CO Water Congress: CO House Speaker KC Becker Announces Committee Assignments
Speaker designate KC Becker, D-Boulder, appointed the chairs, vice chairs, and other Democratic members of all 11 House committees of reference. Speaker designate Becker appointed nine new committee chairs and reorganized various committees:
- Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver: chair of Finance Committee
- Rep. Dominique Jackson, D-Aurora: chair of the newly formed Energy and Environment Committee
- Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango: chair of the Education Committee
- Rep. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon: chair of the Rural Affairs Committee (Merged Natural Resources & Agriculture Committees)
- Rep. Matt Gray, D-Broomfield: chair of the Transportation and Local Government Committee
- Rep. Mike Weissman takes over as chair of the Judiciary Committee
- Assistant Majority Leader Rep. Chris Kennedy, D-Lakewood: will preside over the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee
- Rep. Tracy Kraft-Tharp, D-Arvada: will continue to serve as chair of the Business Affairs and Labor Committee
- Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont: remains chair of the Public Health Care and Human Services Committee
- Rep. Susan Lontine, D-Denver: set to chair the Health and Insurance Committee.
- Rep. Hansen, D-Denver: will chair the Appropriations Committee
- Rep. Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo: will serve as Appropriations Vice-chair.
The list of committee vice-chairs has many new faces:
- Rep. Donald Valdez, D-La Jara: vice chair of the Rural Affairs Committee
- Rep.-elect Yadira Caraveo, D-Thornton: vice-chair of the Health and Insurance Committee
- Rep. Tony Exum Sr., D-Colorado Springs: vice-chair of Transportation and Local Government
- Rep.-elect Bri Buentello, D-Pueblo: vice-chair of the Education Committee
- Rep.-elect Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont: vice-chair of the State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee
- Rep. Leslie Herod: vice chair of the Judiciary Committee
- Caucus Chair Rep. Edie Hooton, D-Boulder: vice-chair of the Energy and Environment Committee
- Deputy Caucus Chair Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, D-Commerce City: vice-chair of the Public Health Care and Human Services Committee.
Speaker-designate Becker announced her intention to reorganize a number of the House Committees:
- The Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee has been renamed the Rural Affairs Committee. It will oversee issues of particular importance to rural Colorado such as agriculture, water, rural broadband, and rural economic development.
- There will be a newly created Energy and Environment Committee.
- The Health Insurance and Environment Committee has been renamed the Health and Insurance Committee.
- The Transportation and Energy Committee will be condensed and merged with the Local Government Committee to form the Transportation and Local Government Committee.
The House will have to adopt a House resolution and a House and Senate Joint Resolution authorizing the reorganization of committees at the beginning of the 2019 legislative session, which begins on January 4, 2019.