Ira Hansen

A bill that restricts police use of chokeholds, allows recording of law enforcement and calls for drug testing of officers involved in shootings passed the Assembly with bipartisan support, in spite of criticism that lawmakers could have gone further to address police brutality.

Laws implementing a wide range of criminal justice reforms, establishing a state board responsible for regulating marijuana and creating a payday loan database finally take effect Wednesday, more than a year after the 2019 legislative session ended.

For now, this is the last regular column that will carry the Ron and Geoff byline. Geoff is leaving the Assistant Controller’s job July 1 for a new one.

James Smack, the Deputy Controller, will join Ron in the weekly column beginning next week. Geoff will make guest appearances now and then, we anticipate.

TO: Whom it May Concern
FROM: Campaign to Elect Chris Forbush
DATE: June 2, 2016
RE: Eligibility to Run for Assembly District 40 – Residency

Chris Forbush's defense claiming a student exemption allowing him to bypass the physical residency requirements to run for office in NRS 218A.200 is without merit. Simply put, you have to be a student to have a student exemption. But here are the facts that are not in dispute:

*Forbush graduated from college in Utah in April of 2015.
*Upon graduation Forbush ceased to be a student in an academic institution.
*Forbush then took the Utah bar exam (not Nevada bar exam) and successfully passed it and began practicing law in Utah.

The biggest question right now is: “Why is Ira Hansen, a sitting Assemblyman from Sparks, going to such lengths to try to make people believe candidate Chris Forbush is ineligible to run for Assembly District 40 in Carson City?” Ira claims it is because he doesn’t want to see Forbush win the primary, but then as the Republican nominee, get thrown off the general election ballot leaving the seat wide open for the Democrat to win. What if that isn’t the reason at all?

Unopposed and unchanged, Assemblyman Ira Hansen sent a missive to his caucus mates this week criticizing GOP leaders and their "excessive expenditures on consultants."

Guest Speaker Ira Hansen

Come have brunch and support the effort to repeal the Commerce Tax. If you are a business owner, and employee of a business or just a Nevada consumer we are all going to be paying this tax.

Let's get it on the 2016 ballot and repeal it.

"Republicans own the education issue in Nevada right now. Let's cash in on that ownership!"
-Pat Hickey on Ralston Live, June 3, 2015

Pat Hickey always begins his blog entries with a quote that resonates with the theme, and I've learned from the master. I've become one of Pat's fans, both because he talks more like a human being than a politician (e.g. calling KOH's Dan Mason's Show "right wing" before pretending to correct himself), and because he has an extremely wry sense of humor.

A last ditch attempt to force Nevada college campuses to let people to carry guns to class was rejected by the Assembly on Thursday.Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-sparks, tried to attach the “campus carry” language to SB17...

A “campus carry” bill believed to be dead in the Senate will be amended into another Second Amendment measure on Friday, Assembly Judiciary Chairman Ira Hansen said Wednesday....

Assembly Judiciary Chairman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, on Saturday fired back at Victoria Seaman, the Republican freshman who accused him of threatening her because she complained he refused to hold a...

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the latest drama among Assembly Republicans is that Michele Fiore has nothing to do with it.
After a series of spirited (euphemism alert) caucus meetings during the last week, in which Victoria Seaman read a prepared statement during one and Ira Hansen suggested ...

The Assembly Judiciary Committee on Monday voted to move ballot questions that would mandate background checks for gun buyers and legalize marijuana to the floor for a vote.The decision came after Chairman Ira Hansen,...

Voter petitions that would allow recreational marijuana use and expand background checks on gun purchases cleared the Assembly Judiciary Committee without recommendation today. Committee Chairman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, said the petitions will ......

Conservative Assemblyman Ira Hansen wants to prohibit licensed Nevada contractors from hiring people who are in the country illegally....

On January 13, 2015, a symposium on Common Core was held in the Legislature Building. The participants were Professors James Milgram and Sandra Stotsky, both widely known and respected experts on eduction standards, who have actually participated in the development and validation of not only Common Core but also other standards before and since. The other side was represented by Steve Canavero of the Nevada Department of Education and Allan Grossman from the Washoe County School District.

Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, will step down as the GOP's choice for speaker of the Nevada Assembly. Hansen made the announcement in an statement sent to the Republican Assembly caucus that was made public Sunday. He blamed the media and the "powers that be" as prompting his resignation in which he said he has become a victim and target of "character assassination."

In recent days several columns he had written over the years for the Sparks Tribune and comments he made on KOH radio were again brought to light, where Hansen blasted blacks, women in the military, Jews and gays.

The Reno-Sparks NAACP this week asked the Nevada State Assembly Republican Caucus to reconsider its recent unanimous election of Assemblymember Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, as speaker of the lower house for the 2015 legislative session.

"We were very disappointed by the decision," stated Reno-Sparks Branch President Jeffrey Blanck.

"We understand that the caucus has many newly elected members who may not be as familiar with Mr. Hansen's past as we are. They need to know he has beaten the drum of intolerance for decades," Blanck said.

Ira Hansen (born October 5, 1960) is a member of the Nevada State Assembly. He is a Republican, representing district 32 in Northern Nevada.

Biography
Hansen was born in Reno, Nevada. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is married to Alexis with 8 children. He works as a plumbing contractor. He was a talk radio host on station KKOH in Reno for five years as well. He was fired due to outrage over comments he made to the effect that the United States should not have such a strong relationship with Israel.[1]

CARSON CITY — Gov. Brian Sandoval has signed into law a bill that will help crack down on underage tobacco users in Nevada.

Beginning in October of this year, Nevada counties will have the option to adopt ordinances that would impose fines on individuals under the age of 18 for the possession or use of tobacco products. Senate Bill 177 was introduced by Senator James Settelmeyer of Minden.

CARSON CITY — The Assembly Committee on Natural Resources, Agriculture and Mining met Thursday to discuss a bill that would require the development of a program to regulate the use of hydraulic fracturing in Nevada.

Commonly known as “fracking,” hydraulic fracturing is a process in which an amalgam of water, sand and chemicals is pressurized and injected into the ground to break up rock formations. Fracking can be used in the retrieval of natural gas and oil from deep beneath the earth’s surface, which is exactly what Houston-based Noble Energy Inc. intends to do in Elko County.

CARSON CITY — The Assembly has passed a bill that will require a three-year suspension on black bear hunting in Nevada while the Department of Wildlife conducts a scientific study to determine if a healthy population of the animals can be sustained in the event that a sanctioned bear-hunting season is re-instituted permanently.

SB82 was originally aimed at banning bear hunting indefinitely but has since been amended several times. Only two Assembly members spoke prior to the vote during today’s Assembly Floor Session.

by NATASHA VITALE

A Nevada Assembly committee supported banning most “horse tripping” for sport, entertainment, or practice Thursday, sending a bill to the full Assembly.

State Senate Bill 72 was one of many bills prohibiting animal cruelty that were discussed in the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources on Thursday. It bans horse tripping unless it is part of an event that is allowed by the local government.

The bill passed the committee by a vote of 10-2, with Assemblymen Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, and John Ellison, R-Elko, opposing the bill.

The Nevada Assembly voted on Senate Joint Resolution 15 during their floor session Tuesday. The bill urges Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform.

Many of the Assembly members took time to speak to the importance of passing the bill. Assemblyman James Ohrenschall was one of those who spoke in favor of SJR 15.

“Unless you’re a Native Americans, we are a nation of immigrants,” Ohrenschall said.

Wednesday was a deeply emotional day for both lawmakers and testifiers at legislature; discussion on whether concealed weapons should be permitted on Nevada’s college campuses spurred verbal attacks between individuals on both sides of the debate, and eventually tears shed down the cheeks of one assemblyman.

CARSON CITY – A panel of lawmakers today recommended that Nevada’s public education funding formula be revised to take into account the higher cost of educating specific groups of students, including English-language learners and children in poverty.

But lawmakers also acknowledged that updating the formula won’t mean any significant changes in funding for the state’s 17 school districts until the state’s economy improves and tax revenues increase.

There is no proposal to shift funding from one district to another to fund a new weighted formula.

CARSON CITY – After months of prognostications and political maneuvering, Nevada’s 2012 election season crystallized today as the state’s two-week filing period for public office came to a close.

Next up: A June 12 primary followed by the Nov. 6 general election, which will see a lengthy ballot topped by the presidential race, a competitive U.S. Senate race and four congressional contests.

Also at stake is control of the state Legislature, particularly the state Senate, where Democrats have a razor thin 11-10 majority.

CARSON CITY – The state of Nevada’s tough financial situation is holding up two separate interim studies approved by the Legislature because of the requirement for alternative funding sources to assist in conducting the reviews.