Committee Chairs Seated With Session Starting In January

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    Committee Chairs Seated With Session Starting In January

    Members of the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee discuss a bill in February. The committee was assigned nearly 70 bills in the 2022 session.

    Photo by Isaac Gleitz

    Sixteen legislators—nine representatives and seven senators—are taking on new roles, each leading one of the 23 House standing committees and 22 Senate standing committees for the 2023 session.

    What are committees? 

    Legislative committees exist to help lawmakers identify important issues, gather and evaluate information, and review bills in the early stages before they head to a chamber’s floor for larger discussion.

    “Committees—they are the workhorses of the legislature,” said Andrew Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics and Purdue University Fort Wayne associate professor of political science.

    The majority of work on bills typically happens in committee because basically every bill is assigned to a committee, Downs said.

    It’s good to be in charge because committee chairs have a big influence on what bills are heard, which is an essential part in a bill’s passage, Downs said. Committee chairs are influenced by what the chamber leader and their party say are the important issues for that session.

    According to Downs, 20-30%, depending on the year, of all legislation introduced actually passes—so 70-80% dies.

    “The chairs do try to work with the other committee members, it’s not like the chair just comes in with a big hammer and says, ‘Everything I want is what’s going to be heard.’ They just spend time talking to the other committee members,” Downs said.

    He also said that committees give legislators a good opportunity to collaborate with one another and with the members of the other chamber to pass legislation they see as important.

    The new workhorses

    Downs said this year’s chair assignments saw a decent amount of turnover.

    Chamber leaders give the assignments every two years after the November election, and the roles stay in effect for the members’ two-year terms.

    In a Nov. 18 press release, when Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, announced the chairs for the upcoming session, he said he believes “some of the most important work in the legislature happens at the committee level.”

    “We have a group of very talented committee chairs set for the upcoming session, and I look forward to working with these talented members as they help craft good policy for the people of Indiana.”

    The new chairs are:

    • Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, chair of the Corrections and Criminal Law Committee.
    • Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, chair of the Environmental Affairs Committee.
    • Sen. Eric Bassler, R-Shelburn, chair of the Ethics Committee.
    • Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesville, chair of the Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee.
    • Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, chair of the Joint Rules Committee.

    Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, and Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger, shifted to new committees. Walker will lead the Family and Child Services Committee, and Rogers is taking over the Pensions and Labor Committee.

    On Dec. 2, House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, released the House committee chair appointments.

    “I’m excited about the talents and wide range of experience that our chairs will bring to their committees, and I look forward to working closely with each of them,” Huston said in a press release. “As we head into the budget session, we have many challenges and opportunities in front of us, and I’m confident in our team’s abilities to vet and pass policies that put Hoosiers first.”

    The new chairs are:

    • Rep. Michael Aylesworth, R-Hebron , chair of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee.
    • Rep. Alan Morrison, R-Brazil, chair of the Environmental Affairs Committee.
    • Rep. Mike Speedy, R-Indianapolis, chair of the Financial Institutions Committee.
    • Rep. Chris May, R-Bedford, chair of the Local Government Committee.
    • Rep. Shane Lindauer, R-Jasper, chair of the Natural Resources Committee.
    • Rep. Ethan Manning, R-Denver, chair of the Public Policy Committee.
    • Rep. Karen Engleman, R-Georgetown, chair of the Statutory Committee on Ethics.

    Two House lawmakers also shifting committees: Rep. Martin Carbaugh, R-Fort Wayne, is in charge of the new Insurance Committee, and Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Garrett, moved to chair the Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee.

    FOOTNOTE: Sydney Byerly is a reporter at TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

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