With a meeting of the Assembly Higher Education Committee looming, the seven-member body remains rudderless.
The Assembly clerk's desk closed at noon today without receiving documents appointing a leader to replace Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, who was stripped of the chairmanship March 13.
The panel of five Democrats and two Republicans is scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday for the first time since Portantino's ouster as leader. He remains a committee member.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, has the option of naming a permanent chair or an acting chair for Tuesday's meeting.
If Núñez does neither, the gavel will be wielded by the Republican vice chair, Assemblywoman Shirley Horton, R-San Diego.
"Haven’t heard a word," Steve Maviglio, Núñez's spokesman, said of the speaker's plans.
Thirteen bills will be heard Tuesday by the Higher Education Committee, including proposals to levy a new tax to help support colleges; give California National Guard soldiers priority for competitive Cal Grants; and permit illegal immigrants who graduated from California high schools to apply for college financial aid.
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