Full Text:

Rep Wasserman To Chair Program Review Committee

HARTFORD -- State Representative Julia B. Wasserman (R-106th) has been

appointed chairman of the Legislative Program Review and Investigations

Committee. Representative Wasserman is the only member of the Republican

minority in the House of Representatives to serve as a committee chair for the

1999-2000 legislative term.

"Julia Wasserman has done an exemplary job as the ranking House member of the

Program Review Committee for the last two years, and I am confident that she

will continue to provide outstanding leadership as chairman," said House

Minority Leader Robert M. Ward (R-Northford), who announced the appointment.

"The Program Review Committee is an important component of the General

Assembly's oversight activities, and its thorough and painstaking examination

of government operations helps to make state government more efficient to

better serve the public," Rep Ward said.

Unlike most legislative committees, which have chairmen and a majority of

members from the majority party, the Program Review Committee has one

Republican and one Democrat chairman and membership evenly divided between the

two major parties. The chairmanship alternates between the two parties every

two years; Representative Wasserman's Senate co-chairman is Sen John Fonfara

(D-Hartford).

"The Program Review Committee is truly a nonpartisan committee in that no

major decisions can be made without agreement from both parties," Rep

Wasserman said. "This nonpartisanship has served the committee and the State

of Connecticut well."

The committee also differs from other legislative committees in that its

duties and powers are defined in state statutes and not governed only by the

legislative rules adopted by the General Assembly at the outset of each term.

By law, the Program Review Committee is charged with the duty of examining

"...State government programs and their administration to ascertain whether

such programs are effective, continue to serve their intended purposes, are

conducted in an efficient and effective manner, or require modification or

elimination."

In addition to its oversight role, the committee also serves as a watchdog

over state government and can be called upon by the full General Assembly to

conduct independent investigations. It also conducts ongoing "sunset reviews"

to determine if particular state agencies, boards and commissions are still

needed or should be modified to better serve the state.

Rep Wasserman, who represents the 106th District sections of Newtown and

Bethel, will also serve again as a member of the Appropriations Committee,

which is responsible for developing the state budget.

"The work of the Appropriations Committee and the Program Review Committee

goes hand-in-hand in that the Appropriations Committee decides how our scarce

tax dollars should be expended, and the Program Review Committee seeks out

ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of state government," Rep

Wasserman said.