CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Nevada legislative leaders stressed bipartisanship on the opening day of the legislative session that’s expected to bring tense policy discussions about pandemic restrictions, taxes and budget cuts.
Lawmakers kicked off their four-month legislative session on Monday with swearing-in ceremonies scaled back to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The corridors of the Legislature - typically bustling with lobbyists and lawmakers’ families - were relatively empty due to rules prohibiting most members of the public from crowding the building. Lawmakers entered the building in masks after receiving rapid COVID-19 tests from a private provider contracted by the Legislature to conduct free testing in the parking lot.
“Normally opening day is packed full of people in these chambers and these galleries and there’s a lot of pomp and circumstance that we’ve had to forego,” Assembly Majority Floor Leader Teresa Benitez-Thompson, a Reno Democrat, said.
As a substitute for traditional festivities, the Assembly broadcast a video from new lawmakers’ families. An ambient piano track played in the background as spouses, children and siblings congratulated new lawmakers on their election victories, prayed for their health and safety and expressing confidence in their ability to rise to the occasion and help manage the state through the pandemic.
Although Democrats enjoy majorities in both chambers and will likely be able to pass non-tax-related bills without Republican support, leaders from both parties stressed a need to work across the aisle.
“I have been a member of this body long enough to not have on rose-colored glasses and I know there will be differences of opinion, ideology, and policy, but as the saying goes: ‘We can agree without being disagreeable,’” Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson, a Las Vegas Democrat, said.
Assembly Minority Leader Robin Titus also said the circumstances call for bipartisanship. People from throughout the state expect lawmakers to cooperate to get stuff done, but compromises would depend on the policies under consideration, she said.
Titus, a Republican from Wellington, said she worried about last-minute changes to conduct floor sessions in-person and smaller committee hearings electronically because, in all proceedings, lawmakers have historically relied on robust discussion and testimony from the public, she said.
Although Nevada lawmakers have been prioritized for early vaccination, not all have opted to take the doses offered. Titus said she encouraged everyone eligible - including lawmakers - to get vaccinated, which she sees as key to reopening the doors of the Legislature to the public more quickly.
“We have no real anti-vaccinators in our caucus. We all just want to be wise about it. Many of our members said, ‘Hey, we shouldn’t be first in line. There are many people that are more needy and at-risk than I am, so I’ll take it when it’s my turn,’” she said.
Lawmakers also passed a bill approving $15 million in spending over the course of the legislative session, the same amount earmarked at the start of the 2019 legislative session.
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Metz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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