Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

As legislators start work, new leader calls for a spirit of civility

Legislature Opens

Lance Iversen / AP

Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson opens the legislative session, Monday, Feb. 6, 2017, in Carson City.

Legislature Opens

Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, D-Las Vegas, left, takes the oath of office with his fellow state Senators in Carson City, on opening day of the Legislative Session, Monday, Feb 6, 2017. Launch slideshow »

Small hints of the political battles to come and the different approaches of legislative leaders provided minor drama Monday during the first day of the 79th session of the Nevada Legislature.

The morning was marked by tradition as newly elected senators and Assembly members were sworn into office, and most members of both houses introduced friends, spouses and children — dressed in their Sunday best — who accompanied them to watch them take the floor.

Shortly afterward, both houses proceeded to elect the leadership of Assemblyman Jason Frierson, a lawyer from Las Vegas, as speaker of the Assembly and Aaron Ford, also an attorney from Las Vegas, as majority floor leader in the Senate.

The elections were formalities because Frierson and Ford were effectively given the jobs by their Democratic colleagues after their party regained majorities in both the Senate and the Assembly in the November election.

The contrast between the tone Frierson and Ford set in their comments after being elected may be a clue as to how political dynamics play out over the next four months that lawmakers have to get the state’s business completed.

“We are fortunate that we are picking up where leaders left off in 2015,” Frierson said, referring to the $1 billion-plus omnibus tax plan from the 2015 legislative session that was spearheaded by Gov. Brian Sandoval to help fund education.

Then, after calling for progress on a number of issues — competitive pay for teachers, equal pay, discrimination-free workplaces, voting rights and government transparency — Frierson asked legislators to “set aside their differences" and show the country what a “citizen’s legislature and bipartisan government is capable of accomplishing.”

Ford also mentioned bipartisanship and working with the minority leadership. He also took pains to say he and his party would “disagree without being disagreeable.”

Ford forcefully called out laws passed in 2015, when Republicans had a majority in the Assembly and the Senate, talking about the “extreme and unnecessary legislation that targeted the pocketbooks of working men and women.”

Ford specifically mentioned the minimum wage and stated that the Senate “will pass legislation increasing the minimum wage this session.”

The Democrats now control the 21-member Senate with an 11-9 majority (one member, Patricia Farley, is not affiliated with either party). In the Assembly, which has 42 members, the Democrats hold a 27-15 majority.

Sandoval has submitted a $23 billion budget with $8.1 billion coming from state money. The rest is made up of federal funds, licenses and fees. There have been requests for more than 800 bills, and that is expected to grow as the session progresses.

Issues facing the legislators will be property taxes, education spending, including education savings accounts, energy deregulation, abolishing the death penalty, raising the minimum wage, and changes to Nevada’s election law.

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