Legislature

We have set up a link to watch live video from the Nevada Legislature, and follow along with Twitter messages and comments on the same page. Give it a try.

This article is from AroundCarson.com. Click here to see more photos.

Yesterday I posted a whole bunch of pictures from Monday’s education rally at the Legislature. Here are a bunch more. And if this isn’t enough for you, I have a plenty more posted over at Flickr too.

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

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
Despite upgrading Nevada’s outlook from negative to stable, the credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Nevada’s credit rating to Aa2 from Aa1.
The rationale behind the adjustment involves Nevada’s Legislature. Moody’s cited the two-thirds supermajority required to raise taxes as a negative in Nevada.

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 Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Sometimes, trying to read the CEO’s mind can be a political game.
Critics of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed education cuts have said business owners will not move to a state that ravages its already low-performing education system with spending reductions.

CARSON CITY – Nevada Health and Human Services Director Mike Willden said today he believes the state can reduce Medicaid rates to medical providers as proposed in Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget, but acknowledges the issue is “muddy territory.”
Willden’s view suggests the Medicaid reductions can be imposed without the state being subjected to successful legal challenges based on a recent appeals court ruling.

You can now register your opinions on individual bills being considered by the Nevada Legislature with this nifty online voting page.

Just pick a bill number from the drop-down list, and a description pops up. From there your can cast your vote, post your comments on the bill, and direct it to your district's legislators. Give it a try.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
A national analysis shows Nevada’s growth in personal income was last in the nation during 2010.
The federal government’s Bureau of Economic Analysis today released a report charting personal incomes for all 50 states during 2010.

CARSON CITY – A legal analysis provided to the skilled nursing home industry regarding a proposed Medicaid rate reduction to cover the cost of caring for Nevada’s seniors says the cuts would be a violation of federal law.
The analysis says the proposed reductions of $20 per Medicaid resident per day are being proposed in Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget, “purely as a means to alleviate the budgetary crisis.”

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 Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Representatives of Nevada’s skilled nursing home industry say up to five facilities could close and 700 beds lost if a proposal in Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget to cut the Medicaid reimbursement rate by $20 a day per patient comes to pass.
The closures would result in well-paid medical professionals being laid off and joining the ranks of Nevada’s already sizable population of unemployed, industry officials say.

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 Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – State Sen. Steven Horsford asked the Nevada Tax Commission today to act immediately to tighten up regulations on the deductions allowed to mining companies before they must pay the net proceeds on minerals tax to the state and counties.

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/legislature_rally_videos/) My full photo gallery from this morning’s protest/rally at the NV Legislature will have to wait for another day. But I was able to get a bunch of videos uploaded from the event, so you can get a sense of what the atmosphere was like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlFGrBEfifw

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

Students from across Nevada gathered by the thousands today at the Nevada Legislature and at the Governor's office demanding the state's education system be spared from huge cuts proposed under Gov. Brian Sandoval.

Early estimates had the crowd of mostly college students at 1,500 but the numbers have begun to swell as students, faculty and parents from around the state arrive from various locations around the state. Now early estimates among officials on the ground has the number of more than 2,000 demonstrating.

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Click here for a more photos and gallery of today's event.

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One high school, Cheyenne in Las Vegas, had 400 students in a convoy of more than a dozen buses. More than 500 students from University of Nevada Las Vegas boarded tour buses last night for the road trip.

University of Nevada, Reno students also arrived by the busloads. Students from Western Nevada College campuses were quite visible, many expressing fear that education programs vital to the state's economy such as nursing, will be slashed under the governor's budget proposal.

Chanting "SOS Save Our Schools" and "No More Cuts" students walked peaceably through the Legislative Building, making it known that they fear deep cuts to education will damage the state's already shaky economy.

By Andrew Doughman /Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – In what could be the largest rally ever held at the Legislature, more than 1,000 students, parents, teachers and activists are expected today to protest education budget cuts.

I missed this one yesterday, that Assemblyman Cresent Hardy (R-Mesquite) introduced a bill to eliminate early voting in Nevada.

Huh?

Considering that early voting is hugely popular, accounting for about half of the votes in the last election, why does Hardy have a problem with this?

According to him, some group in Las Vegas who he will not name asked him to introduce the bill. Why would this group not want to be named?

Courtesy of GrandViewOutdoors.com
The bill to allow a small group of enthusiasts to hunt with spears has been stopped in the House.

The measure targeted at a subgroup of hunters who hunt like prehistoric man for sport was tabled in the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks committee Friday.
The bill, which had already passed through the Senate, drew a large amount of public interest because of its unusual topic.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – When Amanda Collins testified before a Senate committee, she recounted an emotional story of her brutal assault at University of Nevada, Reno campus.
Collins said she was defenseless when serial rapist and convicted murderer James Biela attacked her in a UNR parking garage.

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.

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.

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.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford has requested emergency legislation to conduct a performance audit of the revenue collection functions of the Department of Taxation following questions last week about the thoroughness of the agency’s review of mining tax payments.

(Updated at 2:12 p.m. on March 14, 2011 to include new comments from Sandoval Administration)
CARSON CITY – Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford has requested emergency legislation to conduct a performance audit of the revenue collection functions of the Department of Taxation following questions last week about the thoroughness of the agency’s review of mining tax payments.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Teachers who are pursuing a master’s degree will not receive any extra pay for it under Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed budget.

Those currently enrolled teachers may have entered their programs envisioning a pay bump upon graduation. But they made a bet, and the governor’s proposed budget would leave them on the losing side of what has long been regarded as a safe gamble.