The new House majority will be taking a different approach to legislation next year. That became clear today, as the majority named the committee chairpersons who will guide the agenda.
For example, House Resource Committee co-chairs Geran Tarr and Andy Josephson are more likely to make further changes to the state’s oil and gas tax structure than outgoing co-chairs Benjamin Nageak and David Talerico.
The chairpersons include 11 Democrats and three Republicans, a sharp reversal from the current Republican-led majority. The House majority is mostly Democrats for the first time since 1992.
Republicans kept control of the Senate, so the change in chairpersons there is less dramatic.
House Republicans plan to organize the House minority caucus on Friday.
The other House chairpersons are: Zach Fansler and Justin Parish, Community and Regional Affairs; Harriet Drummond, Education; Neal Foster and Paul Seaton, Finance; Ivy Spohnholz, Health and Social Services; Matt Claman, Judiciary; Sam Kito, Labor and Commerce; Gabrielle LeDoux, Rules; Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, State Affairs; and Louise Stutes and Adam Wool, Transportation.
The Senate chairpersons are: Click Bishop, Community and Regional Affairs; Shelley Hughes, Education; Lyman Hoffman and Anna MacKinnon, Finance; David Wilson, Health and Social Services; John Coghill, Judiciary; Mia Costello, Labor and Commerce; Cathy Giessel, Resources; Kevin Meyer, Rules; Mike Dunleavy, State Affairs; and Bert Stedman, Transportation.
Update: This story originally had Zach Fansler’s last name misspelled. It has been corrected.
Andrew Kitchenman is the state government and politics reporter for Alaska Public Media and KTOO in Juneau. Reach him at akitchenman@alaskapublic.org.
