Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) announced leadership assignments Thursday for House committees in the 2019 legislative session.
The announcement includes the lawmaker who will help write the state budget for House Republicans. Rep. Todd Huston (R-Fishers) will co-chair the Ways and Means Committee, assisting longtime Rep. Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville), who is still recovering from a serious motorcycle accident.
In other leadership changes, Rep. Wendy McNamara (R-Evansville) will now chair the Courts and Criminal Code Committee, while Rep. Jerry Torr (R-Carmel) will lead House Judiciary. Neither are lawyers, unlike the previous chairs.
Rep. Sharon Negele (R-Attica) is the new head of the Ethics Committee. That panel could investigate Speaker Brian Bosma in the coming session. That’s after Bosma used campaign dollars to hire an attorney who allegedly intimidated a former intern who says she had an affair with the GOP leader.
And Rep. Ed Soliday (R-Valparaiso) will no longer lead the House Roads and Transportation Committee, replaced by Rep. Holli Sullivan (R-Evansville). Soliday moves over to chair House Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications. Senate Republicans last session blamed Soliday for derailing an autonomous vehicles bill.
