80th TX Senate Criminal Justice Committee Membership

No word on House committee assignments yet, but Lt. Governor David Dewhurst announced them for the Texas Senate. Here's the list of this session's Criminal Justice Committee members:

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

John Whitmire, Chair

Kel Seliger, Vice-Chair

John Carona

Bob Deuell

Rodney Ellis

Glenn Hegar

Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa

So Chairman Whitmire finds himself a Democrat leading a Republican majority committe, but essentially the same one as during the 79th session with two significant exceptions: Freshman Glenn Hegar will replace Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden. (That might just be a recognition of the reality that Ogden's finance duties caused him to skip, or leave early, many Criminal Justice committee hearings in 2005.) And Sen. Bob Deuell joins the committee replacing Jon Lindsay, who did not run again after the 79th session.

Hegar has a solid record on criminal justice issues in the House, though they were never his primary concern - he spoke out strongly in 2005 on behalf of requiring written consent for searches at traffic stops and for strengthening the probation system. Deuell, who is a medical doctor, has less of a record to evaluate on criminal justice topics; though he voted for stronger probation in 2005, he has also proposed penalty enhancements I tend to find worrisome. On the other hand, given the horrid state of Texas prison healthcare, it might really help to have a doc on that committee.

Via Quorum Report Daily Buzz