Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Senate, Assembly pass pet projects

CARSON CITY -- The Senate and Assembly took different directions in spending extra state money for their pet projects. Most of the Senate's projects were in Northern Nevada. The Senate allocated money on such things as developing white water rapids on the Truckee River in Reno, rebuilding an old railroad between Virginia City and Carson City and buying a painting of a Las Vegas ranch.

The Assembly concentrated on enhancing social and educational programs -- providing extra salary for performance to teachers, constructing restrooms, showers and storage facilities for the homeless in Clark County and grants to local libraries.

The Senate and Assembly approved the so-called "pork" bills shortly before the close of the regular session at 1 a.m. Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said the labeling of the measures as "pork" is not accurate. All of these allocations came after testimony from people who testified to the "worthiness" of these projects, Raggio said.

Senate Bill 526 and Assembly Bill 580 each also included programs for the military. The Senate created the Nevada War on Terrorism Medal at a cost of $81,900. The Assembly set aside $1 million under the Patriot Relief Act to reimburse National Guard personnel called to duty to help pay premiums on group life insurance and provide money to help those who suffered economic hardships.

In addition, the Assembly also included a plan by which an estimated 300 government workers who were called to duty could collect the difference between military pay and regular pay. There was disagreement in the Senate on one section of its bill to spend $250,000 to hire a consultant to develop a plan for breaking up the Clark County School District.

Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, said the deconsolidation of the school district "has been discussed over and over again." She said the money would be better spent for such things as starting health centers.

But Sen. Sandra Tiffany, R-Las Vegas, said there was a former plan that left a lot of questions such as how many districts could be created, what to do with the contracts of teachers and how to handle the bonding for school construction. Tiffany, a long-time proponent of breaking up the school district, one of the largest and fastest growing in the nation with enrollment of 300,000 students, said the allocation will permit the hiring of an expert to answer those questions.

The Senate set aside $600,000 for the white water rapids plan with local governments in Washoe County contributing the rest. It allocated $500,000 to continue construction of the V&T railroad tracks between Carson City and Virginia City and it agreed to spend $60,000 to buy the 1876 Frederick Dellenbaugh painting of Las Vegas Ranch.

The Senate bill provides $10 million for start-up of the Nevada Cancer Institute in Reno plus $150,000 for the institute to study pain management. The bill also allocates $2.2 million for a regional juvenile detention center in Ely; $500,000 for improvements in rural airports; $1.5 million for the Boys and Girls Clubs in Nevada to teach children ages 6 to 8 to avoid drugs and alcohol and $250,000 to the Center for Basque Studies in Reno for a biographical database and formation group of experts to assist with genealogy research.

SB526 allocates $1 million to the Desert Research Institute to buy equipment to study groundwater yields in the various basins in Nevada; $350,000 restoration of Lake Mansion in Reno; $15,000 to transport 80-ton center cab locomotive from Nevada Test Site to the Boulder City Railroad Museum; $1 million for Opportunity Village in Las Vegas to help in construction of a new southwest campus. Also in the Senate bill is $5 million for Reno's construction of the Community Assistance Center; $350,000 for creation of a Nevada Online Encyclopedia; $100 for the Advisory Council on Fitness and Wellness and $150,000 for repairing the Boulder City Museum.

The Assembly appropriated $5 million a year for the school districts "to adopt a program of performance pay and enhanced compensation for the recruitment, retention and mentoring of teachers. It allocated $175,000 to start a pilot project to provide discounted medical services for the uninsured working residents of Clark County; $2 million a year is appropriated for the homeless facilities in Clark County; $600,000 a year goes in grants to local libraries; $150,000 annually for the Women's Research Institute at UNLV and $4 million will go to the construction of an academic Medical Center with an organ transplant center in Clark County.

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