Editorial: Next census to aid our vibrant county

Friday, Oct. 22, 1999 | 9:37 a.m.

Clark County, which has about two-thirds of the state's population, definitely will get even stronger after the 2001 Legislature redraws political boundaries based on new population information afforded by the 2000 Census. It already is anticipated that Clark County will get 14 1/2 seats in the 21-member Senate (one-half would be shared with neighboring rural counties) and 29 of the 42 seats in the Assembly. As the Sun's Cy Ryan noted in a Thursday story, this means that if elected officials from Clark County stick together on a regional issue they would have enough power to even override a governor's veto.

Despite their already small population during the 1990s, Northern Nevadans have been able to maintain key leadership positions in the Legislature. So rather than losing these powerful posts, Northern Nevadans may try to persuade the 2001 Legislature to increase the current total number of 63 legislators to 75, which is the cap set by the Constitution. Although under that scheme Clark County would receive even more representatives, getting four new Senate seats and eight new Assembly seats, no Northern Nevadans would be in danger of having to face each other in an election after redistricting and possibly diminish their influence.

At its next meeting in January an interim reapportionment committee is scheduled to address the issue of whether to add more seats. Despite the inclination to appease Northern Nevada, the Legislature instead should be skeptical of any plan to add more seats, a cost that certainly won't be cheap for Nevada taxpayers.