Southern Nevada lawmakers talk about priorities for 2017 session

By Megan Messerly

Thursday, May 5, 2016 | 3 p.m.

Workforce development, supporting UNLV’s medical school and investment in infrastructure are among the issues a group of Southern Nevada lawmaker are mulling ahead of the 2017 legislative session.

Legislators presented recommendations to a group of more than 200 local government officials, business leaders and other community members at meeting Thursday of the Southern Nevada Forum. The forum was organized by UNLV and the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce in 2013 as a way for legislators in Southern Nevada to set priorities for the upcoming Legislature.

“We realized that all of us could make a difference in Southern Nevada,” said former Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, now a Clark County commissioner. “This is a way for all of us to come together and talk about issues, as we did last session.”

Kirkpatrick said 14 of the 16 ideas put forward by the forum in the 2015 legislative session ultimately succeeded.

Legislators have been meeting in subcommittees for several months to come up with suggested priorities. The subcommittees focused on economic development, good governance, higher education, K-12 education, health care and transportation.

Forum attendees voted on the suggestions, narrowing them down to the top three for each subcommittee. The subcommittees will continue to meet ahead of the Legislature, and lawmakers will submit bill draft requests based on the suggestions.

Here’s a rundown of what legislation you might see put forward in 2017, based on Thursday’s forum:

Economic and workforce development

The top priority in economic development is investment in UNLV’s medical school by supporting a $17.1 million increase to its base budget, bringing it from $12 million to $29 million.

“The committee thought that this proposal would allow the medical school to achieve its core missions, which is to build a robust and sustainable doctor pipeline, improve access to health care especially for Medicaid and the underserved population, advanced medical research and generate an economic impact for the community,” said Assembly Minority Leader Irene Bustamante Adams, who chaired the subcommittee focusing on economic and workforce development.

Another priority in economic development is fuel revenue indexing.

In Clark County, the fuel tax is indexed to inflation, resulting in about a 3 cent increase in gas prices per gallon per year — money which goes to fund road improvement projects in Southern Nevada. Voters in Clark County will have a chance in November to decide whether to extend the indexing, which expires at the end of the year.

If it fails, the Legislature would take the issue up as “Plan B,” Bustamante Adams said. “We want to be prepared just in case."

The committee also recommended developing a procedure for funding to be set aside for infrastructure projects for business parks, such as was necessary in Northern Nevada for Tesla and in Southern Nevada for electric car startup Faraday Future.

Three suggestions also specifically focused on workforce development in Southern Nevada: supporting workforce development efforts and technical programs at community colleges; promoting the construction of a 70,000-square-foot health and science building at CSN’s Henderson campus; and integrating all of the state’s workforce development resources.

Good governance

The biggest and most complex proposal put forward by the good governance committee was to change the state’s property tax formula. Cities have long bemoaned the current property tax caps, enacted into state law in 2005 to protect homeowners from large tax increases as home prices soared. Property tax increases are capped at 3 percent for residential properties and 8 percent for commercial properties.

But during the recession, property prices plummeted and so did property taxes, leaving cities, which are heavily dependent on property taxes to fund their budgets, struggling.

Kirkpatrick — who sat on the committee before she became a county commissioner — implored the group to at least continue the discussion about the property tax formula, saying Southern Nevada should lead the charge.

“There are people across the state that believe we ought to continue to have those conversations, but it starts right here in Southern Nevada,” Kirkpatrick said. “We get it; we see it on a regular basis.”

The committee also recommended that Southern Nevada create a reporting system to ensure that the region is applying for what it can in terms of federal grant dollars.

Assemblyman Derek Armstrong noted that an interim committee is discussing a streamlined grants management system for federal grants and setting aside matching dollars for them.

A third suggestion proposed that additional state board and commission seats be allocated to Southern Nevada.

Higher education

Forum attendees whittled a list of five priorities put forward by the higher education subcommittee down the three. Two overlapped with priorities highlighted by the economic and workforce development committee — supporting operational funding for UNLV’s medical school and graduate medical education across the state, and supporting workforce development at community colleges.

The subcommittee’s third priority focuses on the Silver State Opportunity Grant, a $5 million state financial aid program for students who take at least 15 credits per semester.

The program was created during the last legislative session, but students have struggled with the credit limit, which is difficult for part-time students with jobs or other outside responsibilities.

The subcommittee recommended the program be revised to allow greater flexibility with the credit hour requirement — allowing students to complete 30 semester hours in a year, instead of 15 per semester — and that it be made permanent.

“Especially when you’re talking about your nontraditional student having to go back to school to be retrained in a career — they have families, they have obligations that they need to juggle school with,” said Assemblywoman Olivia Diaz, who sat on the subcommittee. “So we want to be a bit more flexible.”

Other proposals the subcommittee recommended included supporting capital projects at Nevada’s higher education institutions and revising a formula to support funding for career training education.

K-12 education

The top priority in K-12 education, as selected by those at the forum, was to provide additional funding for early childhood education.

“Disadvantaged children can show up at kindergarten 18 months behind their counterparts,” Sen. Joyce Woodhouse said. “If children start school ready to learn, they’re twice as likely to read at grade level at grade 3. If children read at grade level at grade 3, they’re four times more likely to graduate from high school, and that goes onto success in college and in the workplace.”

The committee’s second-highest rated suggestion was to continue to examine the K-12 funding formula, looking at English language learner students, students in poverty, and GATE funding. They specifically recommended additional funds be provided to the state’s Victory Schools and Zoom projects, focusing on underperforming schools and English language learners, respectively.

Another priority is focusing on recruiting teachers from out of state, providing initial teacher licensure relief and possibly removing other licensure requirements.

Health care

An examination of reimbursement rates for Medicaid patients was one of the top concerns in discussions at meetings of the health care subcommittee, Assemblyman Nelson Araujo said. It was also voted the top concern among attendees of the forum.

“We do know that the top of the level of concern for many of the folks that were there in terms of attracting physicians to the state of Nevada, in terms of keeping good physicians here was this,” Araujo said. “So we wanted to look at what the raising of reimbursement rates would look like.”

Other priorities included regionalizing mental health services and consolidating the oversight of mental health providers.

Transportation and infrastructure

Like the economic development subcommittee, infrastructure improvements were a significant area of focus for this subcommittee.

Sen. Scott Hammond highlighted two proposals to enhance the state’s ability to develop the infrastructure necessary to attract large businesses, like Tesla and Faraday, to Nevada.

One would create a utility infrastructure fund the state could pull from for future infrastructure projects. Another would create a state infrastructure bank that would offer loans and lines of credit for infrastructure projects.

Hammond said Nevada was one of 13 states that didn’t have a state infrastructure bank at its disposal.

Assemblywoman Heidi Swank also detailed a plan for water conservation and management to help refine Nevada water law and give the state additional water management tools.

Sen. Mark Manendo highlighted a suggestion to give the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada more authority in developing a light rail system for the region, a plan currently in talks.