Republicans in the State Senate have elected Cheyenne’s Tony Ross to serve as Senate President and Laramie’s Phil Nicholas to serve as majority floor leader.
The House previously announced its makeup, choosing Tom Lubnau to be speaker and Kermit Brown to be majority floor leader. Steve Harshman of Casper will become the new chair of the House Appropriations Committee. The Senate also added some new committee chairman, the most notable being Riverton’s Eli Bebout who was chosen to serve as its Appropriations Committee Chairman.
With Nicholas and Brown both serving as floor leaders, it appears that Albany County issues just gained a lot of power, but Nicholas says they will both do what is best for the state.
But he says the two are close friends and should be able to work together when things get tense at the end of the legislative session.
“Undoubtedly we will have differences with the House and it does make it easier for us to communicate. But we have been fierce competitors in court and we will be the same on the floor.”
Nicholas noted that President Ross moved a lot of less experienced members to new committees to enhance their abilities. The legislative session begins on January 8th.