Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Meeting of the minds is on horizon as Lombardo takes reins of state government
2023 session matches new Republican governor with Democratic-controlled Legislature
Gov.-elect Joe Lombardo is scheduled to be sworn into office in the coming days, and he’ll have just over a month to put the finishing touches on his agenda before the state’s lawmakers join him for their biennial session in Carson City.
Lombardo is set to assume office Tuesday, while members of the Nevada Assembly and Senate will convene Feb. 6 to mark the start of the Legislature’s 82nd session. For Lombardo, who is wrapping up his second term as Clark County Sheriff, it will mark the start of his career in statewide policymaking and a chance to capitalize on campaign promises like diversifying Nevada’s tourism-reliant economy and bolstering the state’s fledgling education system.
The Republican governor, however, will also have to navigate Democratic majorities in both legislative chambers to enact his priorities. In the Nov. 8 general election, Democrats won a 28-14 supermajority in the Assembly and a 13-8 edge in the Senate. Any legislation that makes it to Lombardo’s desk will need bipartisanship support or else risk being vetoed.
Elizabeth Ray, Lombardo’s campaign spokesperson and incoming head of communications, declined to comment on the governor-elect’s plans to work with the Democratic leaders in the statehouse, saying the administration was going to wait until Lombardo was sworn in before engaging the Legislature. Assembly Speaker-elect Steve Yeager and other ranking Democrats in the legislative chambers did not return requests for comment.
Despite the split between a Democratic-majority Legislature and a Republican governor, Minority Floor Leader Assemblyman P.K. O’neill, R-carson City, told the Sun he was optimistic that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle would be able to find common ground on issues in the coming months.
One of those issues might include a change in the deadline for mail-in ballots. Currently, state law allows county clerks and registrars four days after the general election to process ballots received from the U.S. Postal Service that were postmarked by Election Day. Nevada was among the last in the nation to report voting results for several key races, including for U.S. Senate, where incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto’s victory cemented a Democratic majority in that chamber several days after most states had determined winners.
“I’ve actually spoken with some of the Democrats in various offices across the state, and they’ve expressed a frustration on voter ballot returns and how long it took,” said O’neill. “They seem open to a new discussion on it.”
O’neill also expressed a desire to improve school safety and increase parental involvement in K-12 schools, whether they are publicly funded, private or charter schools.
“To me, it all dovetails into providing a better delivery of the school’s mission to educate our children,” O’neill said. “I want to try to relieve the teachers of
of the extraneous work they have to do at school. The teachers should feel that they’re there to teach, not to constantly patrol or police the students.”
One of the key platforms Lombardo ran on was establishing a school-voucher program, where parents could use tax dollars to cover tuition at private or charter schools, a measure that is likely to be met with strict Democratic opposition.
O’neill said he and the rest of the Republican Assembly Caucus were committed to helping Lombardo advance his legislative agenda. Regardless of the outcome of school-related political debates, O’neill said he hoped parents would support their children’s education in any way possible, including by turning out for parent-teacher conferences and other school events.
“Parents are paying for their child’s education, whether they’re going to a private school, or public school,” he said. “They’re paying for it through taxes or directly. They should be knowledgeable of what’s going on.”
Another front O’neill said lawmakers could find common ground is diversification of Nevada’s economy. Lombardo, outgoing lame-duck Gov. Steve Sisolak, and other politicians throughout the state support initiatives that would encourage workforce development in skilled trades, but nothing official is in the works.
“I want more plumbers in Nevada, I want more electricians in Nevada, and I want more ironworkers in Nevada,” O’neill said. “I want to build the state. We offer opportunities. We’ve always been business-friendly. We need to look at regulations that have become overly burdensome to businesses flourishing. O’neill continued:
“I look at a business that flourishes, they’ve got employees those, and those employees are individuals. Those are people that have families, and those families may have children or will have children, maybe, but they’re buying houses or they’re renting houses, they’re buying cars. They are part of the economy of Nevada, so bringing successful business to Nevada means bringing successful individuals, and growing our economy growing our state for the good.”
The Sun also examined five bill drafts submitted since the November election by lawmakers, state executives and public entities. Whether they ultimately land on Lombardo’s desk or not, here’s a look at the proposals:
▪ Senate Bill 35: Establishes the crimes of fentanyl trafficking.
The bill was drafted at the request of Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford in a bid to stem the distribution of fentanyl, a powerful opioid 50 times stronger than heroin that has been a driving factor in overdose deaths across Nevada and the U.S.
Nevada’s State Board of Pharmacy currently includes fentanyl as a Schedule II controlled substance, the same as other, less potent, opioids, as well as stimulants like methamphetamine. This bill would reclassify fentanyl to a Schedule I controlled substance, among the ranks of heroin, MDMA and LSD.
The bill would establish low- (between 4-13 grams), mid- (14-27 grams) and high-level fentanyl trafficking (28+ grams) as separate crimes, with low- and mid-level trafficking being considered category B felonies and high-level trafficking a category A felony, in line with trafficking penalties for other Schedule I drugs.
Assembly Bill 42: Increasing classroom sizes for beginner grades
Under current state law, kindergarten and grades 1-3 require that public school and charter school classrooms adhere to strict classroom sizes, unless otherwise allowed by the Legislature. This bill would propose that the pupil-to-teacher ratio go up for the following cohorts:
Kindergarten: From 16-to-1 to 18-to-1
Grades 1 and 2: From 16-to-1 to 20-to-1 Grade 3: From 18-to-1 to 20-to-1 The bill, requested by the Nevada Department of Education, also prescribes a ratio of pupils-per-teacher in English language arts and mathematics to 25-to1 for Grades 4-6, and 30-to-1 for Grades 7-12, as well as change the frequency that schools must report those ratios to the state from quarterly to annually.
Under this bill, school districts would have to commission a report that outlines plans to reduce pupil-teacher ratios if they exceed the mandated amount. It would also require the Department of Education to include guidance concerning the use of funds meant for reducing pupil-teacher ratios, according to the draft, and eliminate requirements that the department develop procedures for the distribution of money to each school district to reduce classroom sizes, while also communicate with school board members regarding the expectation of how that money is used.
▪ A.B. 31: Make Juneteenth a legal holiday statewide
Sponsored by the Assembly Committee on Government Affairs and drafted at the request of the city of North Las Vegas, this bill would officially recognize June 19 as a state holiday.
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, declaring June 19 a federal holiday. Juneteenth marks the emancipation of the last African Americans to be freed from slavery in the U.S. At least 24 states have recognized Juneteenth as a state holiday.
A.B. 31 would mandate Juneteenth Day be observed on the third Monday in June, and would also account for the closure of state, county and city offices on the observed day.
▪ A.B. 30: Allow for noncitizens to be hired as peace officers
The bill, also sponsored by the Assembly Committee on Government Affairs and drafted at the request of North Las Vegas, would allow, with certain exceptions, any person legally authorized to work in the U.S. under federal law to be hired as a police officer.
Prospective officers would be have to satisfy “all other applicable limitations” or requirements needed to become a peace officer, according to the draft. The legislation would also prohibit the Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission to adopt rules that would require U.S. citizenship as a hiring condition to be a peace officer if a person is allowed to work in the country otherwise.
▪ A.B. 45: Creates program to repay student loans of some health care providers
Requested by the Nevada treasurer’s office, this bill would create a “Student Loan Repayment for Providers of Health Care in Underserved Communities Program,” mainly for health workers in rural parts of the state.
To be eligible, students would have to be current Nevada residents, graduated on or after July 31, 2023, from an institution in the Nevada System of Higher Education or another accredited institution in Nevada with a degree in a health-related field; be “licensed, certified or registered in good standing” to practice within the state, and commit to at least five years of clinical practice as a health care provider in Nevada.
Applications for the program would be handled by the treasurer’s office. The proposal also would give the office authority to adopt any other regulations needed to carry out the program. The state would create a new account for the program, and also require the treasurer to transfer money from the Abandonded Property Trust Account to the new program.