State Sen. Lee Hawkins, R-Gainesville, has been named chairman of the Senate State and Local Government Operations Committee. The announcement was made Wednesday by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, R-Chestnut Mountain.

"This is quite an honor," said Hawkins, who will be sworn in next Monday to his second two-year term in the senate.

State Sen. Eugene "Chip" Pearson, R-Dawsonville, was reappointed chairman of the Senate Economic Development Committee. Other area senators named to head committees included Sen. Jack Murphy, R-Cumming, who will chair the Senate Public Safety Committee, and Sen. Ralph Hudgens, R-Hull, who heads the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee.