By David McGrath Schwartz (contact), Cy Ryan (contact)

Sat, Nov 22, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Carson City — State officials want to step up their assessments of the soundness of banks, credit unions, trust companies and thrifts.

George Burns, administrator of the Financial Institutions Division, said that because of the shaky economy the public is at an increased risk of losing its money.

Burns wants to hire 10 additional examiners to conduct more frequent evaluations of financial institutions doing business in the state. The division now has 24 examiners.

Burns wants to conduct inspections at least every 12 months. The most distressed institutions would be inspected every six months under his plan.

Burns said the state would receive more revenue from the additional inspections — enough to pay the cost of adding inspectors.

When regulators discover a problem, the information is turned over to the state attorney general’s office for potential prosecution, Burns told the Legislative Interim Finance Committee on Thursday.

In Nevada, economic troubles have led to one financial company voluntarily liquidating, two others closing and a distressed institution consolidating, Burns said.

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Agencies often make the hard sell when asking elected leaders for money.

But the Public Safety Department seemed to reach a new level Thursday when it asked the legislative Interim Finance Committee to expand its drug dog program: Give us the money or the dogs die.

The agency, which is starting the drug dog program, asked to adopt three dogs that Las Vegas was getting rid of because of its own budget cuts. Legislative leaders had expressed unhappiness at over-budget overtime costs.

Assemblyman Pete Goicochea asked what would happen to the dogs if the state did not adopt them.

Two of the dogs would be euthanized because of their age, the public safety representative explained.

Speaker Barbara Buckley then spoke up. “You’re going to euthanize the dogs?” she said in disbelief.

The agency rep acknowledged that no, the dogs would land at another agency or be adopted out to a family. But, he said, “these dogs live for finding dope.” Taking away that job, he said, would be like killing them.

The Interim Finance Committee voted to not expand the drug dog program anyway.

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Ben Kieckhefer, who recently lost his job as director of communications for Gov. Jim Gibbons, won’t be joining the growing ranks of Nevada’s unemployed.

Kieckhefer will accept the position of public information officer for the state Health and Human Services Department. He will begin Dec. 1, when he is scheduled to leave the governor’s office.

The new job comes with a pay cut. Kieckhefer earned $100,000 a year as the governor’s spokesman. He will be paid about $75,000 in his new position.

Gibbons chose Daniel Burns, who works in the state Public Safety Department, as his new communications director.

Burns is based in Las Vegas and will remain there, making it the first time in memory that a governor’s spokesman will be based in Southern Nevada.