each of our House members, Republican and Democrat alike, have unique insights, experience, and areas of expertise, and we worked hard to assign members to the committees that can best utilize their talents. I am confident that the members of our committees and the legislators who chair them will be prepared to go to work and carry out their duties when the Legislature convenes for the 2019 regular session on March 5.”
There are 34 House Committees. They include: Agriculture and Forestry, Baldwin County Legislation, Boards Agencies and Commissions, Children and Senior Advocacy, Commerce and Small Business, Constitution Campaigns and Elections, County and Municipal Government, Economic Development and Tourism, Education Policy, Ethics and Campaign Finance, Financial Services, Fiscal Responsibility, Health, Insurance, Internal Affairs, Jefferson County Legislation, Judiciary, Lee County Legislation, Limestone, County Legislation, Local Legislation, Madison County Legislation, Military and Veterans Affairs, Mobile County Legislation, Montgomery County Legislation, Public Safety and Homeland Security, Rules, Shelby County Legislation, State Government, Technology and Research, Transportation Utilities and Infrastructure, Tuscaloosa County Legislation, Urban and Rural Development, Ways and Means Education, and Ways and Means General Fund.
Most committees meet on Wednesdays during the legislative session. When a bill is introduced it is assigned to one of the committees. The committee chairman decides whether or not it is placed on the committee calendar. Committees often drastically change legislation and generally is a committee is opposed to a bill it won’t come out of that committee to ever reach the House floor.
Voters gave Republicans a commanding 77 to 28 supermajority in the House and that is also reflected in the committees where the Republicans have the numerical strength to move legislation without much, if any, bipartisan support.
To view the composition of each committee is available here.
The 2019 regular session begins in March.
