Legislature

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – The Nevada State Medical Association believes consumers should have access to clear and understandable information about the cost and coverage provided under health care insurance policies before they sign on the dotted line.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A panel of private sector fiscal experts today projected the Nevada state general fund will have about $5.3 billion in tax revenues to spend on government services for the next two years.
The Nevada Economic Forum spent the day making projections for gaming, sales, business and other major tax revenues for use by Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval and the Legislature in crafting a balanced budget for the two years beginning July 1, 2011.

By Sean Whaley /Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Reno Mayor Bob Cashell said this week he expects to see Harry Reid continue to help northern Nevada in a variety of ways now that he has won re-election in a bitterly contested Senate race.

One of the largest classes of freshman lawmakers in recent history made their way to Carson City on Wednesday and prepared to learn the ropes of the Nevada Legislature, reports KRNV Reno. The session begins Feb. 7. Click here to read the story.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Newly named state Senate Minority Leader Mike McGinness is adding his name to the list of Nevada policy makers who believe the state retirement system needs major change to head off a growing unfunded liability.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
Assembly Speaker-elect John Oceguera has announced the Assembly Democratic leadership team and the chairs of the nine standing committees.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval said today he will make it a priority as governor to encourage businesses to relocate to Nevada from neighboring states where taxes have been raised to deal with the economic slowdown.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada’s public employee retirement system will require increased contributions from the state and local governments next year to maintain the long-term financial health of the defined benefit plan, the board overseeing the program was told today.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Newly elected state Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, has requested the drafting of legislation to repeal Nevada’s minimum wage law.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – An initiative petition proposed by Gov. Jim Gibbons to require public employee union negotiations to be subject to Nevada’s Open Meeting Law will not be turned in Tuesday.
Gibbons said his OPEN Government Plan will be introduced as a bill in the 2011 legislative session instead.

Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – Rural Nevada lawmaker Pete Goicoechea was elected as minority leader today by the 16-member Assembly Republican caucus.

Assemblyman John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, has been unanimously elected as Speaker for the upcoming legislative session.
Oceguera has served as majority leader under former Speaker Barbara Buckley, who could not run again because of term limits.
The vote of the 26-member Democratic caucus on Wednesday will be formalized on the first day of the legislative session on Feb. 7.

CARSON CITY – Assemblyman-elect Pat Hickey, R-Reno, today has called for a return to “electioneering sanity� by moving Nevada’s primary election date back to September.
Hickey is requesting a bill draft to make the change from the much earlier June primary date used for the first time this election cycle.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – There will be no supermajorities for Democrats in either the state Senate or Assembly in the 2011 session, meaning the parties will have to work together and with Republican Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval on issues from taxes to redistricting.
Republicans in the 42-member state Assembly, who had been outnumbered 28-14, retained their seats and picked up two held by Democrats, enough to take away a veto-proof majority held by Democrats in the 2009 session.

Carson City Republican Pete Livermore has won the Nevada Assembly District 40 race against Democrat Robin Williamson, costing the party a crucial seat against Republican Governor-elect Brian Sandoval.

Livermore received 51.42 percent of the vote in Carson City and within a sliver of Washoe Valley. Williamson had 48.58 percent of the vote.

"I'm humbled and grateful that so many have shown trust for me," Livermore said. "I'm eager to get started so we can get people back to work."

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Senate Democrats are running a slate of candidates across the state in the hopes of winning a 14-seat, veto-proof majority for the upcoming 2011 session.
But Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said he does not expect it to happen, and he has not discounted the possibility of the GOP winning the majority.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – The state Assembly’s Democratic Caucus failed to disclose more than $120,000 in donations from its own members earlier this year, but a Democratic leader says they weren’t legally required to do so.

Rarely has a Nevada senatorial race received the nationwide attention this year’s has. Of course, there’s the old pro versus the new pro — Harry Reid and Sharron Angle. Both have been around the barn a number of times, she in the Nevada Legislature and Harry in all kinds of jobs, most currently, of course, Senate majority leader.

Seems a lot of Nevadans are unhappy with Harry, mostly because he is now an insider, carrying out President Obama’s programs as any majority leader would be forced to do if it’s his party in the White House.

Eighteen members of the local chamber's popular Leadership Carson City program now join more than 300 graduates, having successfully completed the program earlier this month.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2011 session, which begins Jan. 13. The Leadership program has been offered annually by the Carson City Chamber of Commerce since 1989.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – A survey of more than 600 chief executive officers who rated the best and worst states for business in 2010 has scored Nevada highly at fifth place, an improvement of one spot over 2009.

Dozens of Nevada’s nonprofit groups, service providers and others met this week in Reno and Las Vegas to consider the looming threat of deep cuts to the state budget cuts which threaten to eliminate or dramatically reduce health care, education, and human services.

Service agency and nonprofit directors from Lyon and Storey counties attended the Monday meeting, hoping for insights on how to plan for the upcoming deep cuts to Nevada’s public education, health and social services that will hit the rural areas especially hard.

Under a proposed state budget plan, four of Nevada's museums operated by the Division of Museums and History would close, including the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, said Peter Barton, acting administrator for the Division of Museums and History.

Other museums on the proposed state budget chopping block are the Nevada Historical Society in Reno, the state's oldest museum which opened in 1905; the Lost City Museum in Overton; and the Nevada Northern Railway Passenger and Freight Depot in East Ely.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A national group that supports judicial restraint is opposing a measure on the Nevada ballot to change the way judges are selected from direct elections to appointment and retention.
The Judicial Crisis Network also presented a survey of Nevada voters’ views on the change that shows a majority oppose the idea of appointing instead of electing members of the state Supreme court.

HENDERSON, Nev. – The Henderson Chamber of Commerce’s IMPAC Committee has announced its support of ballot questions 3 and 5.

IMPAC serves as a comprehensive, non-partisan political committee that contributes to the creation of a favorable business climate in Henderson as it relates to issues at the state and local level.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A Nevada lawmaker has asked for a bill to be drafted to require bottled water to be subjected to the state sales tax.
Assemblyman Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, said bottled water is included under the sales tax exemption for food in Nevada even though it has no nutritional value.

By Nevada News Bureau
Barry Herr, the Republican candidate challenging state Controller Kim Wallin in the November general election, said today he would bring a GOP point of view to the office and use the position to bring conservative influence to the discussion of taxes and other issues.

By Nevada News Bureau
Republican state treasurer candidate Steve Martin faced off against Democratic incumbent Kate Marshall in a debate Monday, with Martin continuing to criticize his opponent for failing to fully disclose details of a $50 million failed 2008 investment.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
Taxes, the state budget and a looming revenue shortfall in 2011 took center stage Thursday in the second debate between the two major party candidates for Nevada governor.

CARSON CITY – Members of the Republican Assembly Caucus today called on state Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek to delay implementation of a new prevailing wage rate in Nevada until the Legislature has an opportunity to review the methodology.
The caucus is concerned a flawed process resulted in the new prevailing wage rate that took effect Oct. 1. There is a 30-day period to file an objection.