Legislative briefs for March 16, 2001

Friday, March 16, 2001 | 9:49 a.m.

State tries to keep workers

CARSON CITY -- A bill has been introduced in the Senate to discourage counties and cities from hiring state workers with specialized training.

State officials have been complaining to the Legislature that they train their employees with special skills, such as in law enforcement or correctional work. But then they leave for higher paying jobs, particularly in governments in Southern Nevada. That is contributing to the high turnover in some professions in state government.

The Senate Government Affairs Committee Thursday introduced Senate Bill 354, which would prohibit a local government from hiring a state worker with specialized training for one year after he leaves the state. If the local government did hire the person before the year had elapsed, it would have to pay the state up to three times the cost of the specialized training.

Bill focuses on nursing shortage

CARSON CITY -- Assemblywoman Vivian Freeman, D-Reno, Thursday introduced a bill aimed at easing the nursing shortage that she said has "reached crisis proportions."

Assembly Bill 378 would use $250,000 from the tobacco settlement trust fund to provide Millennium Scholarships for nursing students who graduated from a Nevada high school after May 1, 1985, but before May 1, 2000. The bill also sets up a loan program for nursing students.

The bill creates an advisory committee to work with the State Department of Education to promote nursing.