Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Sandoval prepares State of the State address; Legislature gearing up for 700 bills

A month ahead of the Nevada Legislature's first day back in session, lawmakers are preparing for Nevada's political season.

Gov. Brian Sandoval will give his State of the State address Jan. 17 and release his budget recommendations. He is expected to address energy, opiates and the drought, among other things.

In advance of the 120-day session of the Nevada Legislature, which begins Feb. 6, the Legislature's budget committees — the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee — will study Sandoval's purposed spending and tax plan for the next two fiscal years.

Then, legislators will sift through more than 700 bills requested by legislators, government groups, state agencies and others.

On their first day, about 170 bills will be introduced and possibly sent to committees for further study.

The first bill introduced and passed will be SB-1, which allocates $15 million to pay for the session.

Two bills among the first bunch that will get lawmakers off to a fast start concern helping veterans and making government departments more efficient.

State Treasurer Dan Schwartz wants to set up a $10 million government fund to make loans to the military, veterans and educators.

“It’s an anti-loan sharking bill,” Schwartz said.

The loan plan would be managed by a Public Benefits Commission “to protect persons from predatory loan practices” by a private company, Schwartz said. He envisions short-term loans of $200 to $300 at a “reasonable rate” to help those in need who fit requirements. He said some payday loan companies charge more than 100 percent interest.

Controller Ron Knecht is proposing a government change aimed at making state agencies more efficient, but workers could lose their civil service protection.

The change would allow the governor to designate an ineffective department as a charter agency "to protect the people fairly,” Knecht said. The governor and the department would work together to draw up an improvement plan with various goals to meet. The adopted goals would be viewable by the public.

“There are various targets to hit, and it would not be a secret,” Knecht said.

The plan calls for bonuses up to 15 percent for workers who are doing outstanding work. But after a year, the workers would lose their civil protection status if the goals were not met. And the director of the department could lose his job if the agency‘s goals are not met.

“It’s tough,” Knecht said.

But he said it would allow department managers more leeway in running the system and would exempt them from certain state administrative regulations.

Knecht’s bill would allow “managers to manage effectively,” he said.

More benefits for veterans is a favorite topic of many early bills. Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske wants to eliminate the business filing fee for companies owned by a veteran, Sandoval is suggesting prohibiting foreclosure on a home of a service man on duty, and there is a bill to exempt veterans from paying the vehicle registration fee every eight years.

There are also bills to draft a city charter for the town of Mesquite;, allow the Nevada Supreme Court to allocate $10 million to build a new courthouse in Ely and exempt the Nevada Department of Wildlife Commission from publishing its agenda or proposed regulation changes in a newspaper.

Schwartz is also presenting a bill that requests setting up a study on the commerce and excise taxes charged to business. He wants to see if there is a more effective way to tax companies. Not in the bill is a previous suggestion by Schwartz to replace these taxes with a corporate income tax.

In other proposed bills:

• The Colorado River Commission of Nevada would be declared a “critical facility” and drones would be restricted from flying within 200 feet of it.

• Movie companies coming to Nevada would have to pay a state business license fee. They are now exempt, but Cegavske and the Governor’s Commission on Economic Development are both proposing to eliminate that exemption.

• The Dairy Commission, theMining Oversight and Accountability Committee, Garlic and Onion Advisory Commission and Advisory Council for Organic Products would be abolished. Many of the duties of these entities would be placed under the state Agriculture Commission.

• The State Public Employees Board would be relegated to an advisory committee. It sets and decides the medical coverage and rates for state workers. The bill calls for the governor's office of finance to run the program.

• The collection of unpaid taxes and fees owed the state would be transferred to the governor’s office. This is an agreement between the controller’s office, which now has the job, and the governor’s office. It is aimed at giving the governor more power to get the agencies to collect the outstanding debts.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy