Interest groups push COVID liability, criminal justice, worker protections for second special session

Lawmakers took their first floor votes of the state’s 2020 special session on Monday, but issues of how to address the state’s massive $1.2 billion budget hole remain unresolved as legislators finished their sixth day of the session.

When state lawmakers convened in Carson City in February 2019, one of their chief tasks was approving a budget for the biennium. It's an operation that relies on a number of variables — most notably, tax revenue. Now, they're back in the state capital again to shore up an estimated $1.2 billion budget gap caused by the pandemic.

Nevada Treasurer Zach Conine revealed details about the new program he’s helping lead in an interview Monday with The Nevada Independent. The relief fund comes as Nevada eases out of a complete moratorium on evictions enacted in late March after non-essential businesses were ordered to close, and as evictions for non-payment of residential rent are expected to resume by September.

A special session of the Legislature to fix a $1.2 billion budget shortfall has entered its seventh day, still with no indication of when the proceedings will wrap up. Negotiations continue behind closed doors as Gov. Sisolak’s recommendations for budget cuts are considered by lawmakers in Carson City.

Although COVID-19 prompted the Legislature to close its doors to all but lawmakers, essential staff and some journalists, Nevada Independent photographer David Calvert has been documenting some of the action that most of the public can only see on livestreams.

Older Americans have long been more prone to social isolation, and with stay at home orders closing senior centers and making it dangerous for older adults to leave the house even for groceries, feelings of profound loneliness are even more common for this demographic — feelings that can be more damaging for a person’s health than smoking.

As the reopening conversations continue — in virtual board meetings, on social media and in state capitals and Washington, D.C. — the uncertainty has left educators with mounting questions.

The discussion came up as the Senate contemplated SB3, a bill that features several techniques Nevada has used in years past to shore up budget holes. That includes shifting money from the highway fund to the general fund, implementing an “amnesty program” so people can pay delinquent taxes without penalties, and requiring mining to pay two years’ worth of payments at once to boost the budget by an estimated $54 million.

Members of the Assembly during a Saturday hearing excoriated a bill that proposes allowing the Clark County School District to take back carryover dollars from schools and redistribute them among those that stand to be hit hardest by the budget cuts under consideration by the Legislature.

As proposed, implementing furloughs and merit pay freezes for the state’s 18,000 employees would save the state a combined $66 million ($51.7 million from state workers and $14.3 million from merit pay freezes), a sizable portion of the governor’s plan to meet the $1.2 billion shortfall in the state budget.

Officials at the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation said at a weekly videoconference press briefing on Friday that 105,207 PUA claimants had started receiving payment, up about 900 from last week’s update. Meanwhile, about 35,000 more PUA claims were filed in the last week, for a total of 307,749 claims filed since the federally funded program — geared toward independent contractors and the self-employed — launched less than two months ago.

Frustrated community members and immigrant rights organizations that warned about the spread of the virus among inmates say the outbreak was preventable and want to see more changes made to mitigate the situation.

NSHE deputy chancellor Crystal Abba told lawmakers via video conference that the system expected the bill to benefit about 12 percent of scholarship recipients from the spring 2020 semester whose grade point average fell below normal GPA requirements. While NSHE has not done a complete look at individual cases, Abba said the higher education system did not want to punish students who faced massive social and financial disruption during the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

More than a month after the campaign for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District has pivoted toward a general election contest between incumbent Democrat Susie Lee and Republican challenger Dan Rodimer, records show more than eight weeks have passed since Rodimer was required to file a personal financial disclosure form.

Further details about the situation were not immediately available, including whether the individual is a lawmaker, legislative staff member or member of the press. The legislative building has been closed to members of the public, including lobbyists, for the duration of the special session because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

As of Friday, seven counties — Clark, Washoe, Elko, Humboldt, Lander, Lyon and Nye — were deemed at risk and will be forced to close bars, pubs, taverns, distilleries, breweries, and wineries that don’t serve food. Those counties, combined, make up about 94.6 percent of the state’s population.

Sisolak answered their statements later at a press conference, signaling that he would leave the tax discussion up to the Legislature and that the ball was in the court of Republicans, who can block any tax increase vote with the one-vote advantage they have in the Senate. He said he was disappointed that no state Senate Republicans had approached him about potential ways to increase revenue to lessen the cuts.