Tuition breaks proposed to attract rural lawyers

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 | 8:26 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- An interim legislative committee Tuesday recommended tuition breaks be given to students at the Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas if they agree to practice law in rural areas.

Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, said there could be a "forgiveness of tuition" if the student agreed to practice four to five years in a rural county.

The Committee of the Criminal Justice System in Rural Nevada agreed to propose to the 2005 Legislature a bill that would create a program similar to WICHE where students who go out of state to study at professional schools get help from the state. In return they are required to return to Nevada to practice.

No cost estimate was available.

The committee, headed by Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, also agreed to send a letter to Gov. Kenny Guinn asking him to recommend funding to the Legislature for a new $9 million courthouse in White Pine County in the 2005-2007 budget.

The state's maximum security prison is in Ely and the trials of many of high-risk security inmates are held in the present courthouse that lacks adequate security.