Democratic Rep. Hans Dunshee is out as leader of the House Capital Budget Committee and in as second-in-command of the chamber’s powerful budget-writing panel.
Democratic caucus members made Dunshee the new vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee in voting completed Monday, Dec. 4.
Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, will remain the leader of the budget panel while Rep. Bill Fromhold, D-Vancouver, will take over Dunshee’s chairmanship.
Dunshee will be giving up the high-profile seat he’s held for four years. In 2005, he wrote a $3 billion construction budget that included funding for the largest increase in new school construction in the state’s history.
House Speaker Frank Chopp asked him to make the change, he said. It will make him part of negotiations with Gov. Chris Gregoire on the nitty-gritty in the vast operating budget.
“I’ll be going from $3 billion to $30 billion,” Dunshee said. “This is a step up.”
Other area lawmakers receiving committee chair appointments include:
• Rep. Brian Sullivan, D-Mukilteo, will head Agriculture and Natural Resources, formerly Natural Resources, Ecology and Parks. Sullivan said the name change includes more substantiative switches, too.
“My old committee covered Puget Sound,” Sullivan said. That responsibility has been reassigned to a special select committee that is being merged with a similar panel already focused on Hood Canal ecology issues.
Sullivan said one of the main advantages of the change will be a chance to address cross-jurisdictional issues facing both areas. “There are 22-odd jurisdictions with some oversight of Puget Sound,” he said.
What Sullivan got, however, may be bigger: agriculture and water.
“I met (Dec. 5) with the mayor of Everett,” Sullivan said. “Everett is the water purveyor for most of Snohomish County.”
• Rep. Al O’Brien, D-Mountlake Terrace, will lead Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, formerly Criminal Justice and Corrections.
“The committee has been broadened, looking at Homeland Security issues,” said O’Brien, a former Seattle police officer. “I’ve always had a concern about that.”
O’Brien said he’ll be contacting county sheriffs to make sure they have what they need and that agencies throughout the state are communicating.
“I’ve already set a hearing for the first week of the session for all the first-responders,” he said.
• Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park, will guide Early Learning and Children’s Services, formerly Children and Family Service. “I’m very pleased that they are giving the attention and priority to parents and young children,” Kagi said.
Jerry Cornfield is a reporter with The Herald in Everett. Enterprise staff contributed to this report.
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