Today, these various activities of state government in health are a significant part of the activity of state legislatures. In recent years, states have seen dramatic increases in the portion of their budgets consumed by health care costs. Medicaid alone often represents a significant percentage of all state expenditures. With the gap widening between needs and the resources available to meet them, the responsibilities of state legislatures, in terms of health care, will be scrutinized constantly by medical organizations. Committees in the Legislature Committees play a vital role in the state legislative system.
Legislative bodies conduct most of their work through their committees and the committee process.
The number of committees in the senate or house may vary from fewer than ten or more than 30. Committee chairpersons are an integral part of the committee process because they wield a great deal of power within the legislative leadership. Because they often determine when and if a particular piece of legislation will be considered within their committee, the chairpersons necessarily have the same type of hold on bills as the committee. Committees are usually divided into such subject areas as public health, agriculture, state affairs, and education. When dealing with the committee process, one can usually focus on a small subset of a state legislature's committees.