Trevor Bexon / The Nevada Independent via AP
State Sens. Mo Denis and Ira Hansen talk during a special session in Carson City on Monday, July 13, 2020.
Monday, July 13, 2020 | 10:35 p.m.
CARSON CITY — At the end of a meeting of the state Senate on Monday during a special session of the Nevada Legislature, one lawmaker was critical of Gov. Steve Sisolak for closing the state in mid-March to nonessential business for nearly 80 days out of coronavirus concerns.
Those closures helped limit the virus spread and saved lives. But they also contributed a $1.2 billion budget shortfall, which is being addressed in the emergency session.
“I think everybody in this room, as we look at his budget situation, I hope recognizes that there is a total 100% relation between the health of our business community and the tax revenues for our state,” said Sen. Ira Hansen, a Republican from Sparks. “We need to take the handcuffs off.”
Hansen said that “one-size-fits-all” restrictions were not the way to go regulating during the pandemic, meaning what’s best for Clark County — where the virus is heaviest in the state — may not be good for smaller communities in Northern Nevada where the virus isn’t as devastating.
Hansen was also critical of Sisolak’s decision last week to scale back the reopening plan by ordering bars that sell alcohol to again temporarily shutter.
Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, a Democrat from Las Vegas, said the protective measures limiting business are not enjoyable for anyone — lawmaker or business owner alike. Sisolak also last week limited indoor dining to parties of six.
“But neither do we want to see our public health system overwhelmed, neither do we want to see our loved ones dying because they cannot access proper medical care because beds are overrun,” Cannizzaro said.
Cannizzaro said that it is “incumbent” on legislators to “do the hard things” during crises like the pandemic.
“We are seeing numbers in our states rise, we are seeing hospitals and beds filling up, and we are coming close to being, in this body, talking about some very difficult cuts to critical services that strike at the heart of health care, that strike at the heart of education,” Cannizzaro said.
Of the state’s 844 ICU beds, 61% are in use, including 455 (or 54%) by COVID-19 patients, according to Covid Act Now. On May 31, just 18% of beds were in use.
When announcing the bar closures last week, Sisolak said: “These are not decisions that I like to make, but I assure you, I am not making it lightly. Especially while lawmakers just down the way are evaluating the budget reductions the state has put forward. We know that additional business closures will further affect our economy and impede our recovery.”
The back and forth between the lawmakers was the most-heated the session has been in five days. Monday also saw the initial two bills passed of the session, one of which will save $70 million in capital improvement projects to state buildings.
The second bill helps preserve a popular college scholarship program that 2,200 students were at risk of losing because their grade point average fell under the minimum 2.75 threshold because of the pandemic-shortened spring semester.
An amendment was unanimously approved allowing the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents to grant waivers through July 1, 2021. The scholarship provides about 17,000 Nevada high school graduates up to $10,000 a semester to attend a Nevada university.
