BOISE — Sen. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, accepted the Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee chairmanship Thursday, setting the stage for the state legislative delegation from Southeastern Idaho to gain full control of the legislature’s agricultural committee chairmanships.

    On Friday, Rep. Ken Andrus, R-Lava Hot Springs, was officially reappointed to his chairmanship of the House Agricultural Affairs Committee to cinch that regional control.

    “I weighed both the pros and cons and it was pretty close, but I chose to take the chairmanship,” said Bair, a farmer and investor. “There are not very many agriculture people left in the Idaho Legislature. You know, there’s only a, maybe not even a handful here in the Senate, and we need somebody that has an understanding of agriculture to be the ag chairman.”

    The chairmanships were made official at the Idaho Legislature’s two-day organizational session that ended Friday. The 2013 regular legislative session is scheduled to start Jan. 7.  

    At the same time that Bair, a fourth-term lawmaker, became the Senate ag chairman, freshman Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, was named vice-chairman of the nine-member Senate agriculture panel — which also includes Sen. John Tippets, R-Montpelier.

    Bair praised Guthrie, a personal friend.

    “Wonderful guy,” Bair said of Guthrie, who served one term in the Idaho House before being elected to the Senate this year. “He’s a rancher as well. Has a good solid foundation in agriculture, understands the issues. I know him to be an honest and a good man. Perfect pick, I think, for vice-chairman.”

    Senate President Pro Tempore Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said, “He (Bair) was thrilled … He really would like Sen. Guthrie to be vice-chairman, because they’re really good friends.”    

    Senate legislative leaders gave Bair the choice of whether to continue his work on the Senate Finance Committee — the Senate side of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee — or move to the top post in Senate Agricultural Affairs, Bair and Hill confirmed.

    “It was actually a very difficult decision for me,” Bair said, “because I’ve worked on JFAC for six years and have thoroughly enjoyed it.”

    Before Bair accepted the job, sixth-term Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth — chairman of the Senate Resources and Environment Committee — had previously declined the Senate agriculture committee chairmanship, Hill said.

    Pearce, a member of the Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee during the last legislative session, had the seniority over Bair.

    “He (Pearce) had option over Sen. Bair on ag,” Hill said. “And we gave him the choice ‘Do you want to be chairman of ag, or do you want to be chairman of resources?’ Well, you know, he chose resources.”

    Bair said Southeastern Idaho agricultural interests wouldn’t necessarily bode well under the new chairmanship team in the Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee.

    “When you’re an ag chairman, you consider all issues, and you have to balance regions and areas with the needs of the state,” Bair said.