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Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo speaks during his first State of the State Address on the floor of the Nevada Legislature, Monday, Jan. 23.
Monday, June 5, 2023 | 7:47 a.m.
CARSON CITY — Gov. Joe Lombardo appears to have earned at least one concession with his school-choice agenda.
Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, D-Las Vegas, late Sunday introduced an amendment to Assembly Bill 400 — one of the Republican governor’s key pieces of legislation to reform the state’s school system — calling for the Nevada Public Charter School Authority to award money to charter schools to cover student transportation costs to campus.
In order to receive such funding, the charter school would be required to submit a transportation plan to the agency. Charter schools sponsored by cities or counties would also be required to submit an annual report to the Nevada Department of Education, the Charter School Authority and the Legislature with information “relating to the charter school and pupils in the charter school,” according to the bill’s language.
The measure subsequently passed 41-0 in the Assembly, where it now heads to the Senate Committee on Finance.
Lawmakers have yet to pass a finalized version of the biennial budget after Lombardo vetoed the $7 billion Appropriations Act — which funds state government agencies through fiscal year 2024 — in following through on threats he’d hold the budget up if key pieces of his legislative priorities weren’t addressed.
Democratic lawmakers on Thursday amended AB 400 to remove funds Lombardo and Republicans were targeting for Opportunity Scholarships to be used for private school tuition.
AB 400 initially sought more than $50 million in allocations for the scholarships, which use tax credit vouchers to finance tuition for low- and middle-income students.
Lombardo’s proposal would also raised the household income threshold for those applying for Opportunity Scholarships.
Current law allows only those making within 300% of the federal poverty line, which for a family of four this year comes out to $90,000 annually, whereas Lombardo’s proposal would have raised that limit to 500% of the poverty line, or $150,000 for a family of four. The poverty line fluctuates depending on the number of persons living in one household.
Lawmakers worked throughout the weekend ahead the end of the legislative session today, and still have several high-profile bills to advance.
Among them, another budget bill allocating funding for infrastructure projects as well as proposals to expand the state’s film tax credit program and a funding bill for a possible MLB stadium on the Strip to house the Oakland A’s.
Yeager said last week the budget remains lawmakers’ top priority, and that the budget would need to be fully signed into law before auxiliary bills are advanced.
“I don’t know how we pass any of those bills because we don’t have a budget,” Yeager said May 26. “We don’t know how much money we have. We will have to forgo doing very, very important things.”
