Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Could lobbyists one day be obsolete?

Given term limits, some question the potential return on investment

2013 Legislative Session - Day 2

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

Assemblyman Randy Kirner talks with lobbyist Liz MacMenamin before a meeting of the Taxation Committee on the second day of the 2013 legislative session Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013 in Carson City.

If you’ve got business you’d like to see taken up by the Legislature this session, it can pay to send in a professional.

Casinos, mining companies, utilities and other interests will fund an army of lobbyists in Carson City over the next four months to try to sway legislation in clients’ favor. Local governments in Clark County also will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars hiring outside lobbyists and sending staff up north to represent municipal interests.

Taxpayers fund the work. Some Nevadans bristle at the idea of spending public dollars to lobby another government, especially when tax increases are involved, but Southern Nevada officials say it’s critical for them to make sure they’re treated fairly by the state.

Often, the issues lobbyists become involved in deal with how tax dollars are distributed to local governments and how program costs are shared with the state. This year, there’s expected to be increased attention on “home rule” to give local governments more autonomy to make spending and policy decisions without having to run everything by the Legislature first.

Click to enlarge photo

Lobbyist David Goldwater and a panel of representatives testify before the 2013 Legislature in Carson City. Businesses and other agencies spend millions of dollars to have their interests represented to lawmakers.

Despite the costs — local government agencies in Nevada spent $3 million during the 2013 session — officials say it’s important to have a voice on issues that affect them.

Local governments get their messages across in various ways. Some hire outside lobbyists to do most of the work, others use in-house staff and some use a combination of the two.

North Las Vegas, for example, approved spending $120,000 to hire Samuel McMullen and George Ross of the Porter Gordon Silver law firm to represent them during the session.

“They’re both longtime lobbyists who really understand the law and the Legislature and how things work,” North Las Vegas Chief of Staff Ryann Juden said. “North Las Vegas has some very big, complex things that we’re working on, from Apex to some home rule issues that we think are important. It was important to make sure that we had some lobbyists that understand how to think outside the box.”

Las Vegas spends $115,200 a year for lobbying services from the Ferraro Group. Henderson spends $114,000 annually on a lobbying contract with the Perkins Co.

Clark County stopped hiring outside lobbyists after the 2009 session, saving about $100,000 a year. The county instead will send Chief Financial Officer Yolanda King to lead its lobbying efforts in Carson City, with a rotating cast of staff members for support.

The conventional wisdom used to be that hiring outside lobbyists gave governments access to connections and relationships the lobbyists formed with legislators over decades. But Clark County Chief Administrative Officer Sabra Smith Newby isn’t so sure. With term limits now in place, long-term relationships are less common. For instance, this year’s Legislature will include 20 freshmen.

“A lot of our input involves our processes, how things work in our departments,” Smith Newby said. “We found the best people to convey that information are people who work for the county and do this every day. We’re our best advocates.”

Even without outside lobbyists, the county budgeted $195,000 for travel, lodging, food, office space and other expenses for staff visiting Carson City.

By comparison, North Las Vegas budgeted about $50,000 for staff travel to Carson City and Washington, D.C., in addition to its outside lobbying costs.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect the correct amount of money UNLV spends on lobbying. | (February 9, 2015)

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