Preparing for the 87th General Assembly -- UPDATE III

House Parliamentarian Tim Massanelli announces the procedure to determine seniority

Here's a grainy picture of Speaker-designate Robbie Wills (D-Conway) welcoming new members of the Arkansas House last night. We're here at the Capitol this morning to find a place to sit (drawn by seniority) and to select committee memberships for the upcoming session that will begin on January 12.

First order of business is for the incoming members to draw for seniority. In the era of term limits, there'll routinely be 35 or so new members in each biennium, so seniority for the "class" of new members is determined by drawing a number out of a shoe box. I'm still paying for my draw. Since I represent District 1, I was the first to draw a seniority number back in 2004, and I drew 99.

I'll post the committee memberships once they're determined today, and I'll also post the results of the elections for majority leader, majority whip, and other officers of the Dem caucus. We'll also select the House chair/vice chair of budget today. Wills has recommended Rep. Bruce Maloch (D-Magnolia) to be budget chairman.

Update: Seniority has been determined and is on the jump. Click here for the seating chart (opens .pdf document in a new page).

Update II: Here are the new caucus officers for the upcoming session:

Majority Leader: Steve Harrelson
Majority Whip: Kathy Webb (won in a contested election)
Secretary: Nancy Duffy Blount
Treasurer: Gregg Reep

Here's a picture from the caucus meeting:



Update III: Committee selections have been determined but won't be available until Monday (chairmen and membership of the select committees won't be known until January). I'm on Judiciary and State Agencies/Governmental Affairs. The House chair of Joint Budget will be Rep. Bruce Maloch (D-Magnolia), and Kathy Webb (D-Little Rock) was elected House vice chair of Joint Budget.