House Speaker Roger Hanshaw has knocked down a leadership challenge, but also says changes are straight ahead for some committee chairs and other leadership positions.
Hanshaw wasn’t ready to announce the changes during an appearance on MetroNews’ “Talkline,” but he said they will be worked out within the next couple of weeks.
“We’ll make the full announcement of all the committee leadership posts probably within the next week, week and a half. We’re working on it today,” said Hanshaw, R-Clay.
“We did put off making final decisions on who all the committee chairs and leadership will be, who the membership of those committees will be, who the senior officers of the House will be until after we got past our internal caucus Sunday.”
He continued, “Suffice to say we will have some significant reorganization of our leadership.”
House Government Organization Chairman Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, challenged Hanshaw for the speaker’s position. The Sunday afternoon vote of the Republican majority was via secret ballot and behind closed doors, but multiple sources said the final tally was 53 votes for Hanshaw to 30 for Steele, with five GOP members absent.
The full House will vote officially and in the open on a speaker when the regular session begins next month. The 88-member Republican majority is expected to win the day with its choice.
Steele has continued in his committee chairman’s role even while challenging Hanshaw. But his continued participation in that role may be doubtful.
Last week, during an appearance on WJLS AM in the Beckley area, Steele expressed hope that the caucus could unite over common goals. Steele said he hopes policy goals can wind up uniting the caucus.
“It’s not just different views, it’s different personalities and different leadership styles that are clashing at the moment,” he said on “Radio Roundtable.” “The last thing you want to see is your own caucus divided. What you’re hoping is you can have a leadership style that’s going to unify that and avoid those divisions.”
Even more leadership changes could be announced soon.
In particular, Majority Leader Amy Summers, R-Taylor, could depart that role and focus on other policy priorities, including expected legislation to reform the Department of Health and Human Resources. Summers has been majority leader alongside Hanshaw since 2018.
Possibilities for the new majority leader, according to delegates, include current Finance Chairman Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, and current Health Chairman Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell.
“We’ll make the full announcement of the officers and leadership of the House here in a few days,” Hanshaw said. “But I will say this, when we talk about the DHHR reorganization effort, nobody’s put more time and effort into that than Delegate Summers.
“She is a healthcare practitioner herself and has spent a career in it and, as of lately, has sort of led our effort here in terms of how we’re going to respond to the aftermath of House Bill 4020 of last year’s regular session in which we proposed a division of DHHR.”
Rohrbach, a doctor in the Huntington area, also has participated heavily in those discussions about DHHR, Hanshaw noted. “So we’re going to utilize those talents for darn sure. We’d be irresponsible not to.”
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