COLUMBUS—Ohio House Speaker-elect William G. Batchelder (R-Medina) today announced the standing committees for the 129th General Assembly. In total, there will be 17 committees starting when the new session commences in January.

“It is important that we have committees that meet regularly and frequently in order to ensure that the public has every opportunity to participate in the legislative process,” Batchelder said. “With a smaller number of committees, it will allow each member of the House to concentrate on each piece of legislation put before them, which will promote higher efficiency in the drafting and amending the bills.”

The committees for next year’s session are:

Agriculture and Natural Resources
Commerce and Labor
Criminal Justice
Economic and Small Business Development
Education
Finance and Appropriations
Primary and Secondary Education Subcommittee
Higher Education Subcommittee
Transportation Subcommittee
Health and Human Services Subcommittee
Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee
Financial Institutions, Housing and Urban Development
Health and Aging
Insurance
Judiciary and Ethics
Local Government
Public Utilities
Rules and Reference
State Government and Elections
Transportation, Public Safety and Homeland Security
Veteran’s Affairs
Ways and Means

Batchelder has asked for members to return their committee preferences by Tuesday, November 30th. He further indicated that several committees would meet at night to accommodate Ohioans who would like to participate in the committee process without having to miss work to attend. Committee announcements will be made official on January 4th.