Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
House Speaker Designate Richard Corcoran is making changes to the committee structure in his chamber.
The Land O’Lakes Republican released a proposed committee structure Friday. As proposed, there would be nine full committees, seven budget subcommittees, 17 policy subcommittees, and five joint committees.
Among the changes, Corcoran is proposing a Public Integrity and Ethics Committee, and a Rules and Policy Committee. Under the current structure, there is a combined Rules, Calendar and Ethics Committee.
The proposed committee structure also adds a Government Accountability Committee. That committee has four subcommittees — Local, Federal and Veterans Affairs; Natural Resources and Public Lands; Oversight, Transparency and Administration; and Transportation and Infrastructure.
The Government Accountability Committee replaces the State Affairs Committee, which had Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Government Operations subcommittees; and the Local and Federal Affairs Committee, which had Local Government Affairs, and Veteran and Military Affairs subcommittees.
The proposed structure gets rid or the Finance and Tax Committees, but adds a Ways and Means Committee.
Under the umbrella of the newly created Commerce Committee are the Agriculture and Property Rights; Careers and Competition; Energy and Utilities; Insurance and Banking; and Tourism and Gaming Control subcommittees.
The Education Committee has three subcommittees — one looking at Post-Secondary Education, as well as PreK-12 Innovation and PreK-12 Quality subcommittees.
The proposed Appropriation Committee will have seven subcommittees, up from six under the current structure. The proposed appropriations subcommittees are: Agriculture and Natural Resources; Government Operations and Technology; Health Care; Higher Education; Justice; PreK-12; and Transportation and Tourism.
Under Corcoran’s plan, the education appropriations subcommittee would be split in two. Under the current House committee structure, the education appropriations subcommittee handles both the higher education and PreK-12 budgets.
The Health & Human Services Committee will have three subcommittees — Children, Families and Seniors; Health Innovation; and Health Quality; while the Judiciary Committee will have two subcommittees — Civil Justice and Claims, and Criminal Justice.
The organizational session is scheduled for Nov. 22. Corcoran said he plans to announce the House leadership team, including full committee chairs, by Nov. 9.
