The Tennessee General Assembly reconvened last week, and among the top items of business were to hold leadership elections and announce committees and their chairs.
- As for top leadership of the House and Senate: House Speaker Cameron Sexton was elected to his third full term, and Lt. Governor Randy McNally to a fifth term in the role.
- The new list of legislative committees and their members can be found on the Tennessee General Assembly website. Alot of the bills to do with early childhood care and education will go through Education or Health committees, and usually Finance committees too — and there’s definitely been some shakeup! Below are highlights:
Senate Education Committee
- The new Senate Education chair is Dawn White.
- New Senate Education members are Kerry Roberts and Adam Lowe, replacing Jon Lundberg and Todd Gardenhire.
Senate Finance Committee
- Bo Watson continues as chair for the 9th year.
- Paul Rose replaces Dawn White, who is the new Senate Education chair.
Senate Health Committee
- Rusty Crowe continues as chair.
- Bobby Harshbarger, newly elected Senator, replaces Art Swann.
House Education Committee
- Mark White continues as House Education committee chair.
- Four subcommittees were established: K-12 Sub-Committee chaired by Kirk Haston; Education Administration chaired by William Slater; Education Instruction chaired by Scott Cepicky; Higher Education chaired by Charlie Baum.
House Finance Committee
- Gary Hicks is the new chair, replacing Patsy Hazlewood.
- Ryan Williams is subcommittee chair.
House Health Committee
- Bryan Terry continues as chair.
- The two subcommittee are: Health chaired by Brock Martin; and Population Health chaired by Michele Carringer.
With more than 1500 bills likely to be filed this year, these and the other committees of the 114th Tennessee General Assembly can expect a busy legislative session. We’ll be tracking and supporting bills important to early childhood care and education and keeping advocates posted through the committee process.
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