Opening week of Nevada Legislature includes history, partisan bickering
CARSON CITY — The Nevada Legislature set a fast pace in its first week, beginning with a historic moment in the Assembly, political puffery in the Senate and committee hearings out of the starting block.
Opening day set a tone of partisan divide when Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, D-Las Vegas, outlined the new majority’s priorities and said Democrats would look at undoing “extreme and unnecessary legislation” the GOP-led Legislature passed in 2015.
Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, R-Henderson, issued a swift retort, calling Ford’s speech “caustic,” while Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval issued a statement through his office saying it would be “ill-advised to begin a new legislative session trying to undo past progress.”
The fate of education savings accounts, a Republican-backed school choice measure approved in 2015 and opposed by Democrats, will percolate throughout the session that ends June 5.
Sandoval has included $60 million in his budget proposal to fund the program that allows parents to tap taxpayer dollars to send their children to private school or pay for other educational programs.
Republicans in the Senate drew a line in the sand, saying they will vote against the budget unless ESA funding is included.
Another education initiative approved two years ago also will come under fire and spark heated debate. A bill introduced by Assemblywoman Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas, would repeal the Achievement School District, a program set to convert struggling traditional schools into charters.
State Sen. Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, has said he intends to file a similar bill in the upper house, where Democrats hold an 11-9-1 majority.
The atmosphere in the Assembly was more congenial, where Democrats have a 27-15 majority over Republicans. On opening day, Assemblyman Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, was sworn in as the first African-American to hold the title of speaker.
But Democrats do not have commanding veto-proof advantage in either house, a fact Assembly Minority Leader Paul Anderson of Las Vegas said will require compromise.
Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3821. Follow @SandraChereb on Twitter.
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