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June 13, 2005



First Woman Delegate to Serve on Powerful Joint Interim Committee


House Speaker Bob Kiss has appointed Delegate Virginia Mahan of Summers County to the Joint Committee on Government & Finance, the House-Senate body that is chaired by the Speaker and Senate President and comprises members of the legislative leadership.

Delegate Mahan, the first woman delegate to serve on the powerful committee, will be joining House Majority Leader Rick Staton, House Minority Leader Charles Trump, House Judiciary Chairman Jon Amores and House Minority Whip Mike Hall.

“Through her tireless work as House Chair of the Rule-Making Review Committee and as a member of the leadership serving on the House Rules Committee, as well as the hard-working Judiciary Committee, Delegate Mahan has proven her merit and will be a valuable addition to the Joint Committee on Government & Finance,” Speaker Kiss said. “As we spend the coming months examining the workings of state agencies and hearing from the top members of the administration on the financial status of the state, I’m sure Delegate Mahan will bring great experience and insight to the discussion.”

The Joint Committee on Government & Finance deals with budgetary issues, performance evaluations of agencies, receives reports from specially assigned commissions and approves the interim studies taken on by the various committees, among other tasks.

Delegate Mahan said she is very honored to be selected.

“It is especially gratifying to know that I represent some truly great women throughout the history of the House of Delegates, so many of whom would have been just as qualified,” Mahan said “But it says a lot about Speaker Kiss as a leader that he appointed a woman as a major committee chair, is the first in his position to place women, including me, on the House Rules Committee and now to assign the first woman Delegate to the Joint Committee.

“As with all my responsibilities as a legislator, I welcome the challenge.  I have a great working relationship with all my colleagues and look forward to this new role.”
 

Delegate Mahan (D) of Summers County, represents the 27th District, Raleigh and Summers.  She was first elected in 1996 and serves as the Chairwoman of the Committee on Legislative Rule-Making Review.  She is a member of the House Judiciary Committee where she is the ranking female member.  She is also one of only five female delegates to have served on the House Rules Committee, made up of legislative leaders. 

Mahan was identified in 2002 by the National Journal as a “rising star” in the West Virginia Legislature.  The West Virginia Women’s Commission named her a “Guardian Angel” for West Virginia women in a ceremony led by former First Lady Sandy Wise. Before her service in the House of Delegates, Virginia Mahan worked as a highway safety and consumer advocate for national nonprofit groups in both West Virginia and Washington, D.C.  She resides near Green Sulphur Springs with her husband of twenty nine years, Jon Mahan. 


For more information, please contact:
Delegate Virginia Mahan (304)466-4980