Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 | 11:28 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- Beyond Nevada's five elected officials in Washington, Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas spend close to $33,000 a month combined to protect their interests in Washington, with Clark County and the state also financing their own lobbying efforts.
As the second session of the 108th Congress started last month, state and local officials are putting their faith -- and money-- into hired professionals in Washington to help tap into more federal money and keep an eye on transportation and public land issues, especially as the state's population continues to grow.
"High-growth states don't get treated well in (funding) formulas," Mike Pieper, Nevada's lobbyist, said.
Pieper said certain clauses in laws will not allow older, larger states to lose money so growing states have trouble getting money to finance the population increases.
Nevada spends $267,000 for Pieper's lobbying efforts.
As Gov. Kenny Guinn's eyes and ears on Capitol Hill, Pieper said his list of priorities is "pretty much the same" every year, but transportation will be a huge issue in the coming months as Congress prepares to renew billions of dollars in highway and transit funding.
The Bush administration proposed some cuts to the bill, but Pieper said so far there has been an increase in spending approved by Congress. Nevada stands to gain just under $2 billion in transportation funding over the next six years if the bill makes its way through Congress.
Also on Pieper's watch list is Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, or TANF, which distributes welfare money to needy families.
Nevada receives about $3.7 million of money set aside go specifically for high-growth states, but Pieper said this has remained flat since 2001.
As for education funding, Pieper would like to see Nevada obtain higher levels of federal special education funding made through Individual with Disabilities Education Act.
The law requires that states give educational benefits to students with disabilities, but Pieper said it does not give the state all the money it needs to do this.
When the act was passed in the 1960s, the government promised to provide 40 percent of the average per-student cost, but has only come up with 18 percent of that so far, according to Pieper's office.
The No Child Left Behind Act will also be on his radar screen, as he and the state try to determine what the requirements actually cost the state since some of the requirements are duplicated by state rules.
"It is hard to put a dollar figure on it," Pieper said. "It is very hard to quantify how much more we need."
He said funding for moderate and low-income schools was below what they needed before and remains under-funded through the new law.
Clark County renewed an $8,000-a-month contract with lobbyist Marcus Faust last summer through 2006, said Dan Musgrove, the county's director of intergovernmental relations. Faust will also look at transportation and public lands issues as well as focus on Homeland Security money.
"People tend to forget that Las Vegas is one of five cities in Clark County," Musgrove said. He said it was important for lawmakers to realize that 90 percent of the Strip is outside the city limits.
Faust also has a $6,364-a-month contract through June with the Clark County airport system and $4,000-a-month contract through December 2005 for the Clark County Water Reclamation District.
The City of Las Vegas is paying $11,500 a month to Ball, Janik LLP, a Washington-based lobbying firm, to watch transportation and other federal spending.
Deputy City Manager Betsy Fretwell said the firm will also fight for money to turn the old post office into a museum and to acquire hydrogen buses for the city.
The city has also renewed its $7,000-a-month contract with Nevada-based Lionel, Sawyer & Collins. Former Sen. Richard Bryan, who now works for the law firm, will focus on Bureau of Land Management issues. The firm has worked with the city since 2002 and renewed this contract for the year.
Bryan said he will be focusing on a parcel of land at Hualapai Way and Alta Drive. The city has a patent on the land with certain limitations and Bryan will look at how its price would be calculated. He will also look at overall BLM issues and how the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is used.
The same firm has a $10,000-a-month contract with North Las Vegas also to look at BLM property, economic development opportunities and ways to get money to build a new library and a water reclamation facility, City Manager Gregory Rose said.
Rose said the year-long contract is set to expire on March 11, but the city is in the process of negotiating a renewal through 2005.
Henderson has been working with Barbara McCall, who runs her own firm in Washington, for more than 15 years, city spokeswoman Cindy Herman said. This year's contract is worth $51,408, or about $4,284 a month.
Herman said McCall works on general funding issues and any issues the city finds necessary as the year progresses. There was not a specific list yet of issues they would be following.
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