Senate

Just two years since the first legal black bear hunt in Nevada, the State Senate is set to discuss a bill that would outlaw the hunts

CARSON CITY — Nevada Senate Republicans called on the Legislature today to both remove the mining industry’s constitutional tax protections and find a way to increase taxes on the industry as an alternative to the margins tax ballot initiative.

by PAUL GEORGE

Earlier this week, State Senator Don Gustavson introduced Senate Bill 191. It would allow the Nevada Department of Transportation to raise the speed limit wherever it determines that speed can be done safely.
The idea of getting there faster is appealing to anyone who has driven the long, seemingly never-ending stretches of lonely Nevada highway.

Gov. Brian Sandoval has signed a bill legalizing online gambling in Nevada. The signing Thursday afternoon capped a dizzying day at the Legislature in which lawmakers quickly seized on the measure and passed in through both the Assembly and Senate as an emergency measure.

Nevada son and United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid addressed a joint session of the Nevada State Legislature today in Carson City. Here is the text of his speech:

Both Nevada Assembly and Nevada State Senate will open with Hindu prayers on April 1 and April 8, respectively, in Carson City, containing verses from world’s oldest existing scripture.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed will deliver the invocations from ancient Sanskrit scriptures before the Senate and Assembly. After Sanskrit delivery, he then will read the English translation of the prayers. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.

by STEPHANIE GLANTZ

Well, the first couple weeks are all done! And, oh my gosh, have I learned a lot. For some reason I thought the assemblymen and senators would a lot easier to access than they are. I think the reporters we talked to before this started made it sound really easy. Some are pretty friendly about talking, but others are a little harder.

As part of Tribal Day at the Nevada Legislature, Native Americans are letting lawmakers know they are against the bear hunt.
Dozens showed up at the legislative building in support of Senate Bill 82. They say the bear is sacred and that the hunt violates their rights.

Carson City School District Superintendent Richard Stokes was among four non-voting members appointed Monday by Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval to the State Board of Education. Two voting members were also appointed — Stavan Corbett of Clark County and Freeman Holbrook of Washoe County.

“Today’s appointments are the next steps in reforming the governance of K-12 education in our state, a process I began during the 2011 Legislative session,” Gov. Sandoval said. “Working to deliver the best education to our state’s children must be our highest priority.”

In a letter highlighting the party’s recent difficulties with female voters, a group of Republican women has accused the state Senate’s Republican leader of sidelining the caucus’s only woman.

In the letter to Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson dated Tuesday, the group of Republican women complained that Sen. Barbara Cegavske, the longest serving state senator, lost her plum seat on the Senate Finance Committee and did not receive a position in caucus leadership.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Mark Amodei (NV-2) released the following statement regarding the "fiscal cliff' vote before Congress Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — Nevada Sen. Dean Heller looks at this new year as a fresh start — to the extent that anyone actually can have one in a place like the Senate when you’ve already been hanging around for a year and a half.

“I want it to feel like a fresh start, but it really hasn’t because we have so many issues,” Heller said during an interview this month in his office. “It just doesn’t slow down. So it’s kind of hard to take that deep breath you think you deserve after such a campaign.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a gun man, always has been.
And although the Nevada native has welcomed the call by President Barack Obama to respond to the Newtown, Conn., massacre with action, Reid has yet to endorse — or even utter the phrase — “gun control.”

Along with the Lake Tahoe Regional Plan Update, Mobility 2035, which is the Lake Tahoe Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy, was also approved by regional boards last week at Harvey’s Resort convention center in Stateline, NV. Passage of the Sustainable Communities Strategy makes Tahoe the fourth region in the state of California to approve a plan that complies with new greenhouse gas emissions legislation, according to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and Tahoe Metropolitan Planning Organization (TMPO).

CARSON CITY – As Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., prepared today to attend another briefing with his House Republican colleagues on the latest “fiscal cliff” negotiations, he said that he would consider tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans to reduce the deficit, but not to fund increased government spending.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval today announced he has appointed Elaine Wynn to the state Board of Education, effective January 8, 2013.

CARSON CITY – State Senate Republican leaders today commended GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval’s decision to expand the state Medicaid program as a commitment to the health of all Nevadans and a boost for a critical sector of the state’s economy.

“Ensuring that poor Nevadans have access to primary health care through Medicaid is very simply the right thing to do, both for our citizens and our economy,” said Sen. Michael Roberson, R-Henderson. “It will reduce our rate of uninsured and provide individuals with greater economic security.”

CARSON CITY – A newly elected Republican state lawmaker plans to push forward with a bill next session to allow students and others with permits to carry concealed weapons on the campuses of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, R- Las Vegas, elected to Assembly District 4 in November, has submitted a bill draft request to prepare a measure for consideration in the 2013 legislative session.

CARSON CITY — Nevada's top election official is suing Americans for Prosperity, alleging the conservative group violated state election laws by not registering in the state or filing donor contribution reports.
A civil lawsuit filed late Friday by Secretary of State Ross Miller claims the group founded by billionaires Charles and David Koch engaged in "express advocacy" against Kelvin Atkinson, a state Senate candidate who won both the June primary and November general election.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s state  Senate Republican leadership today expressed support for a state policy that makes thousands of young immigrants living in Nevada eligible for a state-issued driver’s license or ID.

The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, with the support of Gov. Brian Sandoval, announced this week that its policy would be to honor the employment authorization card granted to successful applicants under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Deferred Action program.

When the new Congress is sworn in early next year, Nevada’s delegation will have only one new face: Steven Horsford, the inaugural holder of the 4th Congressional District seat.
But despite an otherwise familiar roster, Nevada is set to experience a rather dramatic change in the standing of its delegation.
The culprit? A critical loss of clout.

Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign had a famous non-aggression pact. Sens. Reid and Dean Heller? Well, at least they’ve had breakfast together.
Now that the election is over, one of the biggest questions for Nevada is what the Reid-Heller relationship will look like.
For the past 18 months, it hasn’t been pretty.
When Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley was challenging Heller to represent Nevada in the Senate, Reid used the strength of his majority leadership to strike at Heller, who was serving out the rest of Ensign’s term.

After watching their candidates lose the presidency, the 4th Congressional District, and barely eke out a win in the Senate race on Election Day, Nevada Republicans were wringing their hands.
They had scored near-record turnout of their base, particularly in the rural counties, which swing heavily Republican. But they had been decimated at the polls among minority voters, especially Latino voters.

I told you so, again and again for four years. OK, so Obama did not cancel the elections; he did one better, he put the veneer of the "will of the people" on it. Voting is the best revenge...? He never had to say, against whom.

CARSON CITY – The 63-member Nevada Legislature will see quite a few new faces when it convenes Feb. 4, including 11 members in the Assembly and 10 members in the Senate, although several newly elected state senators have moved up from the Assembly.

CARSON CITY – A majority of Nevada voters on Tuesday approved a measure sought by some state lawmakers that will now allow them to call a special session of the Legislature on “extraordinary occasions.”

The vote in support of the constitutional amendment was 54 percent to 46 percent opposed.

Sen. Dean Heller rode to a close but safe victory over Rep. Shelley Berkley Tuesday night, earning a public mandate to occupy the Senate seat he was appointed to in mid-2011. In fending off Berkley, he defied both the Democrats’ registration advantage and the power of their storied get-out-the-vote machine.
Heller won by slightly more than 12,000 votes — or 1.3 percent -- in a race that drew almost a million voters from across the state and took until midnight to finally tally.

CARSON CITY – The Nevada state Senate will remain in Democratic control following Tuesday’s election after three Republican candidates won victories in five closely contested races, one short of the number needed for a change of power.

Democrats won two of the five races in play for control of the Senate, maintaining the 11-10 status quo over Republicans.

With around 63 percent of Carson City's 26,000 voters taking care of business prior to today's General Election by showing up to the courthouse for early voting or casting their ballots by mail, voter turnout Tuesday has been a steady and even flow, election officials have observed.

There was an expected rush early when the polls opened, with 1,300 voters making it to the Carson City Community Center before 10 a.m., said Carson City Clerk-Recorder Alan Glover. Otherwise turnout has been as expected: No long waits. No crowding.