House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw on Wednesday announced the leadership team for the 86th West Virginia Legislature.
Finance Committee Chairman Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, will serve as West Virginia House Majority Leader, replacing Delegate Amy Summers, R-Taylor, according to a news release from Hanshaw’s office.
Delegates David Kelly, R-Tyler, Dean Jeffries, R-Kanawha, and Laura Kimble, R-Harrison, will serve as assistant majority leaders in the legislative session, which begins Jan. 11.
“The time is right to realign the expertise we have across our leadership team, and Eric has been at the forefront of our efforts throughout the past decade to bring conservative principles to bear through the House,” Hanshaw said in the release.
A project manager and preconstruction consultant for Virginia-based Lantz Construction, Householder joined the company in 2021 after three decades as a small business owner, according to the company’s website.
“We’ve made incredible strides over the years toward becoming a destination for businesses and families, but we still have much work to do,” Householder said. “This leadership team is up to the challenge.”
Summers will serve as chairwoman of the Health and Human Resources Committee, with Delegate Heather Tully, R-Nicholas, serving as her vice chairwoman.
“Both Heather and Amy bring real-world healthcare experience to a topic that now more than ever needs a keen eye, a fine-toothed comb and the legislative acumen to steer us through some really big and really tough decisions,” Hanshaw said. “We have the opportunity to lead with our expertise and continue taking strong action with this crucial committee.”
Delegate Vernon Criss, R-Wood, will replace Hanshaw as chairman of the House Finance Committee. Criss has served as vice chairman of that committee since 2018.
Delegate John Hardy, R-Berkeley, has been named vice chairman of the Finance Committee.
“We couldn’t have a better mix of strong leadership, experience and temperament to run the Finance Committee than we have with Vernon and John,” Hanshaw said.
Delegate Paul Espinosa, R-Jefferson, will take on the new role of speaker pro tempore, should Hanshaw not be available to run the floor.
Delegate Gary Howell, R-Mineral, will preside over the Committee on Economic Development and Tourism. Howell has 14 years of legislative experience, along with a background in business, Hanshaw said. Delegate Wayne Clark, R-Jefferson, will serve as Howell’s vice chairman.
Just re-elected to his sixth term, Delegate Marty Gearheart, R-Mercer, will serve as majority whip. Delegates Erikka Storch, R-Ohio, and Chris Pritt, R-Kanawha, will serve as deputy whips, directing their assistants and teams in communicating with the largest majority of Republican delegates since 1900, Hanshaw said.
“Each legislative session is different, and each member brings unique perspectives to the body, so we take a look at our team each session,” Hanshaw said. “We look for the best ways to leverage our collective strengths to assemble the leadership team that will carry out the functional work of the House, to ensure we use our limited time together to continue passing laws that make it easy to simply choose West Virginia, and that’s what we’ve done.”
Delegate Clay Riley, R-Harrison, will serve as conference chairman for the coming session. In that role, he will help organize and lead majority caucus meetings and policy discussions among Republican members with the regular help of Delegates John Paul Hott, R-Grant, and Doug Smith, R-Mercer, serving as conference vice chairmen.
“With the work ethic and incredible ability to find solutions through compromise we have in that team, I’m confident they will help lead us to our most successful session yet, and it can’t hurt to have an engineer’s eye on organizing the largest caucus we’ve had in over 120 years,” Hanshaw said.
Delegate Matt Rohrbach, R-Cabell, will fill the newly created senior leadership role of deputy speaker, to assist Speaker Hanshaw and the majority leader with advancing caucus priorities as well as serving as a liaison for the House with the Senate and the executive branch.
“Matt has led us to historic numbers of conservative members who are eager to get to work on a conservative agenda to improve our economy, and his years of experience in House leadership will help them achieve those goals,” Hanshaw said. “In this role, Matt will be able to foster the productive relationships we need to accomplish continued legislative success.”
Rohrbach will continue to serve as chairman of the House Republican Legislative Committee, the political arm of the House Republican Caucus.
“The achievements we’ve made since 2014 have had ripple effects, but it’s no longer enough to celebrate simply being off the Judicial Hellhole list, for example,” Rohrbach said. “We want to be at the very top of site selection lists, and to get to that next level and truly improve the economy of West Virginia, we must have a leadership team with the focus and the drive to continue listening to our constituents and making the hard decisions to get us there.”
Other appointments included:
• Delegate Daniel Linville, R-Cabell, chairman, Technology and Infrastructure Committee; Delegate Jarred Cannon, R-Putnam, vice chairman.
• Delegate Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, chairman, Education Committee; Delegates Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, and Christopher Toney, R-Raleigh, vice chairmen.
• Delegate Bill Anderson, R-Wood, chairman, Energy Committee; Delegate Mark Zatezalo, R-Hancock, vice chairman.
• Delegate Moore Capito, R-Kanawha, chairman, Judiciary Committee; Tom Fast, R-Fayette, vice chairman.
• Delegate Chris Phillips, R-Barbour, chairman, Committee on Government Organization; Delegate Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, vice chairman.
