Committees pass big part of governor’s $7.4 billion budget

By Cy Ryan

Friday, May 15, 2015 | 4:08 p.m.

CARSON CITY — A big part of Gov. Brian’s Sandoval’s $7.4 billion budget was approved by Legislative money committees today, including two-year spending programs for the Nevada System for Higher Education, Medicaid, welfare, prisons, and parole and probation.

Budget Director Jim Wells said the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee mostly went along with Sandoval’s recommendations.

The committees agreed to increase funding for universities and community colleges by an estimated 9 percent. The system had sought a 15 percent increase.

Several committee members complained that some community colleges were being shortchanged.

The budget of Western Nevada Community College in Carson City will drop from $13.5 million this fiscal year to $11.8 million in 2017. Great Basin Community College in Elko will receive $10.6 million in fiscal 2017, down from $12.7 million this year.

The situation is due to a shift in the funding formula adopted in 2013 that sent more money to UNLV and UNR.

Lawmakers argued that the community colleges are the training centers for many new jobs in Nevada. Committee members said the problem could be solved if new tax revenue is found in the next two weeks before adjournment.

The committees agreed with the recommendation of the governor to increase Medicaid reimbursements for doctors, physician assistants and certified nurse practitioners. The increase will cost an additional $31.5 million over the next two years.

Also included in the Medicaid budget is a 25 percent increase for home-based nursing services.

The number of welfare cases is projected to decline from the 32,048 now to 28,700 in 2017.

The committees agreed to authorize 100 additional correctional officers at prisons in Nevada. This is to fill posts that are not staffed because of leave, days off or sickness.

The committees agreed there would be 45 new officers next fiscal year and 55 in 2017. The Corrections Department will have to approach the Interim Finance Committee to get the money for the new hires in the second year of the biennium,

The state employees pay bill will be unveiled next week.

The committees decided against the governor’s recommendation to eliminate 21 temporary employees in the state Division of Parole and Probation, hired to write pre-sentencing reports for judges. The governor wanted to eliminate the positions and hire nine full-time agents.

The two committees on Saturday will take up the Distributed School Fund budget to decide how much the state should allocate for each student. And next week, the committees will tackle the building program for the state in the next two years.