Sen. Berger announces appointments to Ag, Enviro committees, responsible for Farm Act, other key measures

Norm Sanderson, Brent Jackson and Chuck Edwards will lead the Senate Agriculture, Energy and Environment Committee this year, Sen. Pro Tem Phil Berger announced today.

The 14-member committee includes eight Republicans and six Democrats. The Farm Act, clean energy legislation, environmental bills and regulatory reform measures pass through this committee. For example, the committee took up part of a 2019 bill that would have allowed local governments to dump toxic electronics in landfills; it failed. While under GOP leadership, the committee has previously supported relaxing regulations on hog farms  and opposed oversight of the proliferation of poultry operations, most of which operate essentially unchecked.

Republicans: Lisa Stone Barnes, Jim Burgin, David Craven, Steve Jarvis, Tom McInnis, Paul Newton, Dean Proctor and Bob Steinburg

Democrats: Don Davis, Toby Fitch, Michael Garrett, Jeff Jackson, Natalie Murdock and DeAndrea Salvador

Berger also appointed members to the Appropriations on Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources, which oversees budget recommendations in those areas. That includes the NC Department of Environmental Quality, whose budget lawmakers have decimated over the past decade.

Republicans: Chairmen Norman Sanderson, Todd Johnson and Chuck Edwards; members Lisa Stone Barnes, Tom McInnis and Paul Newton,

Democrats: Natasha Marcus, Julie Mayfield, Mujtaba Mohammed, and DeAndrea Salvador