Valley-Area Democrats Land Key Assignments : Assembly: Katz is reappointed to the transportation panel he has led for a decade. Knox will head labor committee.

Assemblyman Richard Katz was named chairman of the House Transportation Committee on Tuesday and freshman Assemblyman Wally Knox was tapped as the new Labor and Employment Committee chairman, giving two San Fernando Valley-area Democrats key assignments for the new legislative session.

In a boost for her work on health-related issues, Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman (D-North Hollywood) was selected as vice chairwoman of the Health Committee. And new legislator Sheila James Kuehl (D-Encino) won appointment to important committees dealing with legal and public safety issues.

Knox said he believes his background as a labor relations attorney made him an appealing candidate to lead the labor and employment panel, despite his joining the Assembly only last November.

“The major thing I hope we could use the labor committee for would be to gain a perspective on the decline of the middle class in California and the United States,” Knox (D-Los Angeles) said.

He said he will also examine access of working- and middle-income families to the public university system as a member of the higher education committee. His other appointments are to the judiciary committee and the panel on utilities and commerce.

For Katz, who must leave the chamber in 1996 because of term limits, the reappointment as transportation chairman will allow him to serve out his time in the Assembly at the helm of the committee he has led for a decade.

He said he plans to maintain vigil on the state’s freeway retrofitting program and to ensure adequate funding for important transit projects.

In addition to transportation, the Sylmar Democrat will serve on panels dealing with water, parks and wildlife, as well as governmental organization.

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Friedman said she plans to use her position as second-in-command on the Health Committee to help expand the availability of quality health care, especially by making health plans more affordable for small businesses to offer their employees.

“There are tremendously serious problems in the area of health that are facing California, particularly in Los Angeles, where nearly a third of people don’t have insurance,” Friedman said.

Her other assignments include the agriculture, appropriations and education panels.

Kuehl’s appointments reflect her legal expertise. As a member of the prestigious judiciary and public safety committees, she hopes to increase awareness of the problem of domestic violence.

“We’ve been able to convince people that it’s a public safety issue,” said Kuehl, who will also sit on the rules, human services and natural resources committees.