The lucrative expansion of film tax credits — potentially worth more than $4 billion through the 20-year lifetime of the proposal — has drawn intense scrutiny and renewed interest by outside parties looking for a slice of the tax credit pie. 

The proposal could lower the amount of money that will need to be funded by institutions and potentially averting — at least in part — a crisis higher education officials have warned could necessitate higher student fees or risk budget cuts.

In the wake of budget projections showing the state will have $251 million more than expected, colleges and universities are angling for more. On the top of that list is additional funding for capital improvements — massive, multimillion dollar construction projects that range from new, state-of-the-art lab space to entire new campuses. 

Amid a now-highly partisan split over new state employee compensation packages, the state’s higher education institutions have raised concerns that the size of the increase — coupled with the way the state funds those increases — may force colleges and universities to make budget cuts, even under the new budgetary windfall.

The measure comes after years of legislative friction with higher education leaders and internal turmoil within NSHE, including the messy departures of a former UNLV president and NSHE chancellor within the last five years. 

After legislators attempted to tackle issues of sexual violence and misconduct at the state’s colleges and universities in 2021, a bipartisan group of lawmakers and advocates are again looking to expand the scope of those policies — in part by putting more power in the hands of legislative appointees. 

During a closing address for a conference celebrating the life and work of Basque-Nevadan author Robert Laxalt, his grandson Gabriel Urza brought out a leather satchel containing notes from his grandfather’s reporting for National Geographic as well as an early manuscript of his book The Governor’s Mansion.

For the second session in a row, lawmakers will consider SJR7, a measure that, in simple terms, would remove the board that governs higher education from its position in the state constitution as the governing board for the state university.

On paper, Lombardo’s proposed budget would give the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) its largest single budget boost since before the pandemic. But the budget stopped short of boosting funding beyond 2019 levels.

Friday’s vote authorized NSC President DeRionne Pollard to lobby state lawmakers to create a legally distinct “second” university tier to the Nevada System of Higher Education’s superstructure.

AB224, sponsored by Assemblywoman Sarah Peters (D-Reno) and co-sponsored by 26 other lawmakers, would allow professional staff at NSHE’s eight institutions to collectively bargain under a 2019 law creating a framework for public employee bargaining at the state and local levels. 

After more than a year of lobbying both on campus and in Carson City, graduate students at UNR and UNLV are on track to receive a $20 million boost in assistantship stipends under Gov. Joe Lombardo’s proposed budget.

The bill would knock down the number of regents from 13 to nine, and reduce the length of their terms from six years to four.

Before COVID-19 swept through Nevada, wreaking havoc on hospitals and the health care system, the state was facing a critical shortage of nurses. Since the pandemic took hold, the shortage has reached dire levels.

NSHE Chief Financial Officer Andrew Clinger told the Board of Regents the moves were not in direct violation of state law, but rather created a potential clash with “legislative intent.” 

Across three separate audits of Nevada System of Higher Education’s (NSHE) budgets, auditors called on the system to tighten spending regulations, and laid the blame for oversight largely at the feet of the Board of Regents.

The fee is the first of its kind in Nevada, and has been billed by employees of the newspaper and other advocates as a means to fund the outlet in the long term without the need to rely directly on advertising, university administrators or the undergraduate student government. 

On Friday, regents for the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) will vote on a $0.20-per-credit-hour fee for students at UNLV designed to fully fund the Scarlet & Gray.

The deferral agreement includes both an “admonishment” of the pair from the ethics board, as well as a request for a memorandum of understanding between the Board of Regents and ethics commission.

The surprise resignation came after three unnamed regents called on Board Chair Cathy McAdoo on Monday to convene a special public meeting to discuss Kilroy’s firing on Friday.