Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Lawmakers advance bill to form scholarship to honor former governor Guinn

Updated Wednesday, March 30, 2011 | 12:30 p.m.

With widow Dema Guinn in the audience, the Senate, in emergency action, passed a bill Wednesday setting up the Kenny C. Guinn Memorial Millennium Scholarship as a legacy to education.

After the 21-0 vote, Guinn received a standing ovation from the Senate. The Senate then adopted a resolution calling the late governor of “a champion of education.”

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, said the bill was a hallmark of Guinn's dedication to education. Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki said he worked thousands of hours as state treasurer with Guinn in building the Millennium Scholarship program.

Before final approval in the Senate, Dema told the Senate Finance Committee that the Millennium Scholarship was “one of Kenny’s proudest accomplishments.” The late governor “believed that education was the key to success,” she said.

“Our family has been deeply touched by the outpouring of the gifts,” she added. “It’s wonderful to secure the legacy of Kenny.”

She presented a $5,000 donation to the fund, which already has $112,000 in gifts to pay for a scholarship for a Millennium Scholar in his or her senior year to pay for registration, lab fees and books.

The measure, Senate Bill 220, was sponsored by all members of the Legislature.

It provides that a senior student receiving a Millennium Scholarship with a college grade point average of not less than 3.5 on a 4.0 scale would receive up to $4,500. The student must be a major in elementary or secondary education with plans to teach in Nevada following graduation.

Jane Nichols of the Nevada System of Higher Education said it would only be available to students at four-year institutions. The bill now goes to the floor of the Senate.

Guinn died July 22, 2010, when he fell off the roof of his home in Las Vegas.

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