New committee lays out session priorities: veterans benefits, emergency response, elections and government accountability

The House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs used its first meeting of the biennium to introduce members and outline priorities for the session, focusing on veterans’ benefits and pensions, military and National Guard affairs, emergency response and climate resiliency, election access and voting administration, and government accountability.

“My goal for the next half hour is to just do some light introductions … and then I wanna talk a little bit about individual policy desires and priorities so we can start shaping our committee's agenda for the session,” Representative Matt Byron, the committee chair, said at the start of the meeting.

Members identified several recurring themes. Representative Lisa Hango and others highlighted military affairs and National Guard issues, saying the committee will…