Masks, Plexiglas and no lobbyists: Welcome to the special session

By John Sadler

Wednesday, July 8, 2020 | 2 a.m.

As state lawmakers gather for a special session beginning today, the halls of the Nevada Legislature building will be much quieter than during any session in recent memory.

There will be fewer people. Lobbyists and others seeking to comment at hearings won’t be allowed to roam the halls. Many of the state workers usually on hand when lawmakers are in town will be absent from the building. Those people who are there will be wearing masks, kept separated, and, in some cases, behind Plexiglas.

This session, convened by Gov. Steve Sisolak for lawmakers to decide how to deal with a gaping $1.2 billion hole in the state’s $5.2 billion budget, will be unique in Nevada’s history. Access to the legislative building will be tightly restricted due to the coronavirus pandemic. Though the Legislature is exempt from the state’s open meetings laws, members of the public who wish to comment at hearings will be able to do so via teleconferencing.

For those who are allowed inside the building, it won’t be as easy as just walking through the door, said Brenda Erdoes, the director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau. Anyone entering must first pass through a tent outside, in which they will get their temperature taken and answer some questions about their current health. They’ll be given a sticker and allowed inside if their temperature is not above 100 degrees and they are free of symptoms of the coronavirus.

Inside, the Legislative Counsel Bureau has switched bathroom doors, sinks and toilets to nontouch usage and closed water fountains in favor of touchless fountains to fill water bottles.

In short, people in the building will touch far fewer surfaces where the virus can lurk. Janitors will work throughout the day to disinfect surfaces, as well, a break from the late-night cleaning of sessions past.

Inside the Senate and Assembly chambers, Plexiglas dividers have been placed between lawmakers’ seats. As has been the case recently, meetings of the Assembly and Senate will be streamed live. Presenters and witnesses called to give testimony on any legislation will speak via video applications.

Media access is restricted as well, with only a handful of credentialed journalists allowed.

At least one lawmaker publicly expressed his disapproval of the lack of public participation. Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, R-Minden, tweeted soon after the announcement that he disliked the decision.

“So the public won’t be allowed in the Legislative Bld. during the special session???” He tweeted. “What happened to the people’s house? (Watch this post. Here comes the Dem. shaming campaign)”

Russell Rowe, a managing principal with Rowe Law Group and a registered lobbyist, said that Nevada lawmakers had a good track record of accessibility, and said that being able to speak to them remotely shouldn’t be an issue.

“As long as they’re accessible, either by phone or video conference to discuss an issue, then the process continues to work,” he said.

Rowe said he was not planning to travel to Carson City for the session — why go through the expense if the legislative building is closed to the public — but he will be watching on his laptop at home in Las Vegas.

“I think the jury’s going to be out on whether it’s going to hinder our ability (to discuss issues with lawmakers),” Rowe said. “But our ability to have conversations always only goes so far as legislators open their doors to everyone to speak to them.”

Rowe said he hadn’t thought about whether a similar scenario awaited for the 2021 session.

“So much can happen between now and February; heck, so much happens in a single day,” Rowe said. “Things change pretty quickly.”

Erdoes of the Legislative Counsel Bureau said she wouldn’t classify the special session as a test run for the 2021 session.

“If things are still the same, we’ll have had six months to work this out,” she said. “This is more of a best-case fix that we could get in the short amount of time before a special session.”