Portsmouth Rep. Ray Gallison (D-69) has been reappointed as chair of the House Finance Committee by House Speaker Nick Mattiello, according to a state house news release distributed today.

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to continue leading the Finance Committee. The work our members do is very complicated, intense, and often requires difficult decisions, but it also is an opportunity to ensure that we reflect our state’s values in the way we raise and allocate our funds," Gallison said in the release. "I’m proud to have a dedicated committee and staff who will work alongside me, and am looking forward to once again making sure our budget and the legislation we craft reflect our state’s goals and shared hopes for the future of Rhode Island.”

Representative Gallison was first appointed to the position in March 2014, when Speaker Mattiello was elected to his post. At the time, Rep. Gallison had been serving as co-vice chairman since 2010 and the committee was in the midst of deliberations on the 2015 budget bill. In a matter of 12 weeks, the committee completed its work on the $8.7 billion state budget, closing an unexpected $67 million gap, fully funding education aid, averting bridge tolls and tax increases, establishing a steady source for transportation funding, and promoting economic development while reducing the corporate tax rate and the inheritance tax.

The Finance Committee is considered the most influential of the House committees, since it is in charge of developing the state budget as well as other matters that have a financial impact on the state. It is also one of the busiest committees, meeting daily for much of the session.

Rep. Gallison was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2000. He served on the committee from 2003 to 2006, and then again from February 2010 to the present.

From 2011 until his appointment as chair of Finance, he was chair of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. He also previously served as vice chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee and as a member of the Health, Education and Welfare Committee, the Judiciary Committee and the former House Separation of Powers Committee. He was a deputy majority leader for three terms as well.

A self-employed attorney practicing in Massachusetts, Rep. Gallison lives in Bristol. He and his wife, Diane, have two sons, Timothy and Nathan. He earned his law degree from what is now the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Law, and completed his undergraduate studies at Rhode Island College. He is a La Salle Academy graduate.

Editorial note: Written from a press release.