CHARLESTON — The newly shaped leadership team for the House of Delegates includes new chairmen of the key Finance and Education committees.
The announcements were made Tuesday morning by Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay.
Delegate Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, will lead the powerful Finance Committee. Householder was the vice chairman.
He replaces Delegate Eric Nelson, who twice challenged Hanshaw to be Speaker of the House. Nelson shifts to chairman of the Banking and Insurance Committee.
Delegate Vernon Criss, R-Wood, will serve as the new vice chairman of Finance.
After several years of declining revenue, the state budget appears to be stable, with surpluses reported the past several months.
Gov. Jim Justice promised an additional $100 million to shore up the Public Employees Insurance Agency, as well as funding for average 5 percent pay raises for most state employees.
“Now that our state’s budget is turning around, running surpluses instead of deficits, we need to avoid the temptation to grow government and return to the undisciplined spending practices that contributed to our poor fiscal condition of past years,” Hanshaw said.
“Eric is committed to making sure our government lives within its means and is not spending the people’s money recklessly, and I know he will succeed in this mission.”
The new chairman of the Education Committee will be Delegate Danny Hamrick, R-Harrison.
Delegate Mark Dean, R-Mingo, will serve as the committee’s vice chairman. Dean is principal of Gilbert PreK-8 in Mingo County.
The former Education chairman, Paul Espinosa, changed roles to become the House majority whip.
Hamrick’s new position means the Education committees in both the House and Senate will have new leaders.
Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, was named last week chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee.
“One of our major priorities this session is to make sure our state’s education system is properly training our younger generations for the high-paying, high-demand jobs available in our state,” Hanshaw said.
“Danny shares this passion to make sure our employers and education leaders are working collaboratively to provide a pipeline from school to work so our young people don’t have to leave West Virginia to find a job.”
