Gaming walks around the Nevada Legislature like the big strutting rooster, the whale in Nevada’s political swimming pool. Because it is. And with good reason. While other states and countries charge much higher fees on gambling and even collect more in taxes, Nevada’s casino-resort industry pays or collects 46 percent of the state’s general fund, by its own measure. It’s a huge portion of the state’s funding, by just about anyone’s measure.
Troubled Assemblyman Steven Brooks tried to buy a gun at a Sparks sporting goods store Thursday. The Nevada Department of Public Safety is conducting a background check to determine whether to approve the sale.
A Washoe County school maintenance funding bill could reshape the legislative tax debate this year, providing a potential roadmap to circumventing the requirement that a two-thirds majority of lawmakers pass tax increases.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid praised Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, dissed a Democratic rising star’s bill and called on the Legislature to go after NV Energy to spur renewable energy projects in a speech Wednesday to the Nevada Legislature.
The state’s office of energy wants Nevada lawmakers to expand a property tax rebate program for green buildings, allowing rehabilitation projects of older buildings to qualify for the tax break.
In a glaring example of how much of the public’s business gets heard in private, Democratic lawmakers met behind closed doors with lobbyists from both sides of the construction defect debate on Thursday night.
Panic buttons have been installed on some desks at the Nevada Legislature and the number of police officers patrolling the third floor of the building have doubled to monitor Assemblyman Steven Brooks.
Assemblyman Steven Brooks, D-North Las Vegas, said Friday — before he was arrested a second time — that he would take a three-week leave of absence from the Legislature to deal with a medical condition. During that time, he will get his salary and per diem, legislative staff said Monday. Fair or not? A debate on that very subject broke out on Twitter last week.
Some months after Nevada legislators have packed up and gone home, there will almost assuredly be an “oh no” moment, though someone will likely use an actual expletive.
Gov. Brian Sandoval has suggested that students pay “significantly higher fees” to attend Nevada colleges and universities, higher education officials said Wednesday.
Iconic Northern Nevada senator and ousted Republican leader Bill Raggio announced today he will retire this month, allowing the county commission to appoint his replacement before the session begins.
Former Gov. Jim Gibbons left office without campaign debt, having repaid over $120,000 to donors after he lost June's primary. State law allows $10,000 contributions from a single individual or corporate entity for an election - $5,000 for a primary and $5,000 for a general election.
At a time when Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval is asking departments to prepare budget cuts as high as 30 percent, he has added an additional officer for his family's protection.
Sandoval's budget assumes a 10 percent reduction to state spending, a $175 million cut to higher education and another two years of furloughs for state workers.
Longtime Republican icon and state Senate leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, faces a serious challenge to his leadership spot held since 1977 after endorsing U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over Sharron Angle.
