Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) says he is ready to declare a fiscal emergency to tap into Nevada’s rainy day fund to help pay for food assistance programs set to lose federal funding on Nov. 1 — and said he doesn’t “intend to take no for a F****ing answer.” 

The call comes ahead of an expected special session sometime this fall and as half a million Nevadans face the potential loss of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. They are set to freeze next month amid a federal government shutdown. The program, also known as food stamps, costs about $90 million a month in Nevada.

“I am prepared to declare a fiscal emergency to tap into the State’s rainy day account, if necessary, to fully fund SNAP benefits until the Trump Administration gets its act together and stops turning its back on Nevadans,” Yeager said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. “There is no more important issue to address at the anticipated Special Session than fully funding SNAP benefits by any means necessary.”

Tapping the state’s $1.3 billion rainy day fund first requires a joint emergency declaration from the governor and the Legislature (or the Interim Finance Committee if the Legislature is not in session) or for collected tax revenue to fall below 5 percent below projected amounts.

Under Nevada law, lawmakers can’t move money from the state's general fund to somewhere else outside of a special session, but a declaration of a fiscal emergency and transfer to the general fund from the emergency reserve fund can happen ahead of a special session.

The state last declared a fiscal emergency in May 2020 to deal with budgetary shortfalls stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though Yeager acknowledged the efforts of the governor and Legislature to funnel more than $38 million in funds to food banks to help address the looming crisis, he said the money isn’t enough and lawmakers “must do more.”

"Other states, some led by Republicans, others led by Democrats, are directly funding SNAP benefits for their citizens. Nevada should do the same,” he said. 

A spokesperson for Lombardo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.