State Rep. Kevin Brooks was named vice chairman of the House Children and Family Affairs Committee for the 107th General Assembly and chair of the General Subcommittee of Children and Family Affairs. Brooks. He will also serve on the Education Committee as well as the Finance, Ways and Means Committee.

Speaking as a husband and father, Brooks said Thursday his appointment to the Children and Family Affairs Committee is an honor, rather than just a duty.

The Children and Family Affairs Committee considers legislation dealing with domestic issues such as divorce, child custody, and domestic violence. In addition to these issues, it also deals with legislation concerning juvenile crime, adoption, and any other bills dealing with children’s issues as determined by Speaker of the House Beth Harwell.

“The committee does very important work to those with little or no voice in our society and I look forward to working with my colleagues to give Tennessee children every opportunity to grow into happy and healthy adults,” Brooks said.

The Education Committee deals with all bills relating to education in general. This includes kindergarten through university level curricula and lunch programs; pay, benefits and retirement of teachers, school employees, bus drivers and administrators; vocational technical education; and adult education. He is also a member of the General Subcommittee of Education.

Also serving on the Children and Family Affairs Committee is freshman John Forgety, who represents McMinn and a portion of Monroe counties. He will also serve with Brooks on the Education Committee.

Brooks said, “I am also grateful that Speaker Harwell reappointed me to serve on the full Education Committee and Education subcommittee, whose work will go hand-in-hand with my work on Children and Family Affairs. And Finance, Ways and Means and Finance Sub-Committee are the committees that will assist in crafting a balanced budget, so I’m looking forward to serving there as well.”

The Finance, Ways and Means Committee centers around the preparation of the general appropriations bill, but any measure which has a fiscal impact of $100,000 or more under the rules of the House is referred to this committee from other standing committees. Many subject matters are covered by the committee such as bonds and bonding of revenue which includes issuance and payment or retirement of bonds; tax-levying measures and the raising of revenue at the state level; tax-reducing measures; pension and retirement fund bills; the expenditure of funds; and deposit of public monies.

The committee also holds budget hearings on the general appropriations bill.