Valley entertainment businesses now have a voice on a key Congressional panel that deals with patent rights and a litany of other industry issues. U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, who represents a large swath of the central and eastern Valley, has been elected to the powerful House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the enforcement of copyright, trademark and patent laws. “The Judiciary Committee is an important forum for issues critically important to the motion picture, television and music industries, which are leading players in the San Fernando Valley economy,” Sherman said in a statement. The panel also has control over presidential succession, an issue that Sherman has focused on in recent years. He most recently introduced legislation that clears up who becomes chief executive if the president and vice president are killed or not able to hold office. “The existing law may sow seeds of confusion that could leave the country more vulnerable during an era of mounting terrorist threats to our government,” he said. Sherman, who was first elected in 1997, also serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee, where he chairs the subcommittee on terrorism and nonproliferation.
