Dr. Alan Bates - Oregon Senate Majority Whip

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Committee Assignments

2007 Regular Session

• Senate Special Committee on Health Care Reform, Chair
• Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources
• The Committee on Ways and Means
• The Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Services
• The Ways and Means Subcommittee on General Government

The Joint Committee on Ways and Means was created under ORS 171.555. It is the legislative entity charged with the responsibility of making recommendations to the legislature during regular session on the budget.
Ways and Means is comprised of six subcommittees including Human Services and Natural Resources, on which Senator Bates held positions during the 2006 regular session. The members of the committee are appointed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House.

It is the Legislature's constitutional requirement to adopt a balanced budget and the recommendations of the Ways and Means committee assist the Legislature in doing so. The structure of this process of fund appropriation is unique to Oregon and a few other states and it is an especially effective way to resolve budgetary differences.