Amidst the excitement of the budget, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg unveiled the new committee assignments for 2010.
For health advocates, here’s the relevant committees:
* Appropriations – Kehoe (Chair), Cox (Vice Chair), Alquist, Corbett, Denham, Leno, Liu, Price, Walters, Wyland, Yee
* Budget and Fiscal Review – Ducheny (Chair), Dutton (Vice Chair), Alquist, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Huff, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal, Maldonado, Negrete-McLeod, Padilla, Simitian, Walters, Wright
* Sub 3 on Health and Human Services– Leno (Chair), Alquist, Ashburn
* Health – Alquist (Chair), Strickland (Vice Chair), Aanestad, Cedillo, Cox, Leno, Negrete-McLeod, Pavley, Romero
On the Health Committee, there are 9 members, 6 Democrats. This means that if a bill is to pass Health Committee, and all Republicans oppose it, it can’t lose more than one of the Democratic votes.