A local delegate is about to get more power as a result of the House of Delegates elections.
Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Caroline, is in line to become chairman of the House Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee.
The committee was long chaired by Phil Hamilton, but Hamilton, under fire for using his position to get money for a school that also employed him, lost his own re-election bid and then resigned his seat.
Orrock was vice chairman, and under the House's seniority rules, he would now be chairman, if he wants it.
Orrock says he does, and House Speaker Bill Howell--who ultimately makes such decisions and could go against the seniority system if he chose--also says he's likely to appoint Orrock chairman when the General Assembly convenes in January.
"I reasoned, given that the full committee chair determines what goes to a subcommittee or not, that it probably was a little bigger gavel, and something I might want to go ahead and exercise," Orrock said.
The Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee can handle some high-profile bills. Mental health legislation typically goes there, as do certain abortion bills, regulation of the health department and private health providers, and bills about welfare benefits.
The speaker is the one with the power to refer bills to specific committees, but the committee chairman can influence the fate of the legislation he receives.
For the past few years the House has used a subcommittee system; bills go to a committee, the committee chairman refers them to a subcommittee, and the subcommittee hears the bill and recommends to pass it or kill it. Usually, although not always, a bill that doesn't win the support of the subcommittee has little chance for passage, or even a hearing, in the full committee.
As chairman of House Health, Welfare and Insitutions, then, Orrock would have power over legislation through his subcommittee referrals and by choosing what bills get heard.
To become chairman, Orrock will have to give up being chairman of two subcommittees in other committees, as well as his vice chairmanship in the House Finance Committee.
Orrock said he's been on Health, Welfare and Institutions for 20 years, since he first became a delegate.
Overall, the Republicans' pickup of seats in the elections earlier this month will impact all committees.
The Republicans operate under a proportional seating scheme, which means that the percentage of people from each party on committees is the percentage that each party holds in the House.
Howell pointed out that when Democrats had the majority in the House, they did not use proportional seating, and committees had very few Republicans on them. He said some Republicans wanted to do away with proportional seating in recent years, when Republicans were losing House seats.
The Nov. 3 elections gave Republicans six more seats, enough to tip the percentage into an extra Republican on each committee and one fewer Democrat.
Most House committees have 22 members, so they will go from 13 Republicans and nine Democrats to 14 Republicans and eight Democrats.
The budget-writing House Appropriations Committee has 24 members, but Howell said there's "a lot of sentiment" for trimming it back to 22 members.
Howell said the practical effect of the change won't be that big, because the Republicans already had a comfortable majority on committees. But, he said, it will make it easier: For one thing, neither party always votes in lockstep, so now Republicans have one more probable vote, at least, in their corner on committees. It also increases the chances that Republicans will have more members actually present during a committee vote; often some members are absent, to sit on other committees or subcommittees or to present bills in other committees.
"It gives the majority a little more leeway, not much," Howell said. "It's a little comforting."
Chelyen Davis: 540/368-5028
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com