Senate leadership yesterday announced the members of the Senate Committee on Health, along with releasing the makeup of its other committee memberships.

As expected, Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) returns as chair of Senate Health. The vice chair this session is Janet Nguyen (R-Garden Grove), serving in the Senate for the first time.

Seven other legislators were named to the Senate Health Committee: Isadore Hall (D-Compton), Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), Bill Monning (D-Carmel), Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber), Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), Richard Roth (D-Riverside) and Lois Wolk (D-Davis).

Most of those members have a strong background in health care issues. Pan and Monning both are former chairs of the Assembly Committee on Health, and Mitchell is former chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services.

The new chair of the Senate Committee on Human Services is Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg). The vice chair is Tom Berryhill (R-Twain Harte), with members Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), Carol Liu (D-La Cañada/Flintridge) and Nguyen.

Seven of the nine Health Committee members — Mitchell, Monning, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Roth, and Wolk — were named to the influential Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, along with Human Services Committee member Hancock.

Mitchell, Monning, Nielsen and Wolk also were named as members of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. Both of those fiscal committees are chaired by Mark Leno (D-San Francisco).

Mitchell will be busy. She will again chair the three-person budget subcommittee on Health and Human Services, with Monning and Jeff Stone (R-Temecula) as members.