lawmakers

By Sean Whaley
CARSON CITY – The Legislature’s two money committees today approved block grant funding for child welfare activities handled by Clark and Washoe counties, but delayed implementation of a proposed “incentive” element of the plan until 2014.
The requirement that a portion of the funds be made available to the two counties only after demonstrating improvement in the delivery of services was a point of contention in Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget.

By Sean Whaley
CARSON CITY – The state’s largest physician advocacy group has sent a letter to Gov. Brian Sandoval and all 63 lawmakers saying that 15 percent cuts in Medicaid reimbursements will make it even more difficult for some Nevadans to receive proper medical care.

By Sean Whaley
CARSON CITY – Members of the Legislature’s two money committees reviewed Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed budget for higher education today in preparation for making final decisions on how to fund the state’s public university system for the next two years.

By Sean Whaley
CARSON CITY – Legislative Democrats unveiled the elements of their highly anticipated tax plan today, saying they will work every day until the end of the session to craft a proposal that restores many of the cuts in Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget without choking off a nascent economic recovery.

The combined Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees Wednesday rejected the governor's plan to consolidate the Mining Division into the Department of Conservation and Natural Resource...

The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada on Wednesday called on lawmakers to replace the Modified Business Tax with a corporate income tax.State Director Bob Fulkerson called Nevada's curre...

A joint session of the Senate and Assembly money committees voted Tuesday to pull the state out of both the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center in Minden and the historic Dangberg Ranch.Ending...

By Sean Whaley
CARSON CITY – Legislative Democrats went ahead today with their own funding plan for public education, establishing a level of spending that puts the budget at significant odds with GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval and his opposition to new taxes.
The votes by Democrats have upped the ante in the budget dispute with Republicans, creating a hole estimated at $700 million by state Budget Director Andrew Clinger.

By Andrew Doughman
CARSON CITY — State legislative Republicans have changed their proposals for new state Assembly districts.
The boundaries of some proposed districts were altered today after Assembly Minority Leader Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, publicly criticized Senate Republicans for their maps.

By Sean Whaley
CARSON CITY – Work on closing Nevada’s two-year $6 billion general fund budget will begin in earnest tomorrow after the Economic Forum today finalized its tax revenue projections for the coming two years.
But legislative Democrats and Gov. Brian Sandoval remain far apart on an acceptable spending plan even with a $218 million general fund revenue increase.

Lawmakers voted to preserve a program that would help keep mentally handicapped people at home with their families, but they held off on the most controversial items of a touchy, $617 million menta...

Union officials representing state workers Friday urged lawmakers to reject the governor's proposed changes to their pay, vacation schedule and other benefits.Assembly Bill 560 contains most of ...

Lawmakers and educators Friday questioned Gov. Brian Sandoval's proposed education block grant planThe plan is funded with $161.6 million in money that currently goes to the mandated programs such ...

By Sean Whaley
CARSON CITY – The Assembly worked late today meeting as a Committee of the Whole to review Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed budget for health and human services.
The review by the entire 42-member Assembly followed a similar session held in the Senate earlier this week.

Lawmakers looking hungrily at what appears to be available cash in county budgets were told Thursday that money really isn't available for the taking.One of the biggest pots of money was the $2 bil...

If the Technical Advisory Committee vote Tuesday is any indicator, the Economic Forum may add a significant amount to the cash lawmakers and the governor have to spend over the next two years.The p...

In the first move of what promises to be a contentious reapportionment tug-of-war, legislators later this week are unveiling their proposals for redrawing 63 Nevada Senate and Assembly districts. A...

Nevada lawmakers made a massive push to vote on legislation and beat a Tuesday deadline to get bills out of their house of origin or watch them die by default.The Assembly tore through dozens of...

By Sean Whaley
CARSON CITY – Two bills that would close loopholes and increase transparency in Nevada’s election and campaign finance laws won approval in the Assembly today with no time to spare.
Secretary of State Ross Miller is seeking the bills restricting the use of multiple political action committees to bypass campaign contribution limits and requiring electronic filing of campaign contribution and expense reports by most candidates.

By Andrew Doughman
CARSON CITY – State legislative Democrats plan to be the first to reveal their proposals for redrawing political boundaries of Nevada’s Assembly and Senate this Thursday.
Democrats will introduce maps of the proposed boundaries and then debate their suggestions together with Republicans in the Assembly chambers during the evening, said Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas.
The unveiling of the maps represents the first public look at what promises to be a contentious debate about the state’s political districts.

CARSON CITY – U.S. Rep. Joe Heck praised GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval in remarks to the Nevada Legislature today for proposing a budget that does not raise taxes, saying it is the way to an economic recovery.
Heck, R-Nev., also expressed appreciation for Republican lawmakers who so far this session have supported Sandoval’s no new taxes or fees position during the lengthy review of his two-year, $5.8 billion general fund budget.

The deadline that will define the remaining non-budgetary issues for lawmakers to deal with this session hits Tuesday.By the close of business Tuesday, all bills without an exemption must clear ...

By Sean Whaley
CARSON CITY – After a lengthy hearing in the Assembly today on what several witnesses said were the catastrophic effects of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget recommendations for higher education, Republican members held firm with the executive branch in a series of funding votes.

By Andrew Doughman
CARSON CITY – Nevada’s rural Republican legislators are struggling to defend the governor’s budget that cuts their communities.
Democrats have been showcasing cuts to the rural counties in order to convince rural Republican legislators that a vote for tax increases is a vote to mitigate the harm to their districts.
Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said that rural counties are already “cut to the bone,” and in many cases could lose all that they have left.

CARSON CITY – As Gov. Brian Sandoval today said it is premature to speculate on who he will appoint to replace GOP U.S. Senator John Ensign, Democrats in the Nevada Legislature said they will seek a resolution urging a “fair, open, and transparent process for appointing a temporary replacement.”

--Lawmakers briefed on K-12 budgetApril, 20 2011 9:48 pm MST...

CARSON CITY – Recently announced U.S. Senate candidate Shelley Berkley spoke to the Nevada Legislature today, stressing education, infrastructure and energy independence as ways to create jobs and get the state back on track.

CARSON CITY – The debate over Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed cuts to public education shifted to the state Senate today, with members of the upper house getting the details of the reductions that the Clark County schools chief said would mean the loss of $400 million for a 19 percent cut in funding.
But there was no effort by Democrats, who control the Senate with a narrow 11-10 advantage, to force a vote on the schools budget as occurred yesterday in a more contentious Assembly hearing. There were no fireworks either.

CARSON CITY – Lawmakers took time some away from the budget and other pressing issues today to honor former Sen. Bill Raggio, a fourth-generation Nevadan and the longest-serving member of the state Senate who retired earlier this year.

Members of the transgender community chalked up a victory Monday when the Nevada Assembly approved a bill to protect them from employment discrimination.Democratic lawmakers, with limited Republ...