Senate

Democrats are pushing back on President Donald Trump’s latest criticism and threat of litigation over Nevada’s move toward a mostly mail general election.

Nevada lawmakers who say they’ve been inundated with pleas for help from constituents sorted through a bill Sunday night that they acknowledge isn’t a silver bullet for the state’s unemployment backlog, but could ease some of the system’s bottlenecks.

Hours after President Donald Trump threatened litigation over it through a tweet, members of the Nevada Senate voted on party lines to approve a bill that expands mail-in voting during times of emergency.

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.

State lawmakers have taken the first steps to amend a cap on mining taxes in the state Constitution, a process that could raise hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue but was staunchly opposed by Republicans and the mining industry representatives who warned it would be a “death knell” for rural Nevada.

Nevada lawmakers are convening for a special session to address a long list of policy topics ahead of their regularly scheduled session early next year.

To help readers understand where bills stand in the sometimes chaotic world of the Legislature, The Nevada Independent is maintaining this viewer’s guide with brief overviews and status updates on the measures.

On Thursday, July 30, Google co-hosted an online workshop with the Nevada Small Business Development Center and the Connected Commerce Council for Nevada as part of the tech company’s ‘Grow with Google’ initiative. ‘Grow with Google’ aims to help create economic opportunity in communities across the United States by providing free training, tools, and expertise for people across their country to grow their skills, careers, and businesses.

In a controversial open letter to the Douglas County Library Board that has since made national headlines, Douglas County Sheriff Dan Coverley threatened to withhold emergency services from the library after they proposed to support Black Lives Matter in an agenda item.

CARSON CITY — On Monday, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed into law the final bills of the 31st Special Session of the Nevada Legislature.

Lawmakers finalized hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to state agencies on Sunday, adjusting a budget that is set to lose a quarter of the revenue previously projected because of the pandemic and wrapping up a protracted session marked by false starts and delays.

The Assembly approved an omnibus budget bill a second time Sunday morning, this time with an amendment allocating tens of millions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief funding toward boosting alternative education strategies during the pandemic, winning over several Republican lawmakers who opposed the proposal 15 hours earlier.

Members of the Assembly took the first step to formally slash hundreds of millions of dollars from state budget accounts to close a $1.2 billion budget gap Saturday evening.

An individual at the Legislature has tested positive for COVID-19, according to an email sent by Legislative Counsel Bureau Director Brenda Erdoes to lawmakers on Friday and obtained by The Nevada Independent.

Lawmakers began the task of filling the $1.2 billion hole in the state’s budget on Wednesday as they kicked off their special session with a litany of budget and agency briefings throughout the day.

More than a hundred teachers, parents and community members took to Carson Street in Carson City on Wednesday to protest proposed budget cuts to education.

Gov. Steve Sisolak has released a proposal ahead of a special legislative session slated to begin Wednesday in Carson City that would slash and shift hundreds of millions of dollars from agency budgets and other programs to close an estimated $1.2 billion shortfall caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

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.

Early next month, hundreds of elected officials, state workers, lobbyists and members of the public will congregate in Carson City for a special legislative session to patch massive holes in the state’s budget.

In a program similar to PG&E and other electric utilities in California, NV Energy announced last week that it will implement its own plan that would shut off power to reduce wildfire risk in the Lake Tahoe area in the event of weather-related events such as strong, gusty winds.

UPDATE 11:14AM: The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning from noon to 8 p.m. Friday for the following areas: Southern Mono County, Southern Sierra Front including Alpine, Northern Mono, Southern Lyon, and Western Mineral Counties, West Humboldt Basin in Pershing County and Lahontan Basin including Churchill and Eastern Mineral counties. The Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory for Mono County, Mineral and Southern Lyon counties, Hawthorne, Yerington, Smith Valley, Mina, Schurz, Fernley, Fallon, Lovelock, Silver Springs, Nixon, and Imlay. Carson City, and Carson Valley are not in the Wind Advisory area.
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Strong winds expected Friday has prompted the National Weather Service to issue high wind and fire weather watches for portions of Northern Nevada.

Between the three of them, they have worked more than 70 years in faculty and administrative faculty positions at Western Nevada College.

Democrats competing in the Congressional District 2 primary have poured tens of thousands of dollars into the race in the hopes of pulling off a historic first: winning a Northern Nevada seat no Democrat has ever won.

The polarizing attitudes and ideology that has taken over the American political environment -- as witnessed in recently-held political debates and rallies, nationwide -- is a danger to traditional American democratic values of diversity and respect of the “marketplace of ideas”, where people are not listening to each other, where respect for diversity is lacking, where the prevailing political attitude seems to be “my way or the highway”.

Remotely read Hindu prayers will open the meetings of seven city councils and one county commission in Utah during the next two weeks, containing verses from world’s oldest extant scripture.

Regent Sam Lieberman passed away Friday morning, according to Nevada System of Higher Education officials. He was 58.

No other information was immediately available.

“We were devastated to learn of Sam’s death,” NSHE Chancellor Thom Reilly said in a statement. “He was so passionate about Nevada’s public higher education system and he cared very deeply about bettering our system for our students.”

Lieberman took office as a Board of Regents member, representing District 5 in Clark County, in 2015. Last month, he had filed for re-election.

The Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the 2020-2021 county’s Tentative Budget on April 1, 2020. The County Manager and Comptroller have recommended the budget with no salary increases and a projected 6.6% ending fund balance which is lower than the 16.67% authorized by Nevada Revised Statutes.

The County Manager also recommended that the Board not fund any of the 35.8 positions requested by the various departments including:

24 Personnel for the Sheriff’s Office
1 Information Systems Technician
1 Community Development Director
1 Public Works Director

The Lyon County Board of Commissioners proposed an ordinance to set a 5 cent per gallon tax on diesel fuel.

The Board heard public testimony both in support and opposition. The Board will conduct a second hearing currently scheduled for March 19, 2020.

On February 28, NV Energy filed its Natural Disaster Protection Plan with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada per Senate Bill 329, that outlines how the company plans to help protect the public from the impacts of natural disasters on its electric infrastructure that have been experienced in other Western states.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, at one point during Wednesday’s raucous presidential debate on the Las Vegas Strip, suggested her opponents take their sparring down to the MGM Grand for fight night.

It was an apt comparison. The eight previous Democratic debates were marked by relatively civil policy disagreements interrupted by occasional dustups and memorable one-liners. On Wednesday night, the gloves came off.

The Carson City Council of the United States Navy League will hold its next meeting on Wednesday, February 19, 2020 at the Carson City NUGGET Casino, 507 N. South Carson Street. This is a temporary change in venue! Unfortunately, the Gold Dust West was already booked for the 19th. The Social hour will start at 5:30 PM and Dinner will begin at 6:30PM.