Assemblyman Bill Essayli, the Riverside County Republican whose provocative politics have irritated legislative colleagues in both parties, has been removed as vice chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

The move was recorded last week when Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, filed committee assignments with the chief clerk. Essayli’s ouster leaves the Judiciary Committee without a lawyer in the vice chair role and on the committee for the first time in at least the last two decades.