What you need to know about Nevada's state budget debacle
In today’s edition:
- What do the budget mishaps mean?
- Uncertainty surrounding the K-12 education formula
- The debate surrounding reopening the Warm Springs Correctional Center
From the Capital Bureau Chief:
With less than a week until the start of the 83rd legislative session, the legislative news cycle has centered on the $335 million deficit in Gov. Joe Lombardo’s proposed budget.
Aside from the numerous jokes about how Nevada struggles with math (looking at you, Clark County School District), here are some thoughts on what those errors mean:
- Considering we’re about to start the last legislative session before Lombardo’s re-election, Democrats are going to turn molehills of any size into a mountain (it’s politics).
- Past governor-recommended budgets have always required some revisions (see the 34 budget amendments issued last time). But longtime observers say the scope of the errors in the initial budget is unprecedented, handing Democrats an opening — especially after a State of the State address where Lombardo emphasized the importance of fiscal responsibility.
- Lawmakers, legislative staff and the governor’s office are making strides to address the errors behind the scenes. But staff from the governor’s office sharing a slide deck and fluid revisions fueled frustrations from Democrats.
- Chief of Staff Ryan Cherry’s statement that he accepted full responsibility for the budget errors extended an olive branch. But a subsequent statement from the governor’s office blaming the deficit on teacher raises and saying the executive budget was balanced through one-time funding drew more anger from Democrats. Despite the bumps, there’s still a willingness to work together to fix the budget.
- The typically sleepy first few weeks (or weekends) of the session could be more lively than usual if legislators need to reprocess or follow up on budget details.
As always, please send us your questions, comments, observations, jokes, or what you think we should pay attention to. You can reach me at [email protected].
Does Lombardo’s budget decrease per-pupil spending?
Here’s what we learned from a Thursday budget committee meeting.
- Under Lombardo’s budget recommendations, a pot of money directed to the adjusted per-pupil base funding would decrease by almost $53 million next fiscal year. The adjusted base funding is the amount directed to students after the statewide base amount is adjusted for district-specific factors. Assemblywoman Selena Torres-Fossett (D-Las Vegas) estimates this would result in a decrease of $13 per student next fiscal year and $25 the following year statewide.
- The governor’s office also recommended a decrease of nearly $44 million next fiscal year for at-risk pupil weighted funding, or additional funds for students who are identified as in need of additional services to graduate.
- Lombardo’s budget recommendations, including about $144 million for educator salary increases and $8 million for charter school transportation, would increase overall funding for the Pupil-Centered Funding Plan by 3 percent next fiscal year.
- Nevada Department of Education officials attributed the decreases for student services to how additional funding for educator raises and charter school transportation affects other categories within the Pupil-Centered Funding Plan. They say they are working with the governor’s office on budget amendments to correct that.
- “There is no expectation that the per-pupil funding will decrease — that number will shift as we make those technical adjustments,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert.
— Rocio Hernandez
What we’re reading and writing
Ex-U.S. Attorney Frierson reflects on tough political climate, building trust in DOJ role by Gabby Birenbaum
The former Assembly speaker will now return to Carson City — as a lobbyist for a D.C.-based firm.
Nevada has a high representation of state lawmaker moms with kids under 18 by Lucia Starbuck, KUNR
The Legislature ranks fifth highest in the nation for lawmakers who are moms with children younger than 18.
After setbacks, plan to replace run-down Owyhee school on reservation moving forward by Rocio Hernandez
Future funding for capital projects remains uncertain as Elko County sues the state for forcing a tax increase for school construction.
As prison population climbs, state will need to reopen mothballed correctional center
Nevada Department of Corrections Director James Dzurenda told legislators Wednesday that the state will have to reopen the Warm Springs Correctional Center to be able to address a growing prison population, but he faced questioning from Democratic legislators about specifics of the plan.
- The Carson City facility closed in late 2022 amid staffing shortages.
- Dzurenda said a projected increase in the state’s prison population will likely mean people will have to sleep on prison floors without further action, but he was unsure when this might be necessary.
- Lombardo’s proposed budget did not allocate money to reopen the center, but still assigned more than $2 million to the prison, mostly for utilities costs.
- Democratic legislators said if the center does need to reopen in the next biennium — because of people having to sleep on prison floors — then it should be included in Lombardo’s budget.
- “It’s either going to have to be ‘Yes, it needs to be put in this budget, evaluated and calculated what that cost is going to be for this biennium so we have the funding, or it’s not going to happen,” said Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe Moreno (D-North Las Vegas).
- The JFA Institute, a prison population forecaster used by the state, projected the state’s prison population to increase by about 500 during the next biennium.
- Democratic legislators also indicated that Lombardo’s proposals to combat crime — including decreasing the felony theft threshold — might accelerate the timeline to reopen the facility because it could increase the state’s prison population.
— Eric Neugeboren
Keeping Tabs
👀 End of solitary confinement in Nevada? — Dzurenda said the Department of Corrections’ goal is to abolish solitary confinement, and in pursuit of that, is increasing recreational enclosures at the High Desert State Prison, a high-security complex. He said, “I do think it is going to be a big deal for the country knowing that the state of Nevada could possibly abolish solitary confinement completely.”
- Context: The Legislature passed SB307 in 2023, which limited solitary confinement to 15 days, unless correctional officers deemed an extension to bet necessary for the safety of that inmate or others.
💼 First pushback on Lombardo plan to consolidate boards — During the Department of Business and Industry’s budget presentation Wednesday, Director Kris Sanchez appeared to face some pushback from Sen. Dina Neal (D-North Las Vegas) about his office’s review of the more than 300 boards and commissions in the state. The department has proposed SB78, which includes merging and consolidating certain boards, and has released a slew of recommendations to reform the system. Neal said “we’re definitely going to be having a conversation.”
- Context: Lombardo has prioritized reforming the state’s boards and commissions since he entered office two years ago. In his first month as governor, Lombardo issued an executive order requiring boards to justify the need for any licensing requirements and recommend phasing them out if a majority of states don’t require a license for a certain profession, building off on work done by previous governors to modernize the way the state’s boards and commissions operate.
- Context: A report issued by the Department of Business and Industry recommends that 37 occupational and licensing boards be reduced to 19, by merging 20 boards into six and eliminating three other entities.
☀️ More transparency during redistricting process? — Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama (R-Las Vegas) proposed a constitutional amendment last week to require that any legislative meetings related to the redistricting process be subject to the state’s Open Meeting Law, which requires three days’ advance notice of meetings.
- Context: Kasama is a vocal supporter of increasing the transparency of the Legislature, having announced plans to bring a handful of proposals last year, including requiring conflict of interest disclosures and the publication of legislation 72 hours before final approval.
🧑🤝🧑 Beefing up HR capacity — The Department of Business and Industry’s budget includes more than $1 million in the biennium for the creation of a centralized human resources (HR) office. Sanchez testified that HR responsibilities have in the past been given to department leadership, and that some employees had not had a review in 20 years.
🔃 Turnover on state employee relations board — During a legislative budget subcommittee meeting last week, an agency representative said turnover was a big issue on the state employee relations board, but there’s no backlog of cases. All five members and the commissioner of the Government Employee-Management Board are being replaced because of term expirations and retirements. Four members’ terms end in June, and the fifth just resigned, while Commissioner Bruce Snyder is retiring in a few weeks. The board resolves disputes between government employee groups and their agencies.
— Eric Neugeboren
Looking Ahead
- Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 6 p.m.: Don’t miss this IndyTalks event with Gov. Joe Lombardo at the National Automobile Museum Event Center in Reno.
Days until:
- First day of session: 6
- Last day for bill introductions: 55
- First house passage deadline: 84
- Sine die: 125
And to get you going into the week, a few social media posts that caught our eye:
- In some non-budget-related legislative news (and more proof that Northern Nevada is a cooler place than Southern Nevada).
- Math is hard.
- Some good news: The 10 darkest weeks of the year are officially behind us.
We’ll see you Thursday.