Legislators vote in 6 to lead 3 joint panels

Arkansas House Speaker-designate Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia (right), speaks Tuesday with state Rep. Joe Jett, D-Success, at the state Capitol in Little Rock. Lawmakers held organizational meetings for the Joint Budget and Joint Audit committees and for the Arkansas Legislative Council.
Arkansas House Speaker-designate Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia (right), speaks Tuesday with state Rep. Joe Jett, D-Success, at the state Capitol in Little Rock. Lawmakers held organizational meetings for the Joint Budget and Joint Audit committees and for the Arkansas Legislative Council.

Arkansas House members elected five Republicans and one Democrat to leadership positions for several joint committees Tuesday.

Speaker-designate Rep. Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, nominated the lawmakers for the positions. Gillam presided over the brief organizational meetings for the House Joint Budget Committee, the Arkansas Legislative Council and the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, where members approved his recommendations unanimously.

"I think we all know that we have some issues that are coming our way, whether it be corrections funding ... the private option will have a budget implication as well as other things that will come up, whether it's agriculture funding or department of highway funding, those will have a budget implication," Gillam said. "Looking at the makeup of the committees, I felt like these individuals had the skill sets that would be necessary to lead their respective committees."

Rep. Lane Jean, R-Magnolia, was elected the House chairman of the Joint Budget Committee, which creates the state budget for the next fiscal year and considers appropriation bills. Rep. Doug House, R-North Little Rock, will serve as vice chairman for the House. Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, is the committee's Senate co-chairman.

"I appreciate the speaker-elect nominating me and I look forward to working with both parties and working with Sen. Teague on the Senate end," Jean said after the vote.

Jean is a former Quorum Court member and was mayor of Magnolia for 15 years before joining the Legislature.

"I have a background in budgets. I enjoy budgets," Jean said. "I've always found them fascinating ... looking for the patterns of the past to figure out how we got to the present state of the budget."

Jean said he anticipates sitting down with Gillam, Teague and Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson's transition team to discuss what changes might be made to the proposed fiscal 2016 budget before the session starts Jan. 12. He said it was a little premature to talk about strategies or any other looming budgetary issues.

Members elected Rep. David Branscum, R-Marshall, as House chairman of the Arkansas Legislative Council, and Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, as the House vice-chairman. Sen. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs, is the Senate co-chairman of the council.

Legislative Joint Audit Committee members elected Rep. Mary Broadaway, D-Paragould, as chairman and Rep. Sue Scott, R-Rogers as vice chairman. Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, is the Senate co-chairman of the committee.

Gillam said he did not consider strange his decision to appoint Broadaway. He said he hopes to run a bipartisan Legislature and considered competency over any other qualification when making his recommendations.

"I felt like Rep. Broadaway brought a skill set there to the audit committee that I think would be beneficial to the state," he said. "Rep. Branscum as well with Legislative Council, given its nature as the governing body when we're not in session, I think he brings a very even, steady hand to the proceedings, and I think he'll do a fantastic job."

Metro on 12/10/2014

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