Lots of new faces on Senate Finance…

The Senate Finance Committee, the Senate half of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, will have a high number of new members in the coming session. Among them: Sens. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens; Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood; Cliff Bayer, R-Boise; Dan Johnson, R-Lewiston; Steven Thayn, R-Emmett; Dan Schmidt, D-Moscow; and Roy Lacey, D-Pocatello.

Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, continues as vice chair; and Sen. Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, will continue to serve on the panel.

Vick, a second-term senator, said he’s wanted to get on the joint committee since he arrived in the Senate. “Not everybody likes to do it, because it is a lot of work and a lot of numbers,” he said. “I spent eight years in the appropriations committee in Montana.” Vick said the panel, which writes the state budget, is “the most important committee,” and said his goal there will be to “keep government spending low.”