The Senate Committee on Committees issued the Senate assignments on Nov. 21, while House leaders worked on that chamber's appointments. The complete committee appointment list for the 2009 Legislature is now available.
In the House, the speaker appoints all the committee chairmen and members, while in the Senate, the elected Committee on Committees makes the picks.
Bergren said he accepted every Republican committee membership recommendation suggested to him by House Republican Leader Scott Sales, R-Bozeman.
He sent the final list to Sales on Monday, but hadn't heard back yet. Neither of the top two House GOP leaders, Sales or House Republican Floor Leader Scott Mendenhall, R-Clancy, could be reached for comment Friday.
All the major committees will be evenly divided, with the same number of Democrats and Republicans on each to reflect the tie.
“I like the match-ups with our folks and their folks who can work together,” Bergren said. “I'm really encouraged by the makeup.”
Democrats will chair these seven major House committees: Agriculture; Appropriations; Business and Labor; Education; Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Federal Relations, Energy and Telecommunications, and Health and Human Services.
Republicans will chair these major six committees: Judiciary, Local Government, Natural Resources, State Administration, Taxation and Natural Resources.
During negotiations, Bergren said Republicans wanted the chairmanship of one more major committee, Natural Resources, “so I gave them one big one and took two smaller ones (Agriculture and Federal Relations, Energy and Telecommunications).
Here are the House committee chairmen and chairwomen:
- Agriculture: Rep. Mike Jopek, D-Whitefish.
- Appropriations: Rep. Jon Sesso, D-Butte.
- Business and Labor: Rep. Bill Wilson, D-Great Falls.
- Education: Rep. Wanda Grinde, D-Billings.
- Ethics: Rep. Franke Wilmer, D-Bozeman.
- Fish, Wildlife and Parks: Rep. Kendall Van Dyk, D-Billings.
- Federal Relations, Energy and Telecommunications: Rep. George Groesbeck, D-Butte.
- Health and Human Services: Rep. Arlene Becker, D-Billings.
- Judiciary: Rep. Ron Stoker, R-Darby.
- Legislative Administration: Rep. Janna Taylor, R-Dayton.
- Local Government: Rep. Elsie Arntzen, R-Billings.
- Natural Resources: Rep. Mike Milburn, R-Cascade.
- Rules: Rep. Dan Villa, D-Anaconda.
- State Administration: Rep. Dennis Himmelberger, R-Billings.
- Taxation: Rep. Bob Lake, R-Hamilton.
- Transportation: Rep. Jon Sonju, R-Kalispell.
Bergren said one remaining bone of contention is over the chairmanships of the six joint Appropriations subcommittees. Republicans want three of the six chairmanships, while Bergren said he believes Democrats should get all six because they have the chairman of the full committee.
He said he still wants to discuss the issue with Republicans.
In the Senate, committee appointments were announced a week ago by Sen. John Esp, R-Big Timber, chairman of the Senate Committee on Committees.
Because Republicans will hold a 27-23 majority in the Senate in 2009, they will have majorities on the major committees and will have all the chairmanships.
Here are the chairwomen and chairmen of Senate committees:
- Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation: Sen. Don Steinbeisser, R-Sidney.
- Business and Labor: Sen. Joe Balyeat, R-Bozeman.
- Committees: Esp.
- Education and Cultural Resources: Sen. Rick Laible, R-Darby.
- Energy and Telecommunications: Sen. Jerry Black, R-Shelby.
- Ethics: Sen. Jim Shockley, R-Victor.
- Finance and Claims: Sen. Keith Bales, R-Otter.
- Fish and Game: Sen. Greg Barkus, R-Kalispell.
- Highways and Transportation: Sen. John Brueggeman, R-Polson.
- Judiciary: Sen. Gary Perry, R-Manhattan.
- Legislative Administration: Sen. Aubyn Curtiss, R-Fortine.
- Local Government: Esp.
- Natural Resources: Sen. Kelly Gebhardt, R-Roundup.
- Public Health, Welfare and Safety: Sen. Roy Brown, R-Billings.
- Rules: Sen. Jim Peterson, R-Buffalo.
- State Administration: Shockley.
- Taxation: Sen. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings.
The 2009 legislative session convenes Jan. 5.
On the Net
House committe assignments
Senate committee assignments
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