01.19.00

By April Duran

The House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions will streamline its subcommittees for the 2000 legislative session, panel members decided when they met briefly Tuesday in a crowded room.

The committee's co-chairmen – Delegates Phillip A. Hamilton, R-Newport News, and Jay W. DeBoer, D-Petersburg – also said they would alternate running the meetings this session.

"Some bills will draw a crowd," Hamilton said in reference to the standing-room-only audience at the committee's first meeting of the session.

Previously, the panel had four subcommittees: health policy, standards, social services and institutions. This year, Hamilton said, there will be three subcommittees.

The first, general health, will combine the former health policy and standards subcommittees. The second subcommittee will look at social and child protective services issues; while the third group will deal with institutional issues.

"There will be greater representation on subcommittees," said Delegate John H. Rust Jr., R-Fairfax. "It will be easier to get a quorum."