State Sen. Brendan Crighton and state Rep. Jenny Armini, along with legislative colleagues, received their committee assignments last week, a formal step pushing the legislative process forward after a slow start to the session.
Crighton retained his chairmanship on the Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee and earned spots on five other committees. Armini, who won the 8th Essex District seat in September, was assigned to four committees.
Crighton received a seat on the Rules Committee and also secured positions on the Ethics Committee and the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use, and Recovery, as well as the vice chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Personnel and Administration.
Armini was assigned to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, as well as the committees on Higher Education; Global Warming and Climate Change; and Steering, Policy, and Scheduling. The steering, policy, and scheduling committee, Armini said, “assists the Speaker in setting the schedule of legislation to be heard by the House of Representatives.”
Committee work represents the heart of the legislative process. Bills filed by legislators are referred to committees, which then take each piece of proposed legislation under consideration before potentially bringing it to the floor of a particular branch of the Legislature.
Armini’s assignments reflect several of the priorities she highlighted during her campaign last summer.
“These assignments offer a tremendous opportunity to shape environmental policy at a critical juncture for the 8th Essex District and the entire Commonwealth,” she wrote in a statement. “Marblehead is a coastal gem, rich in natural resources. The negative impact of climate change on this community and every community demands we continue to build on what the Legislature accomplished last session. I look forward to partnering with my colleagues to secure our coastline; advance effective climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies; and promote environmental protection and preservation.”
Higher education, Armini said, is the “engine that keeps the Massachusetts innovation economy the envy of the world.”
“It is also what propels young people into the middle class and beyond,” she added. “Ensuring that all students who want the chance have it, without bankrupting their futures, is something I look forward to tackling this session.”
Her assignment to the Committee on Steering, Policy, and Scheduling provides her a “seat at the table” in helping set the direction of the work the House will do this session.