Behind the Bar: A look at how Indigenous issues are hitting the Legislature
Behind the Bar is The Nevada Independent’s newsletter devoted to comprehensive and accessible coverage of the 2023 legislative session.
In today’s edition: How Nevada’s tribal leaders are pushing for better policy from the voting booth to public schools. Plus, a look at how Democrats have embraced a push to undo some regulatory barriers to occupational licensing — at least in some cases. And stay tuned for The Lightning Round, with all the quick hits from this week, and a short look at the week ahead.
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We want to hear from you! Send us your questions, comments, observations, jokes, or what you think we should be covering or paying attention to. Email Jacob Solis, your humble newsletter editor, at [email protected]
Days until:
- Deadline: 39
- Deadline: 68
- Sine die: 109
Don’t look now — two weeks are now done and gone in the 82nd legislative session. In that time we’ve seen an avalanche of bill introductions, the first few bill draft request deadlines and even a floor vote or two.
Here's a look at the week that was.
Expanded tuition waiver, liaisons with state agencies among Nevada tribes’ priorities
As a slew of measures to address the needs of Nevada’s Indigenous population makes their way through the Legislature, lawmakers celebrated Nevada Tribes Legislative Day on Tuesday beginning with a reminder that the Numa, the Newe, the Nuwuvi, Wa She Shu and Pipa Aha Macav have lived in the Great Basin long before European settlers arrived.
Established in 2013, Nevada Tribes Legislative Day recognizes “the contributions American Indians have made to the prosperity and cultural diversity of Nevada and the United States.” Stacey Montooth, the executive director of the Nevada Indian Commission and a citizen of the Walker River Paiute Tribe, said the day is about visibility for the 20 federally recognized tribes and 28 tribal communities in Nevada.
As part of the day, Montooth said tribal representatives met with lawmakers and the secretary of state, a crucial meeting against a backdrop of a long history of barriers to Indigenous people casting a ballot. Montooth said there’s consensus among tribal leaders and community organizers that the voting booth is a great equalizer.
“On that day at that moment, we are all equal. Doesn’t matter what gender, what tribal nation, what our skin color is. One voice, one vote,” Montooth said. “We were really honored to have the newly elected secretary of state come address our elders, our youth, our leadership. He also is really focused on fairness, equality and voting. And that’s exactly what we need to ensure that the first people of this land have equal access to vote.”
Census data from 2020 indicates 3.4 percent of Nevada’s population identify as American Indian and Alaska Native in whole or in part. That represents about 105,000 people in the state. Montooth said if organizers could galvanize Indigenous people in Nevada as one voting force, they would have more voters than every county in the state except for Washoe and Clark counties.
In 2021, Montooth said lawmakers passed legislation that helped tribal communities and priorities this session include education, the environment, economic development and health and human services.
“The work is just getting started,” Montooth said. “We’re not just going to go to the ballot box, and we’re not just going to cast our votes. We’re going to be running for office, we’re going to be in these rooms leading these sessions and asking questions of people that are testifying.”
Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California Chairman Serrell Smokey said he hopes to facilitate more engagement between lawmakers and tribal communities.
“Every bill that comes through, whether it be state or on the federal level, when in regards to taxes, it will include state and local governments, but it won’t include tribes,” Smokey said. “And that’s what we as tribes need to do is to ensure that we’re a part of that … to have tribal governments excluded because of the wording just shows how far behind we are at truly acknowledging tribes as true sovereign governments within the state.”
One of the proposed bills this session, SB94, seeks to address the issues of representation in government, requiring each state agency to employ a tribal liaison who reports directly to the office of the head of the state agency.
Along with ensuring access, Duckwater Shoshone Tribal Chairman Warren Graham said he is watching AB73, a bill that would establish the right of public school students to wear traditional tribal regalia or other recognized objects of cultural or religious significance at school graduation ceremonies.
“We see other ethnic groups that are allowed to have their regalia on but when it comes to Native Americans, it seems like it’s a no no … or it’s a challenge to get that regalia actually approved by [the] school district,” Graham said. “It gives them a sense of pride.”
Ken Higbee, special services director for the Elko County School District, said acquiring funding to construct a new Owyhee Combined School is also essential during this legislative session. The current building sits adjacent to toxic hydrocarbon plumes under the town.
“With that school having issues of cancer, being on that plume, we feel desperate that the Owyhee Community and kids need a school. And Elko County School District has no funds to build that school,” Higbee said. “So in this emergency situation, we’re hoping to change the direction of that Owyhee school and community by moving their school to a location that’s safe and healthy.”
Tribal communities also have flagged the following legislation of interest to Indigenous communities:
- AB84 - Sponsored by Assemblyman Howard Watts (D-Las Vegas), this bill would require the state to issue to members of certain Nevada tribes, a free annual permit for entering, camping and boating in all state parks and recreational areas.
- AB150 - Sponsored by Assemblywoman Natha Anderson (D-Sparks), this bill would expand the tuition waiver for Native Americans to include summer and winter semesters as well as grant the waiver to people enrolled in a federally recognized tribe who have been a resident of Nevada for at least a year or graduated from a Nevada high school.
- AB125 - Sponsored by Assemblywoman Shea Backus (D-Las Vegas), this bill would require the tribal liaison for the Nevada Department of Safety to maintain communication with tribal communities and organizations related to missing or murdered Indigenous persons. The bill would require local law enforcement agencies to accept reports of people 18 years or older who are missing under suspicious circumstances from a Native American reservation or colony and enter information into national databases.
— Tabitha Mueller and David Calvert
Occupational licensing reform: It’s not just a Republican thing
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo signed an executive order last month blocking all Nevada occupational and professional licensing boards from implementing new regulations and calling on them to recommend ways to speed up the licensure process.
His order asserts that “Nevada has been identified nationally as having among the nation’s most onerous occupational licensing requirements, and it is in the State’s best long-term economic interest to have a fair, open, competitive and inclusive economy.”
While two Democratic lawmakers said they have no position or did not want to comment on the order itself, they are working on some occupational licensing reform efforts of their own.
State Sen. Fabian Doñate (D-Las Vegas) told The Nevada Independent that he supports addressing the state’s shortages in health care and other industries.
Doñate said he is working on a bill to address the health care provider shortage by making it easier for international medical graduates and physicians from other countries to transfer and practice in Nevada.
“Physicians that are already living here, that have the ability to practice, but it's just the licensure process … standing in their way,” he said. “We want to make sure that they're also caught up to speed with the regulations in the state and protecting the quality of care, but we are very underserved when it comes to physicians.”
Doñate added that while he’s looking to facilitate the process, doctors would still “have to pass the same exams” to practice in the state.
Assemblywoman Selena Torres (D-Las Vegas) said teachers have “overly strict and overbearing” requirements to earn an educator license.
She told The Nevada Independent she is working on legislation to eliminate the “red tape" to become an educator with the goal of filling teacher vacancies.
“I think that legislators have the responsibility to ensure that we're continuing to keep a quality education,” she said. “When we have more vacancies in schools, it makes schools less safe, as well as making it harder for students to learn and grow.”
Torres said she hopes her legislation would help teachers of minority backgrounds, including those who are bilingual and from low-income communities, earn their licenses.
“They sometimes struggle with taking on some of the barriers in the teacher licensure process, and I think if we eliminate those, we're able to better support our educators,” she said.
— Jannelle Calderón
What we’re reading and writing
Black legislators reflect on history, push to remove slavery from Constitution, by Tabitha Mueller and Sean Golonka
This year marks just the third recognition of Black History Month in Nevada’s Legislature.
Entrepreneurs: Vegas should ax cannabis distance requirements, create ‘New Amsterdam,’ by Naoka Foreman
Current rules keep a very non-Amsterdam-like 1,000 feet between consumption lounges.
With child care and leave scarce, Nevada treasurer welcoming babies at the office, by Michelle Rindels, with video by Tim Lenard.
In which the treasurer puts the children to work.
The Lightning Round
- What’s in an A? — Here’s a fun fact: The Oakland A’s now have 10 lobbyists registered with the Nevada Legislature. It comes as the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the club has circled a third potential site adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip and Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says the A’s are focused on Las Vegas. Is it finally time for the Las Vegas A’s? More importantly, what will the tax or incentive packages look like if the state decides it wants to lure a fourth major sports franchise?
- A lottery for a cause — The long-running push to create a lottery in Nevada emerged again in the form of a constitutional amendment proposed late Thursday by Assemblyman C.H. Miller (D-North Las Vegas). Lotteries were outlawed in the original Nevada Constitution and have been kept that way by the state’s powerful gaming industry. This proposal, however, would put the money toward youth mental health and has earned the backing of the Culinary Workers Union. Will that move the needle?
- Abortion medication — Attorney General Aaron Ford joined a multi-state coalition of 23 attorneys general in support of abortion pills at CVS and Walgreens stores on Thursday. The support arrives in response to a group of states who wrote a letter to the companies, warning of legal repercussions if the pharmacies attempt to dispense the abortion medications by mail. The medications have been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration for more than 20 years and also have been used to treat miscarriages, life-threatening ectopic pregnancies and gastric ulcers.
- A higher ed funding conundrum — Acting higher education system Chancellor Dale Erquiaga faced his first non-budget grilling in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday when Sen. Dina Neal (D-North Las Vegas) asked pointed questions about stagnant achievement metrics for Black students. What could it lead to? Erquiaga argued for the implementation of student-based weights in the formula, which now looks only at curriculum-based weights.
- Party politics (redux) — Infighting within competing wings of the Nevada State Democratic Party continued this week ahead of leadership elections next month. After roughly 20 percent of the central committee's membership was removed last week by leaders citing attendance issues, several key Democrats have called on Chair Judith Whitmer to resign — including top legislative leaders and the Culinary Union.
- But that’s not all! — Under pressure, the state party released attendance records this week. But Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) said he was removed despite attending the necessary meetings (and didn’t know until the tweetstorms began). The state AFL-CIO endorsed the unity slate. The Las Vegas Democratic Socialists of America, meanwhile, announced it would not endorse anyone, calling the Democratic Party “a dead end.”
— Jacob Solis, Tabitha Mueller and Sean Golonka
Next Week in the Legislature…
- Feb. 20: ASUN Legislative Day (UNR undergraduates)
- Relevant bills: AB150, which expands the higher education fee waiver for Native American students to include any students who have resided on “qualified tribal land” both in and out of state.
- Feb. 21: Mining Day
- SB124, which tweaks a mining tax supporting education so the funds are routed directly to the State Education Fund, rather than through counties.
- Feb. 22: Nevada Contractors Day (Nevada Contractors Association)
- The contractors association has called for more “robust” funding for state projects, infrastructure and transportation — priorities that also emerged as a throughline in Gov. Joe Lombardo’s proposed budget.
- Feb. 23: Nurses Day (Nevada Nurses Association)
- AB108, which would create the Nurse Licensure Compact, allowing nurses licensed in other states to receive a multi-state license usable in any state within the compact.
- Feb. 24: Public Medical Education Day (UNR Medical School)
- AB45, which would create a program to repay student loans for certain medical providers in underserved communities
- Gov. Joe Lombardo’s recommended budget also allocated $9 million to hire new faculty to expand class sizes at UNLV’s school of medicine. But both UNR and UNLV medical programs have pushed for additional funding for Graduate Medical Education, i.e. the residencies and fellowships that follow graduation (and which remain scarce in Nevada).
And to get you into the weekend, a few tweets that caught our eye:
- A Joe Lombardo PAC is already out swinging against Aaron Ford. Is it ever too early to start talking about Election 2026?
- The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada had this Valentine’s Day message for lawmakers.
We’ll see you on Tuesday.
Editor’s Note: This story appears in Behind the Bar, The Nevada Independent’s newsletter dedicated to comprehensive coverage of the 2023 legislative session. Sign up for the newsletter here.