Once again, the great and noble state of Nevada has saddled up for its biennial exercise in lawmaking, where the people’s representatives gather to argue, filibuster, and occasionally pass a bill or two—if they can stop bickering long enough to find a pen.
At the top of this session’s wish list is education funding, which remains the state’s favorite mystery. Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, wants to make teacher raises permanent—something most educators never expected to see in their lifetimes—while Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, a Democrat, is also in favor, but only if the negotiations involve a proper number of long speeches, delayed votes, and at least one dramatic walkout.
Meanwhile, Nevada’s pre-K expansion is up for debate. Currently, only the financially unfortunate get a head start on their ABCs, but Cannizzaro wants all 4-year-olds to have a shot. Lombardo is offering $140 million to the cause, which will likely be spent on an in-depth study proving that small children benefit from early education.
On the criminal justice front, lawmakers are wrestling over whether to make Nevada’s prisons so crowded that future inmates will need to bring sleeping bags. The governor wants tougher penalties for theft, drug trafficking, and crimes against children and the elderly. Progressive lawmakers insist on more rehabilitation despite Nevada’s rich tradition of solving problems with harsher punishments and a handshake with the warden.
Housing, another perennial favorite, has lawmakers scratching their heads over whether Nevada has more houses or casinos and which should be more affordable. Lombardo proposes a billion-dollar effort for middle-income housing, while Democrats are looking at rent caps and making evictions slightly less dramatic. Corporate landlords, naturally, are in mourning.
Election reform is on the table because nothing says democracy like endless arguments over when and how votes should count. Lombardo, a man of efficiency, wants mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day, while Democrats prefer the current system, where ballots can dawdle in like lost tourists on the Las Vegas Strip.
And lest anyone forget, the Gaming Control Board has submitted bills to streamline casino regulations because if there’s one thing Nevada takes more seriously than elections, it’s keeping slot machines operational.
From tax credits to water rights, cannabis sales to immigration, Nevada’s legislative session promises all the drama of a soap opera, the spectacle of a three-ring circus, and the productivity of a committee meeting scheduled right before lunch. So grab some popcorn, folks, because, during the next 120 days, Carson City will be home to the greatest show in government—where laws are written, rewritten, and occasionally, against all odds, actually passed.
The Old Blog in the Desert 
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