Nevada Legislature lobbied heavily by local governments

Erin Neff

Wednesday, May 1, 2002 | 11:16 a.m.

Nevada's Legislature sees more lobbyists from local governments than nearly any other state, a report released today says.

"Capitol Offenders," a five-year study of lobbyists' influence on state legislatures, ranks Nevada seventh in the nation in the number of legislative lobbyists employed by local governments.

"That is to me the most interesting thing I learned," said Leah Rush, director of state projects for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization focusing on ethics in government. "I had no idea that there was such a government presence in government."

Nevada had 50 registered local government lobbyist employers out of the 935 that registered for the entire 2001 session, according to the report.

A glance at the Legislative Counsel Bureau's lobbying registry from the 2001 session shows just how many lobbyists those 50 employers have.

The city of Las Vegas had 10 registered lobbyists; Henderson had eight; and Clark County had 12. Some cities, such as North Las Vegas, included their mayor and one or more council members as registered lobbyists. Others, such as Las Vegas, Clark County and Henderson, did not.

"I'm not at all surprised that we ranked seventh," said Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas. "I think folks should feel confident that their municipal governments are well represented in Carson City."

In addition to the registered city or county lobbyists, lobbyists also represent government agencies such as the Metropolitan Police Department and the Clark County District Attorney's Office.

Goldwater has twice felt the power of the local government lobbying block -- once in 1999 when he was out lobbied on one of his bills 12-to-1, and to an even greater extent in 2001 when he and a bill co-sponsor were attacked in a municipal government public relations campaign.

Goldwater and Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, proposed shifting some of the motor vehicle privilege tax that local governments receive to the state's school districts to fund teacher raises.

"It was just an all-out assault," Goldwater said. "They accused Bob and I of trying to close down police stations and fire stations.

"It's an imposing force."

In addition to the presence local government representatives have in the lobbying ranks, 13 of the 63 lawmakers in the 2001 session were public employees.

The states with more government lobbyist employers also had greater populations. California topped out with 217, followed by Florida's 131, Texas with 108 and Minnesota, Arizona and Michigan rounding out the top six.

Nevada ranked a surprising third for the number of casinos who employ registered lobbyists. The Public Integrity report lists 31 employers -- just one shy of the 32 registered in California and Louisiana.

The report ranks Nevada fifth for single issue lobbyist employers, sixth for real estate, 16th for health services and 17th for insurance.

During the 2001 Legislature, the influence of lobbyists was well documented as the session drew to a midnight adjournment and lobbyists rushed onto the floors of both houses instructing lawmakers which bills had to be passed by the deadline.

A summary of Public Integrity's report is available online at www.publicintegrity.org.com