Assembly

By Andrew Doughman/Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A proposal in the state Assembly would give minority-owned or women-owned businesses a five percent bidder preference for state public works projects.
Assemblywoman Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas, advanced the bill in a Assembly Government Affairs hearing today.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Ask people living near the strip in Las Vegas who their state senator is and, if they know, they might say Sen. Mark Manendo or Sen. David Parks.
They would both be right on both counts. Parks and Manendo represent one of the state’s two dual districts, which each have two senators.
They are a relic from a past era, and Parks says there is a “strong likelihood” they will soon be a thing of the past.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval today signed a bill requiring funeral directors to report to the Office of Veterans’ Services if they obtain possession of unclaimed human remains they know or reasonably believe to be that of a veteran.
Sandoval signed Assembly Bill 124 in a ceremony before a full house of veterans at the Kit Carson VFW Post 3726 in the capital.
Gov. Brian Sandoval talks with veteran Robert Primeaux following a bill signing ceremony today. Photo by Cathleen Allison/NevadaPhotoSource.com

This article is from AroundCarson.com. Click here to see more photos and to read the narrative.

On Monday, March 21st 2011, there was a rally in front of the Nevada Legislature Building. A bunch of college students from all over the state gathered to protest the budget cuts to higher education that were being tossed around the Senate and Assembly. I headed down there to check out the party and the spectacle, and I’m glad I did because over 1,000 people showed up! Some are saying that this is the biggest protest/rally that Carson City has ever seen. Students gathered on the lawn in front of the building, swarmed the halls, and even filled the visitor galleries in both chambers.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval said emphatically today he will veto a bill passed by Democrats in the Legislature that would allow school districts to use up to $300 million in bond reserve funds to rehabilitate older schools.
He also expressed confidence that $60 million in general fund Medicaid rate reductions included in his budget are legally defensible and can be implemented despite a legal opinion to the contrary.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s two largest school districts could increase classes sizes by five students during the upcoming school year.
Superintendents from Clark and Washoe Counties said they would put more children in classrooms to address Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed budget cuts.
Those budget cuts could result in hundreds of school district positions eliminated in Washoe County and 2,486 positions in Clark County.

By Elizabeth Crum / Nevada News Bureau
Yes, definitely.
Or, not primarily.
Apparently the answer depends on which elected official you ask.
In remarks to the Nevada State Assembly, Senator John Ensign yesterday that companies avoid moving to Nevada because our schools are poor. Here are Ensign’s exact remarks:

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – The author of a new analysis of Nevada’s collective bargaining law says the complex rules have worked to the benefit of teachers’ unions rather than students, making reforms essential to improve the state’s public education system.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, may have just found the state $20 to $35 millions in new revenue.
Under his proposal, if you lose or do not redeem a paper voucher printed from a slot machine, the state would sweep that money into its coffers as unclaimed property. Right now, casinos pay taxes on that money and count the remainder as revenue.

A bill entered into the Nevada Legislature would withdrawal the state from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency compact.

S.B. 271 was introduced on March 18, by State Senators John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, and James Settelmeyer, R-Gardnerville with joint Assembly sponsors Pat Hickey, R-Reno, Randy Kirner, R-Reno and Kelly Kite, R-Minden. The bill has been moved to the Committee on Government Affairs.

Click here to read the bill.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – The Capitol had a new vibe this morning: less gray hair, more noise.
In what some say was the largest student protest ever held at the Legislature, more than 1,000 students thronged the cold, snow-swept capitol grounds to protest Gov. Brian Sandoval’s $162 million proposed cuts to higher education.

(This article is from Around Carson, at http://aroundcarson.com/2011/03/21/rally_at_the_legislature/)

CARSON CITY – Assembly Speaker John Oceguera testified today in support of a bill that would expand health insurance transparency for consumers so they can shop for the best coverage.
Assembly Bill 309, reviewed by the Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee, is opposed by many companies offering health insurance in Nevada. Only one insurance representative testified against the bill at the hearing, however.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – The city of Henderson is seeking legislation that one critic says would make it more difficult for Southern Nevada residents to challenge land use decisions by local governments.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Legislators would have to attend legislator school under a bill from Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas.
Assembly Bill 260 would make it mandatory for all new legislators to attend classes before the official start of the legislative session.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval today signed the first two public policy bills of the 2011 legislative session.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – When it comes to redistricting this year, the line from the Assembly Republicans goes like this: the “fair” process is unfair.
They say the process resulted in gerrymandering in 2001, when the boundaries of political districts were last redrawn.

CARSON CITY – Nevada is getting shortchanged from the federal government when it comes to addressing contamination from the underground nuclear weapons testing era, with the Nevada Test Site getting only a small amount of funding for cleanup efforts, a state lawmaker said today.

The Nevada Student Alliance is a coalition of students from every institution in the Nevada System of Higher Education. Along with K-12 representatives, the alliance representatives and more than 1,000 college and university students will gather at the state’s legislature to advocate for the preservation of education in Nevada. Buses from multiple institutions will arrive in Carson City for the 10 a.m. rally on Monday, March 21.

According to Nevada News Bureau, Republican Mark Amodei will announce soon that he is running for the Congressional District 2 seat currently held by Rep. Dean Heller.

The speculation is that Heller will make a run for the U.S. Senate seat held by John Ensign, who announced earlier this week he would not seek reelection to avoid an ugly campaign after his well-publicized sex scandal.

CARSON CITY – Freshman Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, watched as one of his first bills was introduced on the floor of the Assembly Tuesday.
Hansen’s bill would establish a state grants coordinator to help Nevada apply for and win more federal grants.
A few hours later, Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, stood at a lectern flanked by the American flag and the flag of the State of Nevada, and told a gathering of reporters about his bill.

CARSON CITY – Lobbyists, legislators and journalists expected to hear about a bill that would increase energy bills for Nevadans when they arrived at a legislative hearing.
Assemblyman Randy Kirner, R-Reno, sat down before the committee, ready to present his bill that would levy a fee on anyone paying an electric bill. That fee would help new businesses pay their energy bills. He designed the bill to attract manufacturing businesses to Nevada with reduced energy costs.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Democratic legislative leaders today questioned a comment from the Sandoval administration that two job creation bills they are pursuing will be vetoed for creating a hole in the governor’s recommended state general fund budget.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Assemblyman Kelly Kite, R-Minden, learned he may have broken a law yesterday during a Commerce and Labor committee hearing.
The committee was debating a bill about the interstate sale of rifles and shotguns. Current law bans the interstate sale of those guns in states that do not have a border with Nevada.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Assemblyman Pat Hickey, R-Reno, says he is interested in changing the state’s tax structure.
He wrote in a weekly newsletter he might consider broadening the state’s tax base, an idea that he has talked about with UNR economics professor Elliott Parker.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A proposal from the state’s treasurer could use $20 million to create a small business loan program.
Treasurer Kate Marshall today testified before a Senate committee about the bill, which she said would help create jobs and revenue for the state.

CARSON CITY – Secretary of State Ross Miller made his pitch for campaign finance reform before an Assembly committee today, saying that while his two bills are extensive and complex at 155 pages combined, the many provisions are necessary because, “we are behind the curve.”
Miller, in testimony before the Assembly Legislative Operations and Elections Committee, said Nevada should provide increased transparency to voters about the campaign contributions and expenses of the candidates for public office.

CARSON CITY – A Republican state senator has proposed his own idea for job creation: A break on the modified business tax for new employees hired by employers after July 1, 2011.
Sen. James Settelmeyer, R-Gardnerville, said Senate Bill 199 would exempt new employees hired by Nevada businesses from the tax as an incentive to add workers to their payrolls. Co-sponsors include five other Republican lawmakers. The measure was introduced Monday.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval will propose a change to the retirement system for new state employees that would reduce their current pension benefits by one half and cut the long-term liability for taxpayers by the same amount, his chief of staff said today.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval today elaborated on the details of a bill he is proposing to establish a school voucher system in Nevada.
The proposal would allow parents to receive a state-funded, per pupil subsidy to opt out of public schools in favor of private schools, including religious schools.
The stipend, or voucher, would help families pay expenses at the private schools.