Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers and Senate majority leadership announced 2023-24 Senate Majority Caucus member committee assignments on Monday.
Sen. Steve Meredith, R-Leitchfield, has been named Senate Health Services Committee vice chair and will assume the role of chair following Sen. Ralph Alvarado’s formal resignation from the state Senate to assume his new position as Tennessee Department of Health commissioner.
“Leaving my position as state senator for Kentucky’s 28th district and as committee chairman for the Health Services Committee is not easy,” Alvarado said. “However, my departure is more palatable knowing that the leadership of the new Health Services Committee is being left in the capable hands of my friend, Steve Meredith.”
Meredith will continue his service as chair of the Government Contract Review Committee and as a member of the Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee and the Education Committee. Additionally, he will be a member of the newly formed Senate Families and Children Committee.
“Our Senate Majority Caucus has great diversity of thought and professional expertise,” Senate President Robert Stivers said. “We have physicians, lawyers, educators, and small business owners prepared to lead the commonwealth with sound policy initiatives in the 2023 and 2024 General Assembly.”
Meredith has previously served as co-chair of the Medicaid Oversight and Advisory Committee, a statutory committee being absorbed into the Health Services Committee. He had a 40-year career in healthcare, serving as a chief financial officer, a chief executive officer and regional administrator for hospitals in Kentucky and Illinois. He retired in 2013 after serving for 30 years as CEO of Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center in Leitchfield (now Owensboro Health Twin Lakes Medical Center).
“It’s a great honor to be appointed to serve in a leadership capacity on the vitally important Health Services Committee,” Meredith said. “I’ve been a strong advocate for recalibrating our legislative efforts on health and welfare related issues, and I am pleased leadership and my colleagues found value in restructuring legislative committees. I’m eager to get to work in the 2023 Legislative Session.”
The Senate Health Services Committee will focus on healthcare and delivery matters such as public health, Medicaid, mental health, and health facilities.
Senator Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville, will serve as committee vice chair upon Alvarado’s resignation.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
