House Speaker Shuffles Top Committee Assignments for 2019 Session

Tina Kotek elevates Dan Rayfield to co-chair key budget-writing committee, moves Nancy Nathanson to chair Revenue.

Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek (Courtesy of Tina Kotek)
By Anamika Vaughan

Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek (D–Portland) announced two new committee appointments today for the 2019 legislative session. They were more than routine changes.

Kotek promoted Rep. Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis), currently the co-chair of the budget subcommittee on human services, to co-chair of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, which writes the state's budget.

That's a big boost for Rayfield, a personal injury lawyer who's widely seen as a likely future candidate for statewide office.

"Rep. Rayfield is in his second term and has distinguished himself as a budget leader in our caucus, having co-chaired three different Ways & Means subcommittees and currently serving as the House vice co-chair of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means," Kotek said in a statement.

In a related move, the Speaker shifted Rep. Nancy Nathanson (D-Eugene) to replace Rep. Phil Barnhart (D- Eugene) as chair of the House Revenue Committee. Barnhart is retiring.

The Revenue Committee is important but in terms of prestige, it's a step down from Ways and Means.

In giving Nathanson Barnhart's committee gavel, Kotek passed over the Revenue Committee co-vice-chair state Rep. Barbara Smith Warner (D-Portland). In announcing the moves, however, Kotek's noted that Smith Warner, who is the House co-chair of the Joint Committee on Student Success will work closely with both Rayfield and Nathanson to increase K-12 funding.

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