House Money Panel Seats Filled
by Ed Anderson - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE -- Nine of the 25 seats on the influential House Appropriations Committee have been filled by New Orleans area lawmakers, including five rookies, according to committee appointments made Thursday by House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Algiers.

The committee, the largest in the House and the one that has first crack at reviewing the governor's budget, will be divided into six subcommittees to study various aspects of state spending. Tucker said it might be two weeks before he has the makeup of the subcommittees and their chairs named.

On the other major House money committee, the 19-member House Ways and Means Committee, five seats are filled by New Orleans area lawmakers, including two first-termers. Ways and Means handles tax increases, exemptions and other tax-related matters.

Seats on the two panels are coveted by lawmakers because of the power they yield revising the governor's budget or tailoring taxes and tax breaks.