Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Nevada Legislature 2013

  • Thirty-five fourth-grade students in Ms. Fennoy's class utilize tables instead of desks to tolerate the overcrowding and tight quarters of their portable classroom, which exceeds the average of 30 students, at William V. Wright Elementary School, Friday, March 22, 2013.
    $2.5 billion school funding bill OK'd, sent to governor
    The Assembly approved a bill directing $2.5 billion to public schools to reduce class sizes and handle inflation and higher enrollments in the next two years.
  • Scott Biegler, right, owner of Scotty's Guns in Timber Lake, S.D., looks over a Colt Marksman rifle during the annual SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) Show in the Sands Expo Center Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013.
    Gun background check bill sees new life
    After an intense lobbying effort by both Nevada and national advocates, a bill to require background checks on private party gun sales was brought back from the brink of death today.
  • Jake Dimmock, co-owner of the Northwest Patient Resource Center medical marijuana dispensary, waters plants Oct. 10, 2012, in Seattle.
    Medical marijuana dispensary bill passes Assembly on party line vote
    After a malfunctioning reader board threw its future into question, a bill that would create a legal medical marijuana dispensary system in Nevada passed the Assembly in a nearly party-line vote.
  • Legislature poised to pass Sandoval's $6.6 billion budget
    The Legislature was poised late Sunday to approve the $6.6 billion state budget for the next two years, largely adopting recommendations from Gov. Brian Sandoval.
  • Gamblers play roulette at the Eastside Cannery on Boulder Highway in this file photo.
    Gaming industry wins the day at Nevada Legislature
    The state’s most powerful industry is poised to come out of this legislative session the victor in a number of key battles that it asked lawmakers and Gov. Brian Sandoval to broker for them. “So far, it’s been an OK session,” a leading gaming lobbyist said.
  • Gun background check bill stuck in Assembly committee
    A high-profile bill mandating background checks for all private party gun sales has hit a last-minute snag in the Legislature.
  • Kirkpatrick's second attempt at entertainment tax stalls
    An hour-long hearing Sunday on Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick's second attempt to clean up the live entertainment tax left some lawmakers questioning why the time was spent on a bill that the Legislature has no appetite to pass. Even Kirkpatrick acknowledged the likelihood, vowing to bring the effort back next session.
  • In effort to reduce class sizes, bill would send more money to districts
    Senate Bill 522 will raise the state’s average support per pupil from the present $5,374 to $5,590 next school year and to $5,676 in fiscal 2015.
  • Lone legislator makes last-ditch effort to change major energy bill
    Assemblyman Ira Hansen failed today to amend a major energy bill in a manner that he said would protect Nevadans from higher energy bills.
  • Clark County could get more clout on state Transportation Board
    The Senate Finance Committee on Sunday unanimously approved a bill to allow the governor to appoint another representative to the seven-member board, at the same time removing the state attorney general as a voting member.
  • A view of the Nevada State Legislature building in Carson City on Monday, Feb. 11, 2013.
    Fits and starts as Southern Nevada lawmakers try flexing their muscles
    Southern Nevada legislators say they’re working hard to pass bills that would help Southern Nevadans, such as a measure to rework the way local tax dollars are divvied up. “The way the Southern Nevada legislators approached this session was fantastic,” said Brian McAnallen, vice president of government affairs with the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce. “Now we’re having conversations, moving forward on policy issues, having a Southern Nevada agenda, but we haven’t seen the end product.”
  • Assemblywoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick, right, pushes Assemblymen David Bobzien in jest while on the Assembly floor of the Nevada Legislative building Thursday, May 30, 2013. Assemblywoman Marilyn Dondero Loop, left, and Assemblyman Skip Daly, wearing the tie, look on.
    As Legislature winds to a close, a look at its dramatic moments
    After the 2013 Legislature whispers its way to a close Monday, it will not be known as a session of the dramatic tax fight. But as tame as this session has seemed compared with past sessions, it hasn’t been without its moments of drama.
  • Medical marijuana bill in danger in the Assembly
    An Assembly Republican leaders said today nearly all of their members are disinclined to support the bill, meaning Democrats would not be able to meet the two-thirds requirement to pass the measure.
  • Senator's gravely ill husband throws control of Senate into question
    Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, D-Las Vegas, flew home to Las Vegas late Friday to be with her husband, who is gravely ill with liver cancer, making control of the Senate an issue in the final days of the legislative session.
  • Last-minute budget negotiations become contentious in final legislative days
    Last-minute budget negotiations become contentious in final legislative days
    Negotiations over Gov. Brian Sandoval’s $6.5 billion proposed budget entered into their final frenzied hours Friday, as lawmakers rushed to put their own mark on the state’s two-year spending plan before the session officially adjourns Monday.
  • Nevada Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas, talks in her office at the Legislative Building Carson City, on May 8, 2013. Kirkpatrick unveiled some of the details Wednesday of her long-awaited bill revamping Nevada's live entertainment tax.
    Fun for all: Kirkpatrick revises entertainment tax bill
    Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick is no longer proposing to levy an 8 percent tax on things such as movies, gym memberships, greens fees at golf courses, ski lift tickets, and other entertainment.
  • Legislative panels endorse eliminating pay cuts for state employees
    A group of legislators today voted to eliminate a 2.5 percent salary cut for state and higher education employees.
  • Ex-Assemblyman Steven Brooks appears in Calif. court
    Another California court date has been set for former Nevada Assemblyman Steven Brooks on charges stemming from a car chase and police confrontation in March.
  • Sandoval pressured to reconsider threatened veto of gun bill
    Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and the husband of former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords advocated Friday for a bill mandating background checks for private party gun sales.
  • Sandoval signs bill creating drivers privilege cards for immigrants
    Gov. Brian Sandoval today signed into law a bill that will create drivers privilege cards for immigrants in the country illegally.
  • Sandoval vetoes employment discrimination bill, says it ‘goes too far’
    Gov. Brian Sandoval has exercised his first veto of the 2013 Legislature, killing a bill to award damages victims of employment discrimination.
  • Senate OKs measure to initiate study of death penalty costs
    By a party-line vote, the Senate has passed a bill calling for an audit of the cost of prosecution, appeals and imprisonment of those sentenced to death.
  • Bill capping costs for cancer treatment pills headed to governor
    The state Senate put the final touches on a bill Thursday to eventually lower the cost for cancer patients who take a pill instead of intravenous chemotherapy.
  • Embattled mental hospital to get more money
    The Legislature is agreeing with Gov. Brian Sandoval to set aside additional money for the criticized Rawson-Neal Mental Hospital in Las Vegas and to divert funds to pursue a drone research project for Nevada.
  • Bill would change mining taxes but not increase revenue
    A bill that changes the way mining is taxed but does not generate more revenue appears on its way to passage.
  • Assemblyman Steven Brooks makes his introduction during a meeting of the Health and Human Services Committee before departing for the remainder of the meeting on the third day of the 2013 legislative session Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 in Carson City.
    Investigation of ousted assemblyman cost $95,000
    An investigation that led to the unprecedented ouster of former Nevada Assemblyman Steven Brooks earlier this year cost Nevada taxpayers nearly $95,000, more than twice initial estimates.
  • Sandoval defends Public Utilities Commission after Reid's criticism
    Gov. Brian Sandoval on Wednesday defended the Public Utilities Commission — a regulatory panel he appoints — after U.S. Sen. Harry Reid described it as a "little bureaucracy" with too much power over the energy market in Nevada.
  • Bill establishing marijuana dispensaries breezes through Nevada Senate
    A bill to allow medical marijuana dispensaries easily passed the Senate on Wednesday. Backers said the measure, approved 17-4, establishes procedures to comply with a constitutional amendment approved by the voters in 2000 that allows the use of medical marijuana.
  • State employees protest salary cuts outside Sandoval's office
    Enough’s enough, say state employees. As legislators begin to close the state’s next two-year budget, state employees today called for restoration of pay lost to several years of sustained salary cuts.
  • Harry Reid lambastes PUC for standing in the way of NV Energy bill
    U.S. Sen. Harry Reid lambasted the Nevada Public Utilities Commission this week, accusing the energy regulators of trying to scuttle a bill before the state Legislature that would require NV Energy to stop using coal to produce electricity.
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