Washington State Senate Democrats announce 2018 committee assignments

It’s a new day in Olympia. With the Novem­ber 2017 gen­er­al elec­tion soon to move into the his­to­ry books, the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus is prepar­ing to take over man­age­ment of the cham­ber from the Repub­li­cans, who are giv­ing up con­trol thanks to Man­ka Dhin­gra’s vic­to­ry in the 45th District.

Today, the soon-to-be major­i­ty cau­cus announced com­mit­tee assign­ments and incom­ing com­mit­tee chairs for 2018.

“We have a great, knowl­edge­able team ready to get to work for the peo­ple of this state,” Sen­ate Demo­c­ra­t­ic Leader Sharon Nel­son said in a statement.

“Our chairs and com­mit­tee mem­bers are pas­sion­ate about mov­ing Wash­ing­ton house­holds for­ward. They are also ded­i­cat­ed to good gov­ern­ment and are firm in their belief that the com­mit­tee process serves as a plat­form for peo­ple to inter­act and be heard by their rep­re­sen­ta­tives in Olympia.”

Here’s the com­plete list of incom­ing com­mit­tee chairs and vice chairs:

• Agri­cul­ture, Water, Nat­ur­al Resources & Parks 
  • Sen. Kevin Van De Wege (chair)
  • Sen. John McCoy (vice chair)
• Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment & Trade 
  • Sen. Mar­a­lyn Chase (Chair)
  • Sen. Dean Takko (vice chair)
• Ear­ly Learn­ing & K12 Education 
  • Sen. Lisa Well­man (Chair)
  • Sen Chris­tine Rolfes (vice chair)
• Ener­gy, Envi­ron­ment & Technology 
  • Sen. Reuven Car­lyle (chair)
  • Sen. Guy Palum­bo (vice chair)
• Finan­cial Insti­tu­tions & Insurance 
  • Sen. Mark Mul­let (chair)
  • Sen. Bob Hasegawa (vice chair)
• Health & Long Term Care 
  • Sen. Annette Cleve­land (chair)
  • Sen. Pat­ty Kud­er­er (vice chair)
• High­er Edu­ca­tion & Work­force Development 
  • Sen. Kevin Ranker (chair)
  • Sen. Guy Palum­bo (vice chair)
• Human Ser­vices & Corrections 
  • Sen. Jean­nie Darneille (chair)
  • Sen. Man­ka Dhin­gra (vice chair)
• Labor & Commerce 
  • Sen. Karen Keis­er (chair)
  • Sen. Bob Hasegawa (vice chair)
• Law & Justice 
  • Sen. Jamie Ped­er­sen (chair)
  • Sen. Man­ka Dhin­gra (vice chair)
• Local Gov­ern­ment
  • Sen. Dean Takko (chair)
  • Sen. Guy Palum­bo (vice chair)
• State Gov­ern­ment, Trib­al Rela­tions & Elections 
  • Sen. Sam Hunt (chair)
  • Sen. Pat­ty Kud­er­er (vice chair)
• Trans­porta­tion
  • Sen. Steve Hobbs (chair)
  • Sen. Rebec­ca Sal­daña (vice chair)
• Ways & Means 
  • Sen. Chris­tine Rolfes (chair)
  • Sen. David Frockt (vice chair /capital bud­get lead)

Each of the East­side’s four Demo­c­ra­t­ic sen­a­tors will be either a com­mit­tee chair or vice chair in 2018. Lisa Well­man of the 41st is head­ing up Ear­ly Learn­ing & K‑12 Edu­ca­tion, Mark Mul­let of the 5th is in charge of Finan­cial Insti­tu­tions & Insur­ance, Pat­ty Kud­er­er will be the vice chair of State Gov­ern­ment, Trib­al Rela­tions & Elec­tions plus Health & Long Term Care, and Man­ka Dhin­gra of the 45th will be vice chair of Law & Jus­tice plus Human Ser­vices & Corrections.

The 2018 lead­er­ship team is:

• Major­i­ty Leader: Sharon Nelson
• Deputy Major­i­ty Leader: Andy Billig
• Cau­cus Chair: John McCoy
• Vice Cau­cus Chair: Lisa Wellman
• Floor Leader: Marko Liias
• Assis­tant Floor Leader: Pat­ty Kuderer
• Whip: Rebec­ca Saldaña
• Assis­tant Whip: Mark Mullet

And here is the com­plete list of com­mit­tee assignments:

Sen­a­tors from both par­ties are in Olympia this week for Com­mit­tee Days. The Sen­ate’s Com­mit­tee Days began today and run through Wednes­day; the House­’s Com­mit­tee Days begin Wednes­day and run through Friday.

Repub­li­cans are still in charge of the Sen­ate for a few more days. After Man­ka Dhin­gra is sworn in lat­er this month, they’ll no longer have control.

Most of the Repub­li­cans cur­rent­ly serv­ing as com­mit­tee chairs will like­ly become rank­ing mem­bers once the major­i­ty flips, but the cau­cus also has the option of reshuf­fling its own com­mit­tee assign­ments if it wishes.