Legislature

On Monday, 63 people will gather in Carson City to take their oaths of office and get down to the business of running the 2015 Legislature.

They'll meet in the same place the Legislature has always met, take the same oath lawmakers have always taken and perform the same rituals that are always performed. But in some important ways, Nevada will be a very different place in 2015 than it was just two years ago.

By the time the Nevada Legislature wraps up in June (or, you know, late August), you'll have heard plenty of numbers. Economic Forum numbers. Budget numbers. Bill numbers. Vote-count tally numbers. Alternative-universe numbers.

Western Nevada College’s highly regarded baseball team has lost its voice. Chris Graham, the longtime voice of the Wildcats, won’t return this season to broadcast WNC baseball games over the Internet.

The three-time Scenic West Athletic Conference Broadcaster of the Year has volunteered as the Wildcats’ play-by-play announcer for eight seasons. Now, a new job at the Nevada Legislature will not permit him the time to continue with his self-described passion.

“Pine Spirit” by Sande Rowan comes to the Legislative eXhibition Series Gallery Feb. 2 Working with Native American basket makers in the Southwest, Sande Rowan learned coiling techniques she incorporated into her own style as a professional basket maker. Her “Rainbow Spiral” pine needle basket is among her works featured in “Pine Spirit” at the Legislative eXhibition Series Gallery Feb. 2-20 in the Nevada Legislative Building.

“To get along, one must go along.” All too often I have heard this in the last two years. For me, the epiphany of understanding this phrase came in my second year when I realized nothing is going to change, not even this phrase. Puzzling to me is why some think there is a need to build a political consensus; yet, they build a political Berlin Wall and stand behind it saying, “it ain’t me causing this.”

Board Appointments

Carson City has some great lectures going on today. Sierra Nevada Forums is presenting ‘Lions and Tracking and Bears, OH MY’ about the incredible animals in our foothills. ‘A Short History of Virginia City’ is to be found at the Nevada State Museum, followed by a book signing by Authors Ron and Susan James.

Lawmakers were told Tuesday unless they will agree to extend all the sunset taxes, the state will have to cut nearly $600 million a year out of the governor’s proposed $7.3 billion General Fund budget. Gov. Brian Sandoval inclu...

On January 13, 2015, a symposium on Common Core was held in the Legislature Building. The participants were Professors James Milgram and Sandra Stotsky, both widely known and respected experts on eduction standards, who have actually participated in the development and validation of not only Common Core but also other standards before and since. The other side was represented by Steve Canavero of the Nevada Department of Education and Allan Grossman from the Washoe County School District.

Rank-and-file teachers may applaud Gov. Brian Sandoval’s promise to pour more funds into education, but any celebration may be muted by another pledge: He said he wants to get rid of collective bargaining.

Sandoval provided no details in his State of the State address Thursday night, but even the hint that unions are in his sights is likely to ignite a partisan debate about teacher unions in the coming Legislature.

The Nevada Legislature gets down to serious business this week with a series of six day-long briefings outlining Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed budget. And Tuesday’s opening session focuses on t...

Days after what many have called the most aggressive State of the State speech in decades, Gov. Brian Sandoval now waits to see what the Nevada Legislature will do with his proposals. However, he also turned over man...

Here is the full text of Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval's speech delivered to the Nevada Legislature Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015.

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Distinguished Members of the Legislature, Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court, Constitutional Officers:

Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval delivers his annual state of the state address before a joint session of the Nevada Legislature in Carson City beginning at 6 p.m. Go here to watch it live.

The Ormsby Sportsmen's Association of Carson City has announced that it has disbanded and closed its doors after an existence of almost 70 years, beginning way back in August, 1945.

The January 13th Common Core "symposium" at the legislature didn't go off quite as advertised. The announcement posted by organizer Ann Bedarski on the Nevada Trends website listed the Department of Education participants as:

JUDY OSGOOD, Public Information Officer, Nevada Department of Educa_on
STEVE CANAVERO, Deputy Superintendent of Student Achievement, NDE
AMY SALGO, Teacher Ambassador, NDE

Today is the day Gov. Brian Sandoval lifts the veil on his plans to balance Nevada’s budget for the coming two years. His State of the State speech to the combined membership of the 2015 Legislature is set...

U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez announced Monday the 17 public members who will serve on the new Advisory Committee on Increasing Competitive Integrated Employment for Individuals with Disabilities, a key provision of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

Selected from more than 280 nominations, Santa Perez, the Advocate Co-coordinator for the People First of Nevada Project of the Nevada Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, joins the other public members of the committee.

The last couple of times Barbara Cegavske backed bills in the Nevada Legislature to require voters to show photo identification to cast ballots, the proposed legislation didn’t make it out of committee.
Democrats blocked voter ID legislation in 2007 and in 2009, when Cegavske supported such bills, and beyond.

It’s National Rubber Ducky Day! I have no idea how that is relevant to anything, but now I've got the ‘Rubber Ducky’ song from Sesame Street in my head. It’s also Stephen Foster Memorial Day, so feel free to sing ‘Camptown Races’, one of the prolific song-writer’s most famous songs, instead. Keep the musical theme going today with the Carson Feet Warmers during lunch and the Mile High Jazz Band playing this evening, both at Comma Coffee.

Swing into the New Year with the Mile High Jazz Band at "Cool Jazz in January," a big-band event with vocalist Cindee LeVal, at Comma Coffee on Tuesday, January 13, 7:30-9:30 p.m. Comma Coffee, 312 S. Carson Street, is across the street from the state legislature building in Carson City. General admission is $5 at the door: free for age 18 and under.

The Nevada Indian Commission will host the 2015 Tribal Legislative Forum at the former Stewart Indian School in Carson City from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15 at 5500 Snyder Ave., Building #1. The commission’s board meeting follows the Forum in Building #3 at 1:30 p.m.

Former Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons had a very interesting term as Nevada's 28th governor from 2007-2011

Happy 2015, Carson City! Let’s whet your appetite for some of the fun to be had in the next twelve months.

January: Youth Theater Carson City’s Annie, Jr; Winter, Wine, and All that Jazz at the Brewery Arts Center, and the Thirsty Boy Home Brewing Competition.

Nevadans diagnosed with terminal diseases could legally end their lives by taking lethal doses of doctor-prescribed medication under a proposed law that would see the Silver State join a growing national movement to give people who are dying greater control over their final days.

Get outdoors and celebrate the New Year with a free guided hike at Spooner Lake State Park. This will be a snowshoe hike if there is adequate snow. The outing will follow the Spooner Lake loop trail, which is a little over two miles. Very little change in elevation makes this trail a family favorite. Park entrance fees are waived for hike participants.

Enjoy the holidays by taking a sleigh ride around Sand Harbor at Lake Tahoe or renting snow shoes to get down to the beach. The park restaurant will be open weekends for holiday drinks and snacks. Special meal and sleigh ride packages will be available as well.

‘Before It Was a Park’ History Talk

You've probably heard the joke that starts, "A dog walks into a bar…" But for state Sen. James Settelmeyer, R-Minden, it's no joke. It's part of one of his bill-draft requests for the 2015 Nevada Legislature.

Settelmeyer is drafting legislation that "allows a stand-alone bar to permit dogs to enter at the discretion of the establishment's owner."

We are very fortunate to have Dr. Sandra Stotsky and Dr. James Milgram, the most qualified people on the Common Core Validation Committee, coming to northern Nevada for three public events.

They were the only two people on the committee who are content area specialists and who have written high K-12 standards; Dr. Stotsky English Lanugage Arts Massachusetts, Dr. Milgram math California.

The two of them plus three others on the committee would not sign off on Common Core. Both Stotsky and Milgram are for national standards but they both oppose Common Core.

Gov. Brian Sandoval traveled to Nevada State Park's Spooner Lake near Tahoe on Wednesday to be the first visitor to a Nevada State Park to have his park passport stamped, officially launching a new program.

The Passport Program is designed to challenge and encourage Nevada residents and visitors to experience the diverse natural, cultural and recreational resources that span all of Nevada’s 23 state parks.

MY PERSONAL LETTER TO ALL NEVADA REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLYMEN:It is time to put your priorities, perspectives and pride in order and remember who you work for.Election to the State Legislature is an honor. Many of you had to endure difficult Primary races, followed by difficult General election contests. In the end you prevailed. In the end, Republicans prevailed. Nevada Republicans as a whole prevailed to a degree never seen in our lifetimes.