Governor

CARSON CITY – State officials said today they are pleased that Gov. Brian Sandoval has proposed continuing the Guinn Millennium Scholarship program in his budget, including a one-time infusion of $10 million from the general fund to keep it solvent through 2016.
“I was pleased to see that,” said Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, in a budget hearing today.

CARSON CITY – Democrats grilled the governor’s budget director during a hearing following the release of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed budget yesterday.
Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, accused the governor of stifling job creation by “robbing” $44 million out of the state’s highway fund.
The governor’s proposed budget would divert $44 million from the highway fund to two state operating funds.
Horsford said that the money the governor proposes to transfer could be bonded against, which could create infrastructure jobs.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY — Nevada’s primary education system would change dramatically under the proposals Gov. Brian Sandoval delivered tonight in his State of the State address.
He would use student achievement data to evaluate educators, provide merit pay for effective teachers and end extra pay for longevity and advanced degree attainment.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval today said he will embark on a multifaceted approach to rebuilding Nevada’s economy by assisting in private-sector job growth, including the creation of a $10 million “Catalyst Fund” to provide one-time incentives to businesses that want to relocate to the state.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada’s unemployment-insurance benefit fund could be in the red until 2018 as the state continues to borrow from the federal government to keep sending unemployment checks.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A coalition of construction industry groups today advocated for a tax increase to fund public works projects around the state to help put people back to work.
The Building Jobs Coalition presented its proposal, called the “Creating 100,000 Jobs” report, in press conferences in both Las Vegas and Reno.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
Gov. Brian Sandoval has appointed a veteran administrator to keep up the fight against placing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Southern Nevada.
Joseph C. Strolin, formerly a planning division administrator for the Agency for Nuclear Projects, has agreed to be acting director of the agency until the governor can find a permanent director.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada’s budget process is broken and needs fundamental change to bring about reasonable spending and improved performance in public education and the delivery of other government services, a free market think tank says in a new report.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval has proposed spending an estimated $60 million to repay interest on hundreds of millions of dollars in federal loans.
That $60 million would come out of the general fund, said Dale Erquiaga, the governor’s senior adviser. This would leave less money for health care, education and other vital state functions in the general fund.

Steve Robinson, a deputy chief of staff and legislative director for former Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons and previously the state's top forestry and fire official, has been appointed to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency governing board.

“As a former at-large board member myself, I know Steve Robinson’s experience as a natural resource consultant will be invaluable to the TRPA,” said Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval. “Lake Tahoe is one of our most precious state and national treasures, so it is important to me that Nevada has a strong voice on the TRPA.”

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
The Washoe County Commission today selected former state Assemblyman and U.S. Attorney Greg Brower to replace retired GOP state Sen. Bill Raggio in the 2011 session of the Nevada Legislature.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval’s staff today clarified that the proposed five percent salary reductions announced yesterday includes teachers and higher-education employees.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s Colorado River Commission is one of the state agencies cited in a recent legislative audit as paying some of the highest salaries to former state employees working as contractors, the Nevada News Bureau has learned.
Information obtained as a result of a public records request shows two former state employees, James Davenport and Sara Price, both attorneys, have collectively earned over half a million dollars in salaries as contractors for the agency over the past three and a half years.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
Retiring Sen. Bill Raggio today criticized the governor’s “rigid stance” in holding fast to a promise not to raise taxes. While stopping short of saying he would support raising taxes, he did say that increases may be likely despite the governor’s pledges to the contrary.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval delivered the bad news in an email to state employees today: His budget will propose a 5 percent across-the-board salary reduction for state employees instead of continuing with a furlough program.
“We must also continue the suspension of merit pay and longevity pay,” he said in the letter.

Ramping down Nevada’s dependence on the gambling industry (and associated consumer spending) through developing new job-creating industries was the main topic at last Friday’s Nevada 2.0 economic forum at UNLV.
Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki used the word “retooling” as he spoke of the need for diversity in his opening remarks, adding that he did not believe the vision of  an economically robust Nevada was “Pollyanna-ish.”

Carl Kuhl, a state Parole and Probation employee of six years, has created a plan that he claims will eliminate Nevada's budget deficit within two years.

In a news release issued on Tuesday, Kuhl said his plan not only will reduce the budget deficit but also help repair Nevada's economy at the same time. It is a pretty big claim, he admits, coming from an Accounting Assistant I, an entry level position.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – It didn’t take long for Gov. Brian Sandoval to encounter controversy in his new job.
At his first Board of Examiners meeting as governor today, Sandoval had to deal with a vendor dispute over a massive $177 million Medicaid contract.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval is considering giving Nevada’s higher education system more control to spend tuition and state funds.
As part of his budget, the governor may recommend a statutory change to allow colleges and universities more authority to manage their budgets with a lesser degree of legislative control, said Dale Erquiaga, the governor’s senior advisor.

In an apparent move to increase the transparency of his administration, Gov. Brian Sandoval released today the annual salaries of his staff. His 17 staff positions, one of which is vacant, consume about $1 million of the governor’s executive budget.
His highest paid employee, Chief of Staff Heidi Gansert, will earn $124,988 this year. The lowest paid, Celia Magana, is an administrative assistant in Las Vegas earning $29,984.

It's "big-band jazz times two" when the Mile High Jazz Band presents the eighth annual Mile High-Carson High Jazz Extravaganza, on Friday, January 21, 2011, 8:00 p.m., at the Brewery Arts Center Performance Hall, 511 W. King Street, Carson City. The concert, sponsored by the Brewery Arts Center and the Mile High Jazz Band Association, is a benefit for the Carson High Jazz Band programs.

CARSON CITY – In the wake of a legislative audit critical of state agency contracting practices with current and former employees, the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has posted its information online.
Bob Conrad, public information officer for the department, said the contract information was placed on the agency’s website on Dec. 29.

While newly sworn-in Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval hasn't yet named his appointee to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, before he left office, appointed Ronald Slaven to the governing board.

Ronald Slaven, 47, of Carmichael, Calif., has been appointed to the TRPA, where he previously served as a member from 2001 to 2004.

This may be one of the worst acts of senseless vandalism I've ever seen. Or, maybe someone really wanted a pair of shoes.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval wasted no time getting to work after being sworn into office today, signing an executive order freezing many proposed administrative regulations as evidence that Nevada is a business friendly state.

Check out the photo gallery above. Here is the RGJ story on the inaugural speech.

We will have some video of the festivities up soon.

CARSON CITY – Brian Sandoval has announced his final cabinet appointments prior to being sworn in as Nevada’s 29th governor today, including naming Bruce Breslow to head up the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Breslow has been serving in outgoing Gov. Jim Gibbons’ administration as executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.

The inauguration of Nevada's 29th governor, Brian Sandoval, will begin on Sunday with a celebration of arts in Carson City and then continue on Monday with the official ceremony at 11:30 a.m. on the steps of the state capitol.

Beginning on Sunday, Jan. 2, from 1 to 5 p.m., cultural organizations in downtown Carson City will open their doors to offer free music and dance performances, demonstrations by traditional artists, visual arts and history exhibitions, children’s activities and shopping opportunities.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – There will be no fee increases of any kind in Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval’s budget when it is presented to lawmakers next year, Chief of Staff Heidi Gansert has confirmed.

A new group has formed to propose innovative strategies to create a healthy State with well-supported public systems and services and an improved fiscal system.

Members of the Nevada Values Coalition have met twice for “big tent”, nonpartisan meetings to discuss the complex issues, and members then further examined ideas through subcommittees.