Roanoke Democratic Del. Sam Rasoul was removed from the House of Delegates Appropriations Committee at the start of the 2026 legislative session.
House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, appoints members to committees at the start of the session. Rasoul will continue serving as chair of the House Education Committee and as a member of the House Public Safety Committee and the House Health and Human Services Committee.
“I’ve enjoyed all of the committees I’m appointed to right now and I look forward to continuing to serve,” Rasoul said. “I don’t know why those decisions are made, and so just happy to be serving on the committees we’re on.”
Speaker Scott’s office did not respond when asked for a comment on Rasoul’s removal from appropriations.
He was shifted from appropriations to the House of Delegates Health and Human Services Committee, where he served a few years ago, before he was appointed to the money committee in 2022 as the only Democrat from Southwest Virginia in that role.
Republican Dels. Terry Austin of Botetourt County, Ellen McLaughlin of Waynesboro and Will Morefield of Tazewell County remain on the appropriations committee as the only members west of the Blue Rige.