Augusta, Maine 04333

Senate President: 207-287-1500

House Speaker: 207-287-1300

www.maine.gov/legis

For Immediate Release: December 19, 2008

Legislators get committee assignments for coming session

Senate President and House Speaker make appointments to the 17 joint standing committees of the 124th Legislature

AUGUSTA– Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell and Speaker of the House Hannah Pingree announced their appointments to the Legislature’s seventeen joint standing committees of jurisdiction on Friday. The membership of each committee reflects the broad range of experience and policy expertise that the 186 members of the Legislature bring to Augusta.

President Elizabeth Mitchell said, “The people of Maine are represented on each of these committees by a group of bright and committed public servants. All of whom share a passion for making Maine a better place to live, work and raise a family. Each committee includes a good mix of members with legislative experience and fresh ideas who are ready to tackle the tough issues we face.”

“Committee work isn’t glamorous, but it is where the most important legislative work is done,” said Pingree. “You get into the fine details of public policy and you really have to have a passion for the subject. I feel strongly that in order to get legislators to make meaningful contributions I had to put them in positions they were interested in.”

Each policy committee of the Maine Legislature is made up of members from both the House and the Senate. The joint standing committees are comprised of thirteen members, three from the Senate and ten from the House. Each committee has a Senate and a House chairperson.

There are twenty Democrats and fifteen Republicans in the 124th Maine Senate. Each of the joint standing committees will consist of two Senate Democrats and one Senate Republican with one of the Senate Democrats serving as a Chairperson of each committee.

“The members of the House and Senate will spend hundreds of hours in committee listening to the testimony of Maine people and pouring over the details of complex issues that impact the lives of citizens. The work that they do there will help create greater opportunity for Maine people and ensure that future generations enjoy the same extraordinary quality of life that we enjoy today,” said Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell.

On the House side, there are 95 Democrats, 54 Republicans, one unenrolled member and one vacancy. Nine committees will have seven Democratic House members and three Republican members and seven committees will have six Democrats to four Republicans. One committee, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, will be split five Democrats, four Republicans and one unenrolled member.

In making committee assignments Speaker Pingree’s first criteria was to put people on committees they were interested in serving on. House Democratic members were given a questionnaire regarding their top committee preferences. Ensuring gender parity, regional representation and other factors were also considered by Pingree.

Speaker Pingree has named women to chair 9 of the 17 committees, including Rep. Emily Cain, (D- Orono) to serve as the House Chair of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee. Cain served as a member of that committee in the previous legislative session.

“It is rewarding to have so many highly qualified women as part of my leadership team,” said Pingree. “Even though women are still underrepresented in the ranks of the Legislature, there are many who excel in this institution.”

Under the rules governing the Legislature, the Speaker of the House and the Senate President are the sole authorities in their respective chambers to make appointments to committees. However, each Presiding Officer followed custom in eliciting recommendations from the minority party floor leaders for committee assignments for minority party members.

To see a full list of Committee Assignments for the 124th Legislature, go to: http://speaker.maine.gov/Committee/index.html

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