Jim Gibbons

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.

Two Nevada-based programs have been recognized by the federal government for having led the nation in efficiently using at least $18 million in federal stimulus money for energy projects, the Governor's Office has reported.
The Nevada State Office of Energy and the Nevada Housing Division have received letters from the U.S. Department of Energy commending their efforts at leading the nation by quickly and efficiently infusing federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds within Nevada communities. 

CARSON CITY – Both Democrat and Republican lawmakers agree the 2011 legislative session will likely see a debate about the future of Nevada’s public employee pension program, but differences remain over whether radical change is needed to protect the state from a multi-billion long-term unfunded liability.

Part 2 of a Series on Key GOP State Senate Primary Races
CARSON CITY – While Republican voters have a rare chance to chart the course of the GOP Senate caucus in the upcoming primary, the candidates described by some political observers as the establishment choice say they too are true fiscal conservatives who believe in core party values.

Part 1 of 2 on Five Key State Senate Races
CARSON CITY – Over the past several legislative sessions the state Senate Republican caucus has shown a willingness to work across the aisle with Democrats, with some GOP lawmakers voting more than once for tax increases as a way to balance the budget.

CARSON CITY – A member of the citizen’s panel appointed by lawmakers to chart Nevada’s future for the next 20 years expressed concern today about whether the process to be followed to complete the effort conforms to meet the requirements of the state Open Meeting Law.

In the waning hours of the special session this past February, legislators hurriedly introduced and passed Senate Bill 5, a bill intended, among other things, to remove the sunset on part of a half-percent sales tax passed in 2003.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons announced yesterday he is pursuing an initiative petition to subject labor negotiations between unions and local government entities to the open meeting law to give taxpayers access to the discussions.
Some Republican lawmakers welcomed the idea, saying the Democrat-controlled Legislature has been unwilling to consider such a proposal.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons is touting his successes in implementing recommendations from his SAGE Commission on ways to improve efficiencies and save money in state government, but many of the proposals remain in progress or will require action by the 2011 Legislature.

CARSON CITY — Nevadans who intend to vote early in the primary and general elections this year will likely find themselves in the dark on the question of who has contributed to the campaigns of the candidates.
Despite efforts in past legislative sessions to improve the transparency of campaign contributions received by candidates, lawmakers have failed to make meaningful reforms to the reporting process.

RENO – The three Republican candidates vying to become the next governor of Nevada engaged in a spirited discussion Friday on issues ranging from taxes and public education to the future of Yucca Mountain.

CARSON CITY – A legislative panel was told by the Department of Motor Vehicles yesterday that a new version of a regulation implementing Real ID in Nevada is being drafted that will allow residents to keep the older, traditional license if they choose to do so.

A crowd of about 600 people gathered around the courtyard surrounding the Nevada State Capitol for the tea party rally. Many held signs condemning big-government policies, calling for Senator Harry Reid’s defeat, protesting tax increases, and ridiculing President Barack Obama.

CARSON CITY – A Las Vegas attorney running for attorney general as a Republican against Democrat incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto, and who called for a State Bar investigation into her release of a letter to the press about a potential legal challenge to the federal health care law, is now himself the subject of a bar inquiry.
Attorney Jacob Hafter called the inquiry ridiculous.
“It just shows the type of protection these incumbents have,” he said.