Democratic leadership in the state legislature announced this week that state Rep. Christine Conley, D-Groton, will be the new House co-chair of the Screening Committee.

House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, appointed Conley, and House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, appointed state Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, as the other chair.

“The Screening Committee reviews all bills before they are acted on by the House of Representatives,” the news release from House Democratic leadership announcing Conley’s appointment reads. “As Co-Chairs of the committee, Rep. Elliott and Rep. Conley will work with the chairs of every legislative committee and with other legislators to ensure that bills are drafted properly, in order to accomplish the goals of the members without any unintended consequences, and will prepare a plan for action to be taken by the House on each session day.”

Conley said she is prepared for the role, as she acted as second-in-command to former Screening Committee Chair, state Rep. Jeff Currey, D-East Hartford, during last year’s legislative session. She said she and Elliot will be working with all of the committee chairs and leadership “to make sure that we know what the caucuses’ and the chairs’ priorities are, and to try to get those bills past committee and ready for the House as soon as possible.”

A lot of the work to get a bill ready for session day lies in “finding language that’s agreeable to the most people,” Conley said.

“The goal is: No surprises,” she said. “We know what’s going up on the board, the members’ questions have been answered ahead of time, and we’re ready to start our day.”

“Members of the screening committee must have the capacity to review a significant volume of legislation across all of the committees,” Rojas said in the news release. “As screening chair Rep. Conley will have responsibility for working with committee chairs and other colleagues to ensure that legislation is ready for final action by the full House. She possesses the keen intellect, legal training and experiences that make her a particularly skilled legislator for this critically important leadership role.”

News media reporters often ask House leadership what their chamber will be voting on during session day news conferences. Asked whether reporters should be coming to Conley instead, she said, “I work at the direction of my leadership…but yeah, I have the list of bills.”

“There is a plan for each day. Sometimes that plan changes, but there is a plan,” she said.

Conley is especially looking forward to her new assignment because on other committees, “You take a deep dive in one area of the law,” but as screening committee chair, “You have a broad perspective on all the laws.”

s.spinella@theday.com