photo by: Associated Press

Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, listens to testimony during a committee hearing, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016, at the Statehouse in Topeka. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Topeka ? Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle announced Wednesday that moderate Republicans will chair two major committees next year, a reflection of the gains they made in the 2016 elections.

But for the first time in anyone’s memory, and possibly the first time in state history, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be chaired by someone who is not an attorney, due to the fact that the new Senate will have no practicing attorneys, and only one person, a Democrat, who holds a law degree.

The biggest change in next year’s chairmanship lineup will be in the powerful Ways and Means Committee, where moderate Republican Carolyn McGinn of Wichita will take over from conservative Ty Masterson of Andover.

McGinn had served as Ways and Means chair previously, when former Sen. Steve Morris was president. But she lost that post after the 2012 elections when conservatives took control of the Senate and Wagle was named president.

The other major shift will be on the Public Health and Welfare Committee, where moderate Vicki Schmidt of Topeka will take over from conservative Michael O’Donnell of Wichita, who did not run for re-election this year.

O’Donnell had spent less than a year as chairman. Wagle appointed him to the spot midway through the 2016 session after stripping the chairmanship away from Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook after a dispute over how Pilcher-Cook was handling the issue of Medicaid expansion.

Schmidt also had previously chaired that committee when Morris was president.

For the Judiciary Committee, Wagle tapped Sen. Rick Wilborn, R-McPherson, as the next chairman. Wilborn currently works as a consultant to property and casualty insurance companies, advising them on matters such as rate rulings and government relations.

“Well, we’re in an awkward situation,” Wilborn said in a phone interview. “We don’t have any attorneys in the Senate. … But it’s more about running the committee than about having expertise.”

Wilborn said he plans to rely heavily on legislative staff from the Revisor of Statutes office and Research Department for advice and background information on judiciary issues.

When the new Legislature convenes in January, Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, will be the only member with a law degree. He graduated from the Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C., in 1984 and was licensed in Kansas when he worked about as an assistant district attorney in Wyandotte County in the late 1980s.

Haley still practices as a pro se counsel for business entities in which he’s involved, including some real estate holding companies. But he allowed his law license to lapse more than 20 years ago when he worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in a job that did not require a law license.

Haley said Wednesday that he had asked Wagle to name him as Judiciary Committee chairman, but he did not seriously expect to that to happen. It would have been an unprecedented move to name someone from another party to chair such a powerful committee, but Haley said having a non-lawyer chairman is also unprecedented, at least in modern times.

Haley also said he would have to take the Kansas Bar examination again to reactivate his license, a possibility he hasn’t completely ruled out although he said that he doubts he would have time to do that.

The list of chairmanships that Wagle released Wednesday indicates that some committees have been consolidated. The Agriculture and Natural Resources committees, for example, have been combined into one. She also merged the Ethics and Elections Committee with the Local Government Committee into a single body.

House Speaker-elecct Ron Ryckman, Jr., of Olathe has not yet announced his chairmanship appointments but is expected to do so by the end of the week.

The other Senate committee chairmanships announced Wednesday include:

• Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee – Sen. Dan Kerschen, R-Garden Plain.

• Assessment and Taxation Committee – Sen. Caryn Tyson, R-Parker.

• Commerce Committee – Sen. Julia Lynn, R-Olathe, who is the current chairwoman.

• Education Committee – Sen. Molly Baumgardner, R-Louisburg.

• Ethics, Elections and Local Government Committee – Sen. Elaine Bowers, R-Concordia.

• Federal and State Affairs Committee – Sen. Jacob LaTurner, R-Pittsburg.

• Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee – Sen. Jeff Longbine, R-Emporia, who is also the current chairman.

• Transportation Committee – Sen. Mike Petersen, R-Wichita.

• And Utilities Committee – Sen. Rob Olson, R-Olathe, who is also the current chairman.