The League of Women Voters of Nevada will be tracking the following bills the week of March 13, 2017.  Because the legislature has exempted itself from the Open Meeting Law, meetings can be scheduled with short notice; so please like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter to get updates.

LWVNV also offers help using the legislative website’s advocacy tools with our Advocacy Guide:

https://lwvlvvblog.org/2017/01/22/lwvlvv-2017-advocacy-guide/

If you would like to learn more about League, please visit our website: www.lwvnv.org

You can watch legislative hearings live on this page: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Calendar/A/

Monday March 13, 2017

3:30 PM

Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections

Agenda

• Room 2144 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Video conferenced to Room 4412E of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

SJR3

Existing law provides voters with certain rights. (NRS 293.2546) This resolution proposes to amend the Nevada Constitution by adding a new section to Article 2 to provide those rights in the Nevada Constitution.

Tuesday March 14, 2017

1:30 PM

Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections

Agenda¹

• Room 3142 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4401 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

 AJR7 (WS) , SJR2 (WS)

 AJR7: Expressing the opposition of the Nevada Legislature to certain proposed changes to the federal laws relating to Medicare and the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance provisions of the Social Security Act.

 SJR2: Ratifying the proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States providing that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Wednesday March 15, 2017

 8:00 AM

Senate Committee on Finance and Assembly Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittees on Human Services

Agenda

• Room 3137 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4406 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

3161

Southern Nevada Mental Health Services Budget

The League of Women Voters of Nevada will be tracking the following bills the week of March 6, 2017.  Because our legislature is exempt from Nevada’s Open Meeting law, hearings can be scheduled at any time; we therefore provide updates throughout the week on our social media accounts (we have a Facebook page and a Twitter account).

You can view our Guide for using the Advocacy tools on our legislature’s website here:

https://lwvlvvblog.org/2017/01/22/lwvlvv-2017-advocacy-guide/

Monday March 5, 2017

1:00 PM

Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services

Agenda¹

• Room 3138 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4401 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

AB203, AB249

AB249 covers the cost of birth control through the State Medicaid program in case this provision is removed in an ACA repeal.

3:30 PM

Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections

Agenda

• Room 2144 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Video conferenced to Room 4412E of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

IP1

IP1 Authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to transmit information to the appropriate county election department for verification of voter eligibility and to register those who are eligible to vote.  This is an opt-out program, so unless the person at the DMV requests that his/her information not be transmitted, it will be sent to the county election department for verification.  Information from driver authorization cards is never transmitted.

Tuesday March 7, 2017

1:30 PM

Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections

Agenda²

• Room 3142 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4401 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

AB143 (WS) , SJR2

SJR2 would ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in Nevada.  Whether this would eventually lead to the inclusion of the amendment into the US Constitution is not certain, but substantial evidence exists that women still struggle to be paid equally and treated equally in the workplace and private life.  We therefore support any debate that allows these issues to be heard in a public forum.

1:30 PM

Senate Committee on Judiciary

Agenda

• Room 2134 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4412 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

SB125

SB125 would automatically restore the right to vote for persons who have been convicted and completed either their full term of probation, if the term is under one year, or at least one year of probation if the term of probation is more than one year. 

Thursday March 9, 2017

1:30 PM

Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections

Agenda¹

• Room 3142 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4401 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

AB155 (WS) , AJR7

AJR7 is a resolution that opposes any substantive changes to the Medicare provisions of Social Security.

Please join the League of Women Voters of Las Vegas Valley for our March 18th community meeting on Guardianship in Nevada.  Our Annual Members Meeting will follow right after the community meeting.  We are consolidating into our 501c3 organization, so you won’t want to miss all the new and exciting plans we have for the upcoming year!

League Legislative Update!

If you find this information useful, please consider donating to the League of Women Voters of Las Vegas Valley today http://lwvlasvegasvalley.org/membership.html

SJR2, which ratifies the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution, will be on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday, March 1^st for a vote at 11am.

You can watch the recorded Senate Legislative Operations and Elections hearing on this historic resolution on February 20^th here:

http://nvleg.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=14&clip_id=6687

To be the most effective, please contact your Senator to let him/her know that you support SJR2.  You can find your Senator by going to http://mapserve1.leg.state.nv.us/whoRU/ and put your address in at the top of the page on the right-hand side of the page. 

When the district numbers (the colored numbers) appear, click on them to see your Nevada Senator.  Click on your Senator’s name to go to his/her bio page; you will then be able to see that person’s email address.

When you email your Senator, please be polite, put Vote Yes On SJR2 in the subject line, and then provide a concise, personal reason why the ratification of the ERA is important to you or someone close to you.

You can watch the floor session from the legislative website on Wednesday here: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Calendar/A/

You can also register your opinion about this resolution on the legislative polling page: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Opinions/79th2017/A/

SB147, which provides tax credits to employers who help employees find and pay for childcare, will be heard Thursday March 2^nd at 3:30pm in the Senate Revenue and Economic Development Committee.

If you support this bill, you can provide public comments at the Grant Sawyer Building at 555 E. Washington Ave., in room 4412E.  Please sign-in when you arrive, put you are in favor of the bill, and indicated that you will provide public comments.

You can also register your opinion about this resolution on the legislative polling page: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Opinions/79th2017/A/

You can watch the hearing online from the legislative webpage: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Calendar/A/

3:30 PM

Senate Committee on Revenue and Economic Development

Agenda

• Room 2135 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4412E of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

SB147

To let the committee members know that you support the bill and would like each one to please vote yes, you can contact these Senators:

Julia Ratti – Chair   Julia.Ratti@sen.state.nv.us

Aaron D. Ford – Vice Chair   Aaron.Ford@sen.state.nv.us

David R. Parks     David.Parks@sen.state.nv.us

Patricia Farley      Patricia.Farley@sen.state.nv.us

Michael Roberson    Michael.Roberson@sen.state.nv.us

Ben Kieckhefer     Ben.Kieckhefer@sen.state.nv.us

Heidi S. Gansert     Heidi.Gansert@sen.state.nv.us

Please put Vote Yes on SB147 in the subject line, be polite, and provide a concise personal reason why you support SB147.

The League of Women Voters of Nevada endorses SB211, which will enable the political parties to hold presidential preference primaries instead of caucuses in February of general election years.  This bill allows the parties to voluntarily select a presidential preference primary by notifying the Secretary of State’s Office.

If selected, presidential preference primaries will be paid for by reducing early voting in the June primaries by 3 days and reserving that money for a presidential primary.  Average voter turnout for the June primaries is traditionally low and can be well-served by 11 days of early voting, which includes a weekend to allow for Souls to the Polls.

We feel it is better to reduce early voting days for the June primary to allow for a presidential preference primary, with 3 days of early voting and absentee voting, than to support a caucus system that offers neither.  Anyone who cannot participate in a caucus on the specified date are currently denied access to the process.  

 https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/79th2017/Bill/5087/Overview

The League of Women Voters of Nevada will be supporting some important bills this week.  We are asking that if you agree that these bills are important, please take action.

(We also just heard that the presidential preference primary bill now has a number and has been referred to Senate Legislative Operations and Elections. 

The bill is SB211: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/79th2017/Bill/5087/Overview

It has no fiscal note, provides three day of early voting, absentee voting, will run the primary at the end of February, and is voluntary.  The parties may ask the state to run a presidential preference primary instead of doing a caucus.)

On Wednesday March 1^st the Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor, Subcommittee on Energy will hear bill AB223.  This bill will require Nevada Energy to do more to help customers achieve energy efficiency.  

It is counter-intuitive for a company to encourage customers to use less of its product, so it is important that the state lay out a clear directive for our electricity utility to pursue energy efficiency measures.

If you support this measure and cannot attend the meeting in person, please visit the legislative polling page and register your support for AB223: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Opinions/79th2017/A/

 If you support this measure and can attend to either sign-in in support of the bill and then sit in the hearing room, or sign-in in support of the bill and provide public testimony indicating your support, the hearing will be in room 4401 at the Grant Sawyer Building on 555 E. Washington Ave. (crossroads are Main Street and Washington, just north of the Cashman Field Center).  

The hearing is scheduled to begin 20 minutes after the conclusion of the Committee on Commerce and Labor hearing, which starts at 1:30.  An estimate would be a start time of 2:30. (Welcome to governing in Nevada)

Wednesday March 1, 2017

See Agenda

Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor, Subcommittee on Energy

Agenda

• Room 4100 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4401 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

AB223

If you can’t make the hearing on Wednesday, there will be a second chance to show support in-person on Friday in the Senate.  Senator Spearman has a similar energy efficiency bill, SB150.

You can show support for SB150 on the polling page: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Opinions/79th2017/A/

The hearing for SB150 is at 1:00pm at the Grant Sawyer Building 555 E. Washington in room 4412E.  You can sign-in in support of the bill and then just sit in the hearing or you can sign-in in support of the bill and provide public comment.

Friday March 3, 2017

1:00 PM

Senate Committee on Commerce, Labor and Energy, Subcommittee on Energy

Agenda

• Room 2144 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4412E of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

SB65, SB146, SB150

The League of Women Voters of Nevada is tracking the following legislative hearings for the week of February 20, 2017.

You can live-stream hearings on the legislative website at: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Calendar/A/

League offers an Advocacy Guide for how to use all the legislative website features at: https://lwvlvvblog.org/2017/01/22/lwvlvv-2017-advocacy-guide/

February 20, 2017

8:00 AM

Joint Meeting of the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means and Senate Committee on Finance

Agenda

• Room 4100 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4406 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

1050, 1051, 3920

The meeting covers the Secretary of State’s budget, including a recommendation to fold the Help America Vote Act budget into the SOS’s budget.  Federal funds have run out for HAVA, but the SOS Office is asking to continue the program with state general funds.

3:30 PM

Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections

Agenda

• Room 1214 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4412 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

SJR2

SJR2 would ratify the Equal Rights Amendment

Wednesday February 22, 2017

1:30 PM

Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services

Agenda

• Room 3138 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4404B of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

AB108, AB111

AB108 provides for a periodic review of Medicaid reimbursement rates.

3:30 PM

Senate Committee on Health and Human Services

Agenda

• Room 2149 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson St., Carson City, NV.
• Videoconferenced to Room 4412 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas, NV.

SB28, SB92, SB95, SB96, SB120, SB123

Analysis of various Medicaid reimbursement rates.

The Governor is proposing a $20 million cut to Nevada’s mental healthcare budget. 

The rationale is that with the Medicaid expansion Nevada can cut state money, but as we know from national news, no one is certain that the Affordable Care Act will remain intact or whether the Medicaid expansion will be scaled back through smaller block grants.  So we need a contingency plan.

And as we’ve heard in testimony in the Nevada Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee, even with the Medicaid expansion Nevada’s mental healthcare system is still woefully underfunded.

We need you to do two things:

1.  Contact your state Senator and Assemblyperson to let him/her know that you oppose the cut to mental healthcare.

2.  Attend the League of Women Voters of Las Vegas Valley Rally to Restore the Mental Healthcare Budget on March 11th.

The NAACP is hosting an Energy Justice Leadership Training event Feb. 24-25.  It’s free and open to the public.