LEGISLATIVE UPDATE -
Carson City, Nevada
February 26, 2017
This is Day 21 of the 120-day legislative session. We are still awaiting the first committee hearing regarding Assembly Bill (AB) 121 -- our amendments to last session's Senate Bill (SB) 241 that eliminated Evergreen Clauses and seriously affected union leave for many of our members. AB 121 was introduced by Assemblyman Steve Yeager and sent to the Judiciary Committee on February 10, 2017.
Last Thursday, we spoke with the Governor's General Counsel, Daniel Stewart about AB 121 and several other issues including increased pay for all state officers and Capital Police's issue with its DPS-II designation. It was a positive meeting in the sense that he spent a good deal of time taking notes and interacting on the issues with apparent interest. He did say the Governor is likely not interested in rolling back the Evergreen Clause prohibition, but I explained that we're not as much interested in retaining the formal name as we are in simply retaining things like merit increases, steps and longevity if the contract expires. I also focused on the union leave issue. Mr. Stewart was much more receptive to these discussions once he knew we aren't going to argue over the mere "Evergreen Clause" phrase. For some reason, that phrase is a hot button issue for the Governor.
With respect to our Juvenile Justice issue (amending NRS 62G), we should have the BDR number this week from Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson's Judiciary Committee bill. Thereafter, we will await the scheduling of a full committee hearing. Meetings with Judicial Committee members to advance our position ahead of time have been positive and are ongoing. The Committee members with whom we've spoken acknowledge our issue and the few amendments we wish to make and they have been supportive of our position thus far.
We continue to monitor the Body Worn Camera bill (SB 176). As I previously reported, the bill's sponsor, Senator Aaron Ford met with us about some problems we have with the bill and now we understand that he is getting some resistance from some Cities and Counties regarding the funding mechanism built into the bill.
Speaking of increased pay for state law enforcement, NSLEOA President Sean Giurlani and I testified last Thursday before the Assembly Ways & Means, Senate Finance and Subcommittee on Public Safety. You can view the testimony at the following link: http://nvleg.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=14&clip_id=6743 (fast forward to about 2 hours and 34 minutes to see our testimony).
With respect to the heart & lung issue, we have submitted our proposed amendment to NRS 617.135 to several legislators and we have two of them (Assistant Assembly Majority Leader Kelvin Atkinson and Senator Mark Manendo) working on obtaining a bill to insert our amendment. We should have that information later this week.
Finally, our members in state corrections are in the Governor's budget. He approved an expenditure of $17.5 million for corrections and the state's IT professionals. We are inquiring how this money will be used for corrections officers and how much will go to their increased wages and benefits.
Keep watching for our weekly updates from the Legislature. If you wish to reach me directly in Carson City during the session, contact me on my cell phone at (702) 595-0683 or through my e-mail at
[email protected].
As always, be safe.
Rick McCann
NAPSO Executive Director
