Nevada Democrats, Trump going in completely different directions

By Ric Anderson

Wednesday, March 8, 2017 | 6:05 a.m.

On Monday, in capitals separated by 2,200 miles, lawmakers were discussing federal health care.

But those leaders were as far apart philosophically as they were geographically.

In Washington, D.C., congressional lawmakers were unveiling their proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act. Here in Carson City, legislators were holding hearings to broaden ACA coverage to provide contraception, voluntary sterilization and health care screenings.

It’s been that kind of year. On several key issues, the Democrats who are in control of both chambers of the state Legislature have been working to steer the state in the opposite direction of the path that President Donald Trump and congressional leaders have charted for the nation.

Here are some of the areas where Nevada Democrats are veering most sharply from Trump:

• Immigration : Under a bill introduced by first-year Sen. Yvanna Cancela, state and local police in Nevada would be prohibited from transferring custody of a person to federal immigration authorities. The bill also would bar police from detaining individuals for those authorities, and from providing information to immigration authorities except when it involved a person’s criminal history. Critics said Democrats were being hypocritical, as they’ve resisted calls by the GOP to defend states’ rights on such issues as transferral of government land to the state. But supporters of the bill argue that mass deportations would be a huge blow to Nevada’s economy, and that it’s appropriate for the state to push back on government overreaches on civil liberties.

• Criminal justice : Trump touted himself as the law and order candidate and rolled back an Obama-era plan to reduce the use of private prisons. Nevada Democrats on Tuesday discussed bills aimed at restoring voting rights for high-level felons and have discussed other measures aimed at helping offenders transition successfully into society. They also pushed back on a proposal to rely more on private prisons to ease overcrowding in Nevada correctional facilities.

• School vouchers : Nevada Democrats have criticized the state’s Education Savings Accounts, which they derisively refer to as vouchers, and have said that Gov. Brian Sandoval was misguided in calling for $60 million in state funding to be put into the program. The money, they said, should be funneled into public education. Meanwhile, Trump and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are advocating strongly for vouchers. Nevada’s ESA law has been on hold since the state Supreme Court ruled last year struck down its funding method, prompting Sandoval to find an alternative funding approach for his budget.

• The environment : Trump has directed EPA administrator Scott Pruitt to roll back a major clean-water rule and is expected to sign an order instructing Pruitt to initiate the process of dismantling Obama’s major 2015 greenhouse gas regulation. Nevada lawmakers haven’t made as much noise on the environmental front, but an exception was a bill from Assemblyman Justin Watkins, D-Las Vegas, to ban fracking.