Bill would make state panel members’ email addresses public

CARSON CITY – Nevadans need a law to require members of state boards and commissions to provide their email addresses and phone numbers, a state legislator said Monday.

Rebuffed by the governor’s office when he tried to contact members of a new state committee, Assemblyman Ira Hansen retaliated by requesting a bill to require all state board members to have email addresses and phone numbers accessible to the public.

His bill will be debated during the legislative session next year.

Hansen, R-Sparks, said he was shocked when Cory Hunt, a policy analyst on Gov. Brian Sandoval’s staff, refused to give him email addresses of the 10 members of the Greater Sage-grouse Advisory Board. Hansen represents rural Northern Nevada areas where the sage grouse is an important issue.

According to Hansen, Hunt only would gave him a general email address and offered to advise the committee on his viewpoints.

“I don’t need a government bureaucrat censoring what I say,” Hansen said. “I shouldn’t have to go through his hands. I resent that.”

Mary-Sarah Kinner, Sandoval’s spokeswoman, said people interested in contacting the sage grouse committee can do so through the group’s email address: sagegrouse@gov.nv.gov. She had no comment on releasing the individual members’ addresses and phone numbers. Sandoval has not taken a position on Hansen’s proposal, she added.

Under Hansen’s bill draft request, Nevadans would be given any email addresses of members of state boards and commissions they requested. Telephone numbers also would be made available.

The sage grouse committee was created through an executive order issued by the governor in February. The committee will meet today. It is scheduled to finish a report on ways to preserve the sage grouse while allowing multiple uses of the public lands in Nevada.

There is concern that if the federal government puts the sage grouse on its endangered species list, then agriculture and other uses of public lands could be prohibited or at least reduced. The sage grouse committee is led by Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell.

Hansen said all citizens are entitled to privacy unless they choose to be in the public eye. By agreeing to serve on a state board or commission, they should be answerable to the public, he added.

“I have never run into this before,” added Hansen about what he considers censorship by the administration.

On the Legislature’s website – leg.state.nv.us – phone numbers and email address of all legislators are available to the public. There has been instances in the past when legislators did not keep current numbers and addresses.

The Legislative Manual lists names of all members of state boards and commissions but does not include their personal email addresses and phone numbers.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.