Parties unify on extension measure

By Olivia Diaz and Scott Hammond

Tuesday, June 6, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Assembly Bill 407, a bill we co-sponsored, aims to reform Cooperative Extension Service in Nevada. The bipartisan bill empowers the Legislative Council Bureau to audit current extension service practices between now and the start of the next legislative session. The results of the LCB’s analysis will inform potential policy changes to extension service and guarantee the valuable program works for all Nevadans.

We understand how important extension service and its core services — such as 4-H Club and the master gardener program — are to Nevada’s urban and rural communities. At the same time, concerns raised about extension service’s performance by rural and urban interests throughout the 2017 session motivated the need to explore ways to significantly increase the extension service’s outreach to every locality in the state. Extension service is so critical to Nevada that we want it run as efficiently and comprehensively as possible, and AB407 puts us on the path toward that goal.

We are pleased with the passion, cooperation and engagement we experienced as AB407 progressed through the legislative process. The modifications made to the bill based on the feedback we received reflect the interests of all key extension service stakeholders — from North and South, from farming communities to big cities. We believe in bipartisanship and good government, and the consensus crafted in the final version of AB407 reflects those values.

AB407 also embraces Gov. Brian Sandoval’s “One Nevada” vision by codifying in statute a nearly 50-year-old precedent that our land-grant institution, the University of Nevada, is a unified institution that has co-equal branches in Reno and Las Vegas. Just as in states like California, where all branches of the University of California have land grant status, our state land grant institution also has branches.

The bipartisan compromise of this bill directs legislative staff to examine how to best administer extension service by considering which part of the system is most effective at managing local interests. For example, LCB’s analysis might show that there is greater efficiency and greater community connectivity in states where the local branch of the land grant institution administers extension service by region, as is the case in neighboring California.

In a Legislature that is all too often divided by partisanship or region, AB407 stands out as an example where diverse interests came together for the good of the state. We are confident a thorough audit will provide the information needed to craft future policies relevant to the administration of extension service and help increase resources to expand the valuable programs it provides to Nevadans.

All Nevadans deserve a land grant university and a extension service that is deeply engaged with its constituents. AB407 will help to ensure that this mission is realized.

Olivia Diaz, a Democrat, represents Assembly District 11, in North Las Vegas. Scott Hammond, a Republican, represents Senate District 18, in Las Vegas.