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Assembly Republicans are spotlighting public assistance and mental health as areas for reform in the upcoming legislative session.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, announced Tuesday the creation of two new committees — Public Benefits Reform and Mental Health Reform — among 32 standing Assembly committees for the 2015-16 session.

“The new committees are a reflection of our priorities this session,” Vos said in a statement. “Assembly Republicans also have a large number of entitlement reforms that we’d like to consider this session. We need to weed out fraud, waste and abuse to ensure that people who really need temporary assistance are getting it.”

In October, Assembly Republicans released an agenda for the upcoming session, which included several entitlement reform ideas. They include drug-testing those receiving public benefits, discontinuing assistance for those who test positive and offering treatment options; having electronic cards with photos for all public benefit transactions and limiting the number of replacement cards; ensuring welfare payments reflect completed work and a portion of food stamps are used on nutritious food; and sending an annual statement of benefits to all public assistance recipients.