Thursday, Dec. 21, 2006 | 7:20 a.m.
PROBLEM: Shortage of foster families, resulting in overcrowding at shelter.
SEEKING: State funding for 160 new family service positions to support new foster care case managers, foster parent recruitment staff and other positions.
PROBLEM: The County Commission and the mayors of area cities, led by Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, right, tried unsuccessfully to defeat a recent ballot initiative.
SEEKING: Government offi cials are hoping to place their own less restrictive amendment on the 2008 ballot before voters go to the polls to approve the ballot initiative for a second time, which is necessary for it to become law.
PROBLEM: A state task force determined that the state Transportation Department faces a shortfall of at least $3.8 billion over the next nine years.
SEEKING: Redirect some state funds from other areas to help relieve the shortfall, increasing the states gasoline tax and other actions.
It's that time of year when local government officials are making a list and checking it twice - a list, that is, of priorities for the approaching state legislative session.
For 120 days every other year, local officials get a shot to push through their legislative agendas at the state level, where a small change in the statute can eliminate another 24 months of headaches for a city or county government.
Topping Clark County's lists are child welfare, eminent domain and improved funding for transportation, as well as a host of smaller issues that affect local governments on a daily basis.
For Clark County, there is one standout issue for 2007 in Carson City: improving child welfare.
The county is struggling to find enough foster families, and the shortage has resulted in overcrowding at Child Haven, its emergency shelter for abused, neglected and abandoned children. On Wednesday 110 children were at Child Haven, down from a population of more than 200 earlier this year. At that time newborns were staying in staff offices and older children were sleeping on cots in the gymnasium.
The county and other agencies took heat this year when a national child welfare expert hired by the state to investigate 79 suspicious deaths of children in Clark County between 2001 and 2004 found that poor communication and coordination among officials at the coroner's office, police agencies, family services and the district attorney's office hobbled the investigations.
To help turn the corner on child welfare, the county is seeking state funding for 160 new family service positions. The two-year request for $22.4 million would support new foster care case managers, foster parent recruitment staff and other positions.
The county also wants lawmakers to allow private organizations to recruit and license foster care homes. Currently, state law permits only the county to do so.
To meet its recruitment goals, the county needs an additional 450 foster beds.
County Commission Chairman Rory Reid said he has had several meetings with legislators from both parties on the county's child welfare priorities.
Another key issue for local governments is eminent domain.
In November state voters passed a ballot initiative, known as the Property Owner's Bill of Rights, that restricts government's right to take private land.
Officials argue that the initiative's onerous language would, among other things, increase gridlock by slowing highway projects and cost taxpayers billions of dollars in additional land costs for public works developments.
In October, Clark County commissioners and the mayors of Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Boulder City banded together to call - unsuccessfully - for the initiative's defeat.
To become law, voters must approve the measure a second time in 2008, something local government officials hope to avert in next year's legislative session.
The strategy has two parts, according to Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, who has led opposition to the initiative:
Those provisions include a requirement that government reimburse landowners at a value equal to the property's "highest and best use" - rather than the fair market value based on existing zoning - and offer back land acquired through eminent domain to the original owner at the original price if it is not used for a public purpose within five years.
Highway funding itself is another issue that local governments intend to watch closely.
"Ultimately, we get blamed when people get stuck in traffic," Reid said.
A state task force determined that the state Transportation Department faces a deficit of at least $3.8 billion over the next nine years to build much-needed projects, such as widening portions of Interstate 15 and U.S. 95.
Woodbury, a member of the task force, said he hopes the Legislature will act on the group's recommendation to use the state's budget surplus for highways, redirect some state taxes to the state's highway fund, increase the gasoline tax by the rate of inflation and take other actions to close that funding gap.
Local governments, especially Clark County, Las Vegas and Henderson, also have strong interest in a bill that would create a regional airport authority for Southern Nevada. The bill would strip Clark County, which runs McCarran International Airport and several smaller airports, of oversight, shifting control to a board composed of representatives from several local governments and private interests.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman supports the move, but Clark County officials vehemently oppose it.
Other priorities vary among local governments.
North Las Vegas, for example, is asking the state for $8.4 million to repair Kiel Ranch, a historic site featuring one of Southern Nevada's oldest buildings that has been neglected for more than three decades.
Some believe the mid-1800s settlement could become a regional tourist attraction with parks and trails.
Las Vegas is seeking city representation on the Nevada Commission on Homeland Security.
Henderson, the state's second-largest city, has not proposed any bills.
"We didn't see anything really pressing," Henderson City Manager Phil Speight said.
But he said the city will be watching several issues, including the proposed regional airport authority and eminent domain.
Sun reporters Mike Trask and Mark Hansel contributed to this story.
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