FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Eduardo Martinez
January 26, 2007 (916) 319-2044

ASSEMBLYMEMBER PORTANTION ASSIGNED KEY COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Portantino announced today he was assigned to key committee posts for the 2007-08 legislative session. In addition to being appointed Chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee shortly after his election to the Assembly, the Speaker of the Assembly has tapped Portantino to sit on a number of committees that will address critical issues facing California.

“I am extremely pleased with my committee assignments,” said Portantino. “The Speaker has given me a great opportunity to tackle issues such as student tuition fee increases, appropriating transportation bond money, and our overcrowding prison system. I am looking forward to this opportunity.”

Portantino was one of a handful of freshmen Assemblymembers picked to chair an Assembly standing committee. With the Governor’s recent budget proposal to raise UC and CSU tuition fees, his Chairmanship of the Higher Education Committee will be at the center of major budget discussions.

Portantino was also picked to sit on the Assembly Transportation Committee, the Assembly Public Safety Committee, and the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, each of which will address some of California’s most pressing issues. As a member of the Transportation Committee, Portantino will help oversee the appropriation of bond monies passed by the voters last November that were designated for transportation infrastructure. Sitting on the Public Safety Committee, Portantino will face the challenges with California’s troubled corrections system and the Governor’s prison construction proposals. And finally, serving on the Governmental Organization Committee will require Portantino to vet the Governor’s tribal compacts that failed in the last legislative session.

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