Nevada lawmakers take another shot at implementing annual sessions
CARSON CITY — Legislators would meet every year for limited times and be paid on a regular basis under a proposed constitutional amendment introduced Monday in the Nevada Senate.
Lawmakers have tried for years without success to change the state Constitution to allow for annual sessions.
The Constitution limits the Legislature to meeting in odd-numbered years for no more than 120 calendar days. Sessions begin on the first Monday in February.
Under Senate Joint Resolution 11, sessions would still be held in odd-numbered years beginning on the first Monday in February. But they would be confined to 90 legislative days, which could be spread out over 120 consecutive calendar days.
In even-numbered years, the session would begin the first Monday in March and last no more than 30 legislative days over a 45-calendar day period.
Currently, lawmakers are only paid for the first 60 days of the 120-day session — roughly $150 per day or $9,000 per session. They also receive per diem. SJR11 removes the salary limitation and says legislator compensation shall be “fixed by law” and paid out “in regular intervals.”
The resolution would have to be approved by the Legislature this year and in 2019. It would then go to voters in 2020.
A similar proposal passed in 2013 but sputtered and died in 2015.
Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3821. Follow @SandraChereb on Twitter.
