New Senate President Andy Gardiner looked to experience as he named committee chairmen who will oversee legislation and state spending during the next two years.
Of the 24 existing committees and subcommittees that will continue into the legislative session that begins in March, 13 will be led by the chairmen who oversaw those panels in 2014, according to assignments released earlier this week by Gardiner, an Orlando Republican.
Many of the changes result from shifts in leadership in the Senate, which will return all but one of its members from the last term.
The senators who will keep their posts are Agriculture Chairman Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee; General Government Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Alan Hays, R-Umatilla; Children, Families and Elder Affairs Chairwoman Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood; Commerce and Tourism Chairwoman Nancy Detert, R-Venice; Community Affairs Chairman Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby; Criminal Justice Chairman Greg Evers, R-Baker; PreK-12 Education Chairman John Legg, R-Lutz; Environmental Preservation and Conservation Chairman Charlie Dean, R-Inverness; Finance and Tax Chairwoman Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange; Government Oversight and Accountability Chairman Jeremy Ring, D-Margate; Health Policy Chairman Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach; Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security Chairman Thad Altman, R-Rockledge, and Transportation Chairman Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg.
Legg’s role will be slightly different after he chaired a committee last year that considered all education bills.
The Senate will now go back to having a committee that focuses on PreK-12 education, headed by Legg, and a reconstituted Higher Education Committee, chaired by Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland.
The broadest changes to committee leadership will happen in the budget process.
Sen. Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican locked in a battle for the Senate presidency beginning in 2016, will go from chairman of the full Senate Appropriations Committee to overseeing a subcommittee dealing with civil and criminal justice spending. Negron will replace Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island.
The full Appropriations Committee will be chaired by Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, something that Gardiner had already announced.
Meanwhile, Sen. Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican who served the past two years as president, will take over the gavel in the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee, formerly headed by Sen. Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who is now Senate majority leader.
Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, will take over the chairmanship of the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee from Sen. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring.
Grimsley will instead chair the Communications, Energy and Public Utilities Committee –– taking over from Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, who will chair the new Fiscal Policy Committee.
Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, will chair the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, following Latvala’s departure from the post.
Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, will replace Lee as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, while Bradley will take over the chairmanship of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee from Stargel.