State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick

ATLANTA – Lt. Gov. Burt Jones appointed a roster of state Senate chairmen Thursday including naming Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta, to head the new Senate Children and Families Committee.

“This critical committee will be tasked with taking the lead on mental health, child protection, foster care, and adoption initiatives,” said Jones, who will preside over the Senate. “This committee will give a bigger platform to these critically important issues and develop policies that benefit children and families across our state.”

Jones, who was elected lieutenant governor in November and took the oath of office on Thursday, appointed holdovers to head many of the Senate’s key committees.

Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, returns as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Other returning committee chairs include Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, on the Finance Committee; Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savanah, on the Health and Human Services Committee; Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, on the Judiciary Committee; and Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, on the Public Safety Committee.

Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, will be among the new committee chairmen. He will head the powerful Senate Rules Committee, which decides which bills make it to the Senate floor.

Brass will succeed former Sen. Jeff Mullis as Rules chairman. Mullis, a Republican from Chickamauga, did not run for reelection.

This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.