Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst announced committee assignments for the Senate last Friday. The senator who represents most of Travis County, Democrat Kirk Watson, picked up five: Business & Commerce, Nominations, Higher Education, Economic Develop­ment, and Transportation & Homeland Security (vice chair), the latter an important one for our traffic-plagued region. Travis’ other senator, San Antonio-based Republican Jeff Wentworth, was assigned to six committees: Administration, Higher Education, the Select Committee on Redis­trict­ing, Intergovern­­mental Relations, Transportation & Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs & Military Installa­tions (vice chair). That redistricting assignment is key for Wentworth, who has long advocated taking congressional redistricting away from the Lege and putting it in the hands of a bipartisan commission; plus, the I-35 corridor’s growth will make it an important battleground in redistricting and deciding where Texas’ four new congressional seats will be located.

This article appears in February 4 • 2011.

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