Gibbons

CARSON CITY – A major study of a school voucher program operating in the country of Chile for the past 29 years has found both an increase in high school graduation rates and an increase in the number of students going on to college.

CARSON CITY – A sign that Nevada may have finally hit bottom in the national recession emerged today when the Department of Taxation reported an increase in taxable sales in April – the first in 20 months.
Statewide taxable sales totaled $3.3 billion in April, up 2 percent over April of 2009. But for the 10 months of fiscal year 2010, taxable sales are down 11.9 percent over the same period in the prior fiscal year.

CARSON CITY – The director overseeing Nevada’s stimulus programs will remain in his current position rather than accept the job of executive director of the Office of Veterans Services, Gov. Jim Gibbons has announced.
Gibbons had earlier this week appointed Charles Harvey to head up the veterans services office starting at the end of July.
But in a letter to the Gibbons administration dated Thursday, Harvey requested that he remain in the position overseeing Nevada’s American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) programs.

CARSON CITY – Nevada is about to begin a new tax amnesty program in the hopes of bringing in several million dollars worth of uncollected revenue to help with a severe budget shortfall.
The amnesty program, which will run for three months beginning July 1, was approved by the Legislature in a special session in February as a way to help close an $800 million gap in the general fund budget.

CARSON CITY – A panel of lawmakers today approved a $20,000 appropriation to commission an official portrait of out-going Gov. Jim Gibbons.
The request by the Department of Cultural Affairs for the funding from the Interim Finance Committee’s contingency fund was approved without comment by lawmakers.
The request was submitted after Gibbons lost his re-election bid in the June primary to GOP challenger Brian Sandoval. Gibbons will leave office as the state’s 28th governor in early January. A new governor will be picked by voters in November.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting tonight that Charles Harvey, Nevada's economic stimulus coordinator who Gov. Jim Gibbons hired in September amid objections from the Nevada Legislature, has resigned.
Gibbons says he plans to hire a replacement for the $125,783 annual-salaried position.

CARSON CITY – A plan to close Nevada State Prison in phases over the next several months will be on hold for further consideration by the Board of Prison Commissioners next month, but Gov. Jim Gibbons said today that he will continue to authorize transfers of inmates for safety and security reasons.

CARSON CITY – Nevada state Treasurer candidate Steve Martin is questioning the method Treasurer Kate Marshall is using to account for the loss of interest income from a failed $50 million investment with the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers.
Martin is also questioning whether Marshall has the authority to write off the interest loss to agencies and programs over a period of four and a half years.

Gov. Jim Gibbons will defend his plan to close Nevada State Prison in Carson City at a Board of Prisons meeting tomorrow afternoon, saying that they do not expect to lay off any employees.

The governor's office has provided the following talking points to defend Gibbons' decision to close NSP, which were made available to Carson Now:

Nevada State Prison in Carson City has approximately 310 full-time employees (all classifications). Of those employees, only 40 percent actually reside in Carson City. The breakdown by percentage is:

CARSON CITY – Lame duck Gov. Jim Gibbons not only fell short in campaign contributions in his recent primary loss to Brian Sandoval, but donations to his legal defense fund have dried up as well.

CARSON CITY – A delay in federal payments to Nevada’s counties is not anticipated to cause any financial problems for the cash-strapped local governments, officials said in interviews last week.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons today announced the appointment of Charles Harvey as executive director of the Nevada Office of Veterans Services. Harvey currently serves as Nevada’s American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) director.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons today approved a plan to phase out operations at the Nevada State Prison in the capital. The decision by the lame duck governor comes even though the Legislature has rejected past attempts to close the facility.
“It costs taxpayers an extra $4,000 to $6,000 per inmate for prisoners at NSP because the facility is so old and poorly designed,� Gibbons said. “Additionally, NSP is not as safe for prison staff as other facilities.�

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons approved plans today to phase-out operations at the 650-inmate Nevada State Prison in Carson City.

“It costs taxpayers an extra $4,000 to $6,000 per inmate for prisoners at NSP because the facility is so old and poorly designed,” Gibbons said. “Additionally, NSP is not as safe for prison staff as other facilities.”

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons said today he believes Nevada and other states will prevail in their court challenge of the federal health care law following the filing of a motion to dismiss the lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice.

CARSON CITY – One proposal sought to increase mining taxes and another wanted to define life as beginning at conception. A third would have required secret ballots for employee votes on whether to join a union and yet another would have given Nevada residents the right to reject participation in government backed health care.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons today appointed Anthony Dazzio to the Nevada Commission on Economic Development.

CARSON CITY – Jim Gibbons’ lame duck status as chief executive became a certainty on primary election day June 8, but the Legislature will add its own stamp of finality next week when it is asked to approve $20,000 for an official portrait of Nevada’s 28th governor.
Nevada law provides for an official portrait of each departing governor for display in the state Capitol Building.

An Arizona man was extradited to Carson City jail this morning on a warrant that alleges he made threats of terrorism to Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons.
Douglas Raymond Hoffman, 63 of Goodyear, Ariz., arrived in Carson City about about 2 this morning. He faces charges of making threats or conveying false information concerning acts of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction with lethal agents or toxins.
Hoffman is being held without bail.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons expressed optimism today that Congress will act to extend Medicaid funding that was counted on by state lawmakers in February when they approved an $800 million plan to balance the budget.

CARSON CITY – The state Board of Examiners today approved a request by the Nevada Department of Corrections for $3.4 million to cover unanticipated expenses, much of it to cover the increased cost of providing inmate medical care.
The board, made up of Gov. Jim Gibbons, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Secretary of State Ross Miller, approved the request for the current fiscal year that ends June 30. It now goes to the Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee for approval on June 24.

CARSON CITY – Campaign contribution reports for the front-running Republican and Democrat candidates for governor show they are about even in the money-raising and expenditure game.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons today announced plans to dramatically increase the use of solar power by the State of Nevada.
Working through the State Energy Office, a request for proposals (RFP) is being put together to develop solar energy systems at multiple state agency sites. The idea is to place solar energy panels on state property, particularly on large state parking lots. Power from these solar energy panels would be used to provide low-cost energy to adjacent and nearby state buildings, resulting in significant savings to taxpayers.

CARSON CITY – While voters and political observers are focused on the Tuesday primary, Nevadans seeking access to the November ballot for measures they are pushing to amend the state Constitution have another key date in mind.
June 15 is the deadline for groups pushing their amendments to turn in the nearly 100,000 signatures they need to qualify the measures for the ballot. There are three initiative petitions to amend the state constitution still active, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

After a two-year hiatus the Nevada Governor's Conference on Tourism will return in December, state officials announced Thursday.
The conference will take place Dec. 7-8 at the Peppermill Resort Casino in Reno. It will focus mainly on current travel trends, who is vacationing and ways to lure travelers and vacationers to Nevada.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons today signed an executive order creating the Nevada Crime Commission with the charge of examining existing and emerging crime problems statewide and seeking innovative methods and solutions to combat those crimes.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons said today the political pundits and pollsters may be in for a surprise when the votes are counted in the GOP governor’s race on primary election day June 8.

CARSON CITY – The popular Governor’s Conference on Tourism will return in December after a two-year hiatus, Gov. Jim Gibbons and Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki announced today.
The conference put on by the Nevada Commission on Tourism, NCOT, had been put on hold due to budget limitations.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons has announced his initiative petition to amend state law to subject public employee union negotiations to Nevada’s open meeting law has passed a legal challenge period, allowing the signature gathering process to begin.

CARSON CITY – Nevada Supreme Court Justice James Hardesty said a program the state initiated a few years ago to pardon selected illegal resident inmates so they could be deported to free up space in the prison system was in his view successful.
Hardesty said the review resulted in 106 nonviolent inmates being granted conditional pardons in exchange for a waiver of any immigration hearing and agreement to be deported to their country of origin.