Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Does meeting shift show Las Vegas flexing political muscle?

Sun Coverage

Like a migrating bird that has lost its bearings, the state capital — or at least part of it — will move to Las Vegas this summer.

The Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee will spend the next 18 months alternating its meetings between Northern and Southern Nevada, the first time the key interim group of lawmakers will regularly gather in the state’s population base.

Click to enlarge photo

Debbie Smith

Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, the committee’s chairwoman, said Thursday she wanted to switch locations to save money on travel and give Las Vegas lawmakers a break from the journey north.

But because this involves politicians, nothing is taken at face value.

Other theories:

• Northern lawmakers want to experience the Las Vegas heat in August.

• Smith, who is interested in getting the top Assembly job as speaker but is from Sparks, is trying to curry favor with the Southern Nevada caucus and signal she’s sensitive to the state’s population dynamics.

• Lawmakers finally realize that most Nevadans live in Las Vegas.

It’s a potentially significant symbolic move that could be viewed years from now as the moment when the state’s power began shifting south.

With no more Sen. Bill Raggio and Bernice Matthews serving with their Northern Nevada sense of superiority (a colleague once proclaimed Northern Nevada a “knowledge economy”) this could break the iron grip that has kept Clark County at a disadvantage despite its size. (One example: It has among the lowest dollar amounts of state support per pupil in K-12 education compared with other counties.)

Southern Nevada partisans love to complain about the tyranny of the north, how the historical roots longtime hands such as Raggio siphoned power and tax money away from the south, where the bulk of the growth was occurring.

Many Northern Nevadans, at least privately, viewed the growth like a benign tumor — harmless, but annoying. It was nice that people wanted to visit Tumor Town and spend tax dollars gambling in it, but there was no harm in ignoring it.

Or maybe it’s what Smith said, money and convenience.

The Interim Finance Committee was designed to implement changes in the budget that happen between the regular sessions, which take place every two years. The committee meets every 45 to 60 days.

Smith said she wants all lawmakers to be together to better facilitate dialogue. The Interim Finance Committee tried holding meetings via remote conferencing, with northerners and southerners both in home territory, but it led to poor communication, she said.

Department heads can attend by video conference from either Carson City or Las Vegas, depending on their location.

Smith also said she recognizes that for lawmakers “it’s increasingly difficult to miss work” to spend the day traveling to and from meetings.

A trip to Carson City involves an increasingly expensive Southwest flight — a $400 ticket, said Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas — to the Reno airport.

Then to get to the seat of Nevada government it’s a drive of 45 minutes to an hour past cow pastures and a never-ending bridge construction project, which perhaps appropriately is the south’s pre-eminent example of a Northern Nevada pork project.

Asked about the committee’s shift south, Las Vegas lawmakers said they appreciate it. Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, another contender to be speaker, called it a welcome change.

Sen. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, meanwhile, looked like she had a lemon for lunch.

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