Government Affairs Report – January 2019

Who can it be knocking at my door?
Make no sound, tip-toe across the floor.
If he hears, he’ll knock all day,
I’ll be trapped, and here I’ll have to stay.

Who Can It Be Now?
Men At Work (1981)

Moving through Election Day on November 6 to Thanksgiving, followed by NAIOP’s annual meeting and concluding with the final meeting of the County Commission prior to a 3-seat recomposition which will include Chairman Steve Sisolak vacating his seat to assume his role as Governor of the State of Nevada, and the December holiday season, one is left to wonder how to stay ahead of the curve as we run headlong into the 2019 Nevada Legislative Session.  Set to begin on February 4, a mere month from now, Legislators have put in place 968 Bill Draft Requests, and Legislative Counsel Bureau has dropped 177 bills – not quite 20% of outstanding BDR’s – for the upcoming Session.  Indeed, comprehensive speed-reading seems to rate high on the agenda of “things to do” as we prepare for our biennial trek to Carson City.

Yet, just when screaming “UNCLE” is right on the tip of your tongue, the phone rings and the Caller-ID doesn’t recognize the number.  Intoxicated by festive holiday spirits and more than a bit of egg nog, you pick up the phone to hear the cheery voice of…a candidate for city office.  GAH!  I thought this ended back in November!  But then you remember and just as Seinfeld whispered “Newman” between his gritted teeth, you exhale “Nevada” and hear the familiar campaign spiel, as your mind drifts to strangling whoever had the wonderful idea of running city elections separately from the general statewide and national elections.  How did running an election every single year seem like a good idea?  “There ought to be a law.”

There might be one.

Amid the nearly 1,000 BDR’s and 177 bills, AB 50 has emerged as a potential favorite to stem the tide of perpetual fundraising currently enabled by Nevada law.  As written, AB 50 moves all city elections – both primary and general – to the statewide election cycle beginning in 2022.  The bill also makes accommodations for elected officials who were elected in 2017 as well as 2019 such that the present “staggered” election for offices with 4-year terms remains in place.  While it notes a fiscal impact to local municipalities, no fiscal note has been attached, yet.

Although we are expecting more BDR’s (more than 1,200 were filed in 2017), an up-to-date list of legislation we are currently tracking heading into the 2019 Legislative Session is being assembled for the Government Affairs Committee.  Please contact the Committee with any questions you may have.

Odds & Ends

From 2015 through 2016, Republicans held all Nevada state constitutional offices and majorities in both houses of the Legislature.  On November 6, 2018, incumbent Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske (R) defeated challenger Assemblyman Nelson Araujo (D) by just more than 6,200 votes, or .6%, to stave off a Democrat sweep of all Nevada state constitutional offices (Democrats already held majorities in both the Nevada Senate and Assembly) thus denying Democrats’ ability to hold all Nevada state constitutional offices and majorities in both houses of the Legislature for the first time since 1938 – the second of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four-term Presidency.

Jonathan Leleu, Director
Kerrie Kramer, Government Affairs Analyst
Fennemore Craig
jleleu@fclaw.com | kkramer@fclaw.com  | T: 702.692.8037