No Rochester lawmakers on Senate HHS Committee

No senators from Rochester or southeast Minnesota will serve on the Senate's Health and Human Services Committee in the coming year. That's pretty striking given that Rochester is home to Mayo Clinic and health policy decisions made at the Capitol can have a big impact on the clinic.

DFL Sen. Ann Lynch of Rochester, who was defeated by Republican Carla Nelson, previously served as vice chair of the Health and Human Services Budget Division Commitee and on the Health, Housing and Family Security Committee. Her predecessor Sen. Sheila Kiscaden, DFL-Rochester, served on the Health and Family Security committee along with some other health-related committees.

It should be noted that the new Republican-led Senate did drastically reduce the number of committees so there is only one left that deals with health.

Three newly-elected Republican senators from the area have scored vice chairmanships.

Sen.-elect Nelson of Rochester has been named vice chair of the Senate Education Committee. That makes sense given her background in education. She earned a bachelor's degree in education with an emphasis in special education from Drake University. She also worked as an elementary special education teacher.

Sen.-elect Jeremy Miller of Winona will serve as vice chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee. Winona is home of course to Winona State University and Saint Mary's University.

Sen.-elect John Howe of Red Wing will be vice chair of the Senate Transportation Committee.His predecessor DFL Sen. Steve Murphy was the longtime chair of this committee.

One important thing to note. There are no lawmakers from Rochester or southeast Minnesota appointed to the Health and Human Services Committee. That's notable considering that Rochester is home to the Mayo Clinic and health policy decisions at the state can have a big impact on the clinic.

Below is a roundup of all the committee assignments for southeast Minnesota senators.

Howe: Energy, Utilities and Telecom, Jobs and Economic Growth and the Transportation (VC)

Miller: Capital Investment, Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Higher Education (VC) Jobs and Economic Development

Nelson: Capital Investment, Education (VC), Local Government and Elections

Sen. Dave Senjem, R-Rochester: Capital Investment (C), Taxes, Rules, Higher Education and Transportation

Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin: Agriculture, Commerce and Consumer Protection, Energy, Utilities and Telecom

 

 

 

Comments

[Curious]

And Carla Nelson isn't on health because she doesn't understand health issues, doesn't care about health issues or doesn't think health is an issue of concern to her constituents? It's only the largest employer in Rochester. Does she know that?

[Karlys]

Perhaps no local senators will be on the HHS committee, but from what I understand three Rochester house members WILL be on it. Given the large percentage of the budget that education represents, and her strong background in that field, shouldn't we be thrilled that Sen. Nelson has been named the vice chair of that committee? We need our local representation on a variety of committees, not just one!!

[Disnerd]

It only makes sense to play to your strengths and backgrounds on committees and the new structure limits committee numbers/setup with time of meeting conflicts and seniority.
And as for "Curious" and his straw man rhetorical and misleading questions, it's a little early for campaign attacks, they aren't even sworn in yet.