In today’s edition: 

• What you need to know after the budget amendments
• Lt. Gov. scrutinized over women’s sports task force
• Democratic senators demand answers surrounding potential Medicaid cuts

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From the Capital Bureau Chief:

It’s only the fourth day of the session, and we’ve already experienced two contentious budget hearings and a few late nights.

As Assm. Daniele Monore-Moreno (D-Las Vegas) said at the end of the Wednesday evening amendments hearing: The budget is now in the Legislature’s hands.

The legislative session is a marathon, not a sprint, and it’s important to pace yourself, get sleep, drink water and eat food (Editor’s Note: Gummy worms are not food.)

Remember: Caffeine is a solution, not THE solution.

And, if you ever need a little joy, Bill Watterson’s comic strips are readily available online.

As always, please send us your questions, comments, observations, jokes, or what you think we should cover or pay attention to. You can reach me at [email protected]. 

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What you need to know about the budget amendments

For all you nerds out there, you can read an in-depth explanation of how the governor’s office addressed the $335 million budget hole in Eric Neugeboren’s story here.

For those who haven’t had their coffee this morning or want a quick digest, here are the toplines of what you need to know.

• A quick recap: Gov. Joe Lombardo submitted his two-year budget to lawmakers in mid-January. Democratic lawmakers quickly identified that the budget had a $335 million deficit, a big problem as the state Constitution requires a balanced budget. Lombardo’s chief of staff apologized, and amendments to the budget were submitted and presented to lawmakers Wednesday evening during a joint budget committee meeting.
• Lombardo’s Chief of Staff Ryan Cherry said no positions or services were eliminated under the amendments, and the changes were achieved through finding savings, correcting technical issues and changing what was proposed as ongoing funding to one-shot funding for specific requests, such as transportation for charter school students.
  • Context: One-shot or one-time funding is notable because the services the money pays for aren’t guaranteed past the current budget cycle. It means that two years from now, lawmakers must decide whether to renew the funds.
  • Political implications: The budget issues could play a role during the campaign season. If Democrats make cuts to some of the one-time or proposed programs, that could give Lombardo’s campaign team ammunition during election season and be something the governor lauds in his 2026 re-election campaign.
• Democrats questioned the logic behind changing ongoing expenses to one-shot funding for myriad programs, including extended pre-K funding. Cherry said the governor’s office had intended to include pre-K funding in ongoing expenses, but couldn’t afford to do it because it would have caused the budget to be structurally deficient.
  • He said officials anticipate that future revenues will eventually allow the state to make the initiative an ongoing expense — a pledge Democrats were skeptical of.
  • “Serious fiscal responsibility requires more than a hope and a prayer that the state will have more money in the future. It requires the discipline to propose a budget now that doesn’t come with the high risk of screwing over Nevadans in the future,” Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) told The Nevada Independent about the one-shot funding.
• The deficit was cut into by turning what had previously been proposed as ongoing funds into one-shot expenditures, including:
  • Extended pre-K services ($140 million)
  • Transportation for charter school students ($17 million)
  • A discovery education program ($4.4 million)
• Though no programs were eliminated, the amended budget decreased the deficit partly by delaying a proposed adult dental program by a year and reducing some funding, including general fund appropriations for the Nevada Department of Corrections director’s office.
  • Health care cost trends were lowered to account for the move to a statewide managed care organization (MCO) model instead of the fee-for-service model, which costs more over time and has the state pay Medicaid providers directly for each covered service. Revenue sources were also adjusted to reflect $120 million in revenue not initially noted in the proposed budget, including the MCO savings. Officials also changed the revenue source from the general fund to opioid funding for an Intake Assessment and Placement Center at the Summit View Youth Center.
• The amendments also addressed an error in the proposed budget that moved about $120 million in one-time funding allocated during the 2023 legislative session to the state’s general fund, which is prohibited. 
• Other notable inclusions in the amendments:
  • $80 million in one-shot funding for replacing the state’s financial and human resources system that has been plagued with issues.
  • $57.5 million in one-time money for the cost-of-living adjustments for Nevada System of Higher Education employees approved by the Legislature in 2023.
  • A little more than $6 million over two years for Opportunity Scholarships, which are state scholarships for students from low- or middle-income households to attend private or religious schools.
    • Cherry said the first year of funding in the budget amendments totaling about $2 million is intended for coverage of existing students within the program. He said the remaining roughly $4 million in funding accounts for expansions in the second year of the biennium with increased transparency and reporting requirements.
    • Following pushback from Democrats, Cherry said he envisions the proposal as an ongoing conversation with the Legislature.
  • $24 million for Lombardo’s proposed child care tax credit program

— Tabitha Mueller

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What we’re reading and writing

GOP senator proposes bringing back room cleaning mandate, reigniting Culinary-resorts feud by Tabitha Mueller and Howard Stutz

Culinary v. Gaming, the Squeakquel 

PHOTOS: Lawmakers usher in 2025 session alongside family and friends by David Calvert

Monday marked the start of Nevada's 83rd legislative session and photojournalist David Calvert documented the festivities.

PERS contribution rate hike will hinder recruitment and retention, warns state police union by April Corbin Girnus

Nevada state fire and police officers could see their take-home pay decrease 4 percent later this year after an approved employee retirement contribution rate hike goes into effect.

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Anti-Trump protest draws large crowd outside Carson Capitol 

Hundreds of people protested outside of the Nevada Capitol on Wednesday afternoon against several of President Donald Trump’s policies, including his hard-line immigration agenda and rollback of LGBTQ+ protections. 

Attendees waved signs that read “reject facism” and handed out flyers urging people to contact their state legislators. The Carson City protest was part of a larger movement of nationwide protests taking place today across state capitals from Texas to Minnesota. 

• Protestors said that the event felt especially significant in red-leaning Carson City. Nathan Bakken, the director of Congregational Life for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, said “to have people visibly coming out in support shows that Nevada truly is as purple as it actually is.” 
• Marty Meeden, a resident of Gardnerville and retired teacher, said he found Trump’s immigration platform “hypocritical.”
  • “You notice that we're not talking about white immigrants. That's not the focus. If he's going to say immigrants, then, hey, let's do them all,” he said. 
• Audrey, a 42-year-old disabled veteran who declined to share her last name for privacy concerns, said that she is hopeful Nevada’s Democrat-controlled Legislature would be able to push back against some of Trump’s agenda.
  • “I’ve been to a lot of protests but never one with this much visibility,” she said.

— Lizzie Ramirez and Isabella Aldrete

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 Keeping Tabs

📨 Democratic Senators demand answers — Following reporting indicating that congressional Republicans are considering massive Medicaid cuts as a way to help finance President DonaldTrump’s tax cut and immigration crackdown bill, top Senate Democrats sent a letter to the governor’s Chief of Staff Ryan Cherry and the Department of Health and Human Services Director Richard Whitley requesting information about the potential cuts. More details in this thread.

🍩 Freshman Assm. Joe Dalia to continue donut tradition — Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) has passed along his Donut Fridays tradition to the freshman Las Vegas Democrat, ensuring that — in Yeager’s words — Dalia will be the “most popular guy in the building.” In 2021, campaign finance records show that Yeager spent more than $1,000 at Kim’s Donuts in Carson City, and in 2023, more than $2,000 at “Donuts To Go.” Dalia says he won’t be continuing the donut wall, but will keep every other aspect of the tradition alive, including taking Polaroids of guests. 

🏳️‍⚧️ Lt. Gov. scrutinized over women’s sports task force — At a joint budget meeting Wednesday morning, Assm. Selena Torres-Fossett (D-Las Vegas) and Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop (D-Las Vegas) questioned Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony, a Republican, about his office’s new task force targeting transgender athletes. While Anthony initially said no specific office resources were used for the task force, he later acknowledged that some of his employees are using some of their time to help with the task force. He said “he decided that one of my responsibilities as lieutenant governor was to support these female athletes,” to which Dondero Loop responded that “it's my personal opinion that the lieutenant governor looks out for all Nevadans.” Later, Anthony and task force members held a press conference praising Trump for an executive order signed Wednesday that bans transgender athletes from women's sports.

— Isabella Aldrete, Eric Neugeboren, Lizzie Ramirez and Tabitha Mueller

Looking Ahead

• Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 7 a.m.: Nevada Tribes Day
• Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 6 p.m.: IndyTalks event with Gov. Joe Lombardo at the National Automobile Museum Event Center in Reno.
• Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 5 p.m.: Reception for the Nevada office launch of Cornerstone, the lobbying firm former Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson is joining, at Carson Piazza Bar.

Days until: 

• Last day for bill introductions: 47
• First house passage deadline: 76
• Sine die: 117

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And to ease you into the weekend, a few social media posts that caught our eye: 

• Between the “Woke Mind Virus” comment and this door sign, Republicans are taking the assemblymembers change in stride.
• Apparently, the first day was not better than the first day of Major League Baseball, according to this very scientific poll.
• Whatever this is.

We’ll see you next week.

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