House committee rosters have been announced, giving Capitol observers the opportunity to speculate on how or whether the chamber’s widely reported turn to the right is reflected in the makeup of its committees.

Speaker-designee Jim Weiers, R-10, already had said he expects more conservative legislation to be sent to the governor in 2005, so when he announced the rosters on Dec. 16, the committees that seem likely to produce some of the biggest headlines got immediate attention.

They include the three committees that handle bills concerning money, children or sex, issues that typically attract considerable media attention.

State Budget

Money is the province of the Appropriations committees, and for the first time the House will have two of them, called Appropriations B and Appropriations P, chaired, respectively, by Rep. Tom Boone, R-4, and Rep. Russell Pearce, R-18. Mr. Weiers said the two committees will “create a better system” by allowing more time to discuss important issues.

Both of the 15-member Appropriations committees will have 10 Republicans and judging from their members’ voting records will be as fiscally conservative as the current single committee. Leadership has not said what the specific roles will be for each Appropriations panel

In Appropriations B, seven of the 10 are returning legislators. Last session, four of those seven — Mr. Boone, Mr. Pearce, Rep. Steve Yarbrough, R-21, and Rep. Warde Nichols, R-21 — voted against the current budget, which was passed by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans who wanted to spend more money than their leadership had proposed. Rep.-elect Mark Anderson, R-18, now on Appropriations B, was in the Senate for the budget vote and he opposed the spending increase as well.

The other two returning Republicans, Vice Chair Rep. Jennifer Burns, R-25, and Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R-5, voted in favor of the current budget. The three other Republicans are new lawmakers; Reps.-elect Nancy McLain, R-3, David Smith, R-7, and Rick Murphy, R-9, each said either balancing the budget or streamlining the budget process as their top legislative priority.

Four of Appropriations P’s 10 Republicans — Mr. Pearce, Mr. Boone and Reps. Andy Biggs and Eddie Farnsworth of District 22 — are returning legislators who voted against the current budget. In addition, Rep. Laura Knaperek, R-17, a former Appropriations Committee chairwoman returning to the House after a two-year hiatus, was well known as a fiscal conservative in her previous legislative service.

New Reps.-elect Judy Burges, R-4, and Pamela Gorman, R-6, both said their top priority was reducing spending and balancing the budget, while Jerry Weiers, R-12, said he would not support creating any new departments and said all state programs need to be reformed. Vice Chair Rep. Lucy Mason, R-1, is the only Republican member that voted for the current budget.

Kindergarten

Bills to implement full-day kindergarten could be assigned to the Education K-12 Committee, chaired by Mr. Anderson. Seven of the 10 committee members are Republicans, and five of them — Mr. Anderson, Mr. Nichols, Mr., Farnsworth and Reps. John Allen, R-7, and Bob Stump, R-9 — voted against S1405 (Laws 2004, Chapter 278) last session. That law requires the Legislature to develop a plan to provide state-funded full-day kindergarten for all students by 2010. Rep. Tom O’Halleran, R-1, is the only Republican on the committee who voted in favor of the bill. The seventh Republican is freshman lawmaker David Smith, who has no voting record and who did not address the issue during his campaign.

Speaker Weiers said the current House is more conservative than in the past, which he said will translate into more socially conservative legislation being sent to the governor.

Minority Leader Phil Lopes, D-27, said although socially conservative bills may be introduced, they are not guaranteed easy passage out of committee or the chamber.

“Principled conservatives often do see the value of certain things that government does. In those instances, I would expect them to vote much more like I vote,” Mr. Lopes said.

Abortion & Same-Sex Marriage

Bills on abortion and same-sex marriage always make headlines, and such measures probably will be funneled to the Judiciary Committee as they were last session. Judging by its members’ voting records and campaign stances, bills that pass the committee likely will have a conservative bent.

There will be six Republicans on Judiciary in 2005, and four of them voted in favor of last session’s S1077, a bill to require a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion (it was vetoed by Governor Napolitano). Mr. Farnsworth, the Judiciary chairman, voted in favor of it, as did Reps. Ray Barnes, R-7, Doug Quelland, R-10, and Mr. Yarbrough. The two freshmen on the committee, Vice Chair Smith and Rep.-elect Jonathan Paton, R-30, are both pro-life.

Last session the House also passed HCM2004, asking Congress to amend the United States Constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples (the measure failed in the Senate). The same four Republicans on the Judiciary Committee voted in favor of it. Mr. Paton did not mention his stance on same-sex marriage in pre-election conversations with Arizona Capitol Times, but in July Mr. Smith said he opposed gay marriage.—