For release: December 13, 2006

Campbell named chair of Select Committee on Environmental Health

Olympia - Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Roy) has been named Chair of the Select Committee on Environmental Health. The appointment was made by the House Committee on Committees, chaired by Speaker Frank Chopp. The House Democratic Caucus approved Campbell’s selection today. 

Campbell said he welcomed his appointment as chair of the new committee.

“I am pleased the Speaker and the House leadership chose me for this significant new assignment,” Campbell said. “There’s no partisanship in issues as important as the environment. As a Legislature, we need to work together to involve all who are seeking to improve our quality of life across Washington.”

Rep. Zack Hudgins (D-11th District) is Vice-Chair of the new committee.

Campbell noted that many years ago, the legislature once had an Ecology Committee to focus on all environmental issues in this state.

“But, over the years, that responsibility was divided among other committees so there wasn’t the focus there needs to be,” he said. “With this new committee we will re-focus on a broad range of environmental issues.”

Among the myriad of environmental health issues that fall in the realm of environmental health, Campbell noted air and water quality, pesticides and cancer-causing elements in the environment among issues he hopes to see the committee consider.

“We will have great discretion for issues that will come before the committee,” Campbell said. “This will be a venue for concerned citizens and state leaders, alike, to bring issues to the committee for public hearings and to come up with solutions to the environmental problems that need to be resolved.

Campbell said he was especially pleased that Chopp and his majority caucus went across party lines to make the chair appointment. “This is the kind of bipartisanship our citizens like to see, with people working together to solve problems. They have become impatient with partisanship in government, not only on the state level, but on the national level as well.”

Campbell, a Chiropractor in private practice in Spanaway, was elected to his seventh two-year in last month’s election. Campbell also will serve on the Health Care Wellness Committee and the Transportation Committee.

The 2007 legislative session starts on Jan. 8.

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Contact: Rep. Tom Campbell (253) 537-0266