GOP hands out Senate committee assignments

Posted on January 22, 2015 at 4:12 pm by Matthew Hamilton

Senate committee assignments were doled out Thursday, and they include many of the same chairs as were in place last session.

The same Senate Republicans remain in top chair positions, including John DeFrancisco of Finance, John Flanagan of Education and Kemp Hannon of Health.

The GOP also dealt in a few new members, including the Capital Region’s George Amedore, who will chair the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee. Amedore also will serve on the Banks, Consumer Protection, Elections, and Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs committees.

Three chair and two vice-chair positions were handed out to the GOP’s Independent Democratic Conference coalition partners. David Valesky was named Health vice-chair, Diane Savino was named Banks chair, Tony Avella was named Ethics chair and Environmental Conservation vice-chair, and David Carlucci was named Social Services chair. IDC Leader and GOP-IDC Co-Coalition Leader Jeff Klein is not listed as a member of any of the Senate committees.

Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos will chair the Rules Committee. Tom Libous will be vice-chair.

http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/228047/gop-hands-out-senate-committee-assignments/