LATEST NEWS

“Encouraging” was the word Nevada’s Chief Economist Bill Anderson used yesterday to describe the most recent labor market data for the Silver State. Anderson was speaking on behalf of the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) at the Economic Forum, the purpose of which is to provide “forecasts of the state’s General Fund revenues for each biennium budget.”

A report from the Pew Charitable Trusts ranks Nevada last among all 50 states in personal income growth since the Great Recession. While the report, which analyzed data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, finds that personal income in all states is now above pre-recession levels, Nevada’s growth was just 0.1 percent for over the period 2007-2015, lower than the national average growth rate of 1.6 percent and lower than other states in the Intermountain West.

This weekend, commencement exercises will take place at both of Nevada’s largest universities, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Nevada State College held its graduation last Saturday. Yet, these events in Nevada are cause for celebration for fewer students than elsewhere in the U.S. The number of students earning their bachelors degrees from these institutions remains far below the national average and also lower than many of the public colleges and universities in the Intermountain West.

Thirty-eight schools across Nevada celebrated National Charter School Week this week, and among them were the four new charter schools that have opened since 2014. More and more charter schools are expected to open across the state in coming years, thanks to a push from Governor Brian Sandoval to make the 2015 78th Legislative session “the education session.” However, a potential problem with funding could prevent charter schools from reaching the students in Nevada who need them most.

An estimated 55,000 children in Nevada—and more than five million children nationwide—are suffering from the instability and trauma caused by having an incarcerated parent, according to a new study from The Annie F. Casey Foundation. The report, “A Shared Sentence: The Devastating Toll of Incarceration on Kids, Families and Communities,” says that having a parent behind bars is “a stressful, traumatic experience of the same magnitude as abuse, domestic violence and divorce, with a potentially lasting negative impact on a child’s well-being.”

While news about national politics and the 2016 election has focused on the increasing polarization within and between the Democratic and Republican parties, another electoral force has been steadily but quietly growing: nonpartisan or independent voters.Nationally, independents have been on the rise fairly steadily since the early 1960s. Since 2008, more voters have identified as independent than as Democrat or Republican, and the gap has been growing according to this graph from the Pew Research Center:

While substantial progress has occurred in the U.S. on women’s issues in recent years, some states are doing better than others – and according to one new study, Nevada is doing worst of all in a number of areas. WalletHub recently compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 15 key metrics related to the socio-economic well-being of women, as well as their health care and safety.

As the AB 394 Legislative and Technical Advisory Committees continue their charge to determine the ideal structure for the Clark County School District, it is valuable to study other similar regions around the country to see how they have proceeded in establishing their school districts. Having moved to San Antonio in the past few months (where full disclosure I am employed by the San Antonio Independent School District), I believe there are important and useful comparisons between Clark and Bexar counties, which are similar in size and demographic diversity. The county comparison works well as both the Vegas and San Antonio metropolitan areas are contained largely in one county (San Antonio’s metropolitan area extends beyond Bexar County but the vast majority of the population is in Bexar County).

Nevada ranks 46th in the nation in the percentage of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher (American Community Survey, 2012). Only 22.4 percent of Nevada’s population age 25 years and older has a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to the U.S. average of 29.1 percent (see Figure 1). Higher levels of education are associated with higher wages and lower unemployment levels so increasing college attainment could have a significant impact on Nevada’s long-term economic health (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

During the 2015-2017 Legislative Session, 1,013 bills were proposed. At last count, 474 bills had been approved by both Houses and 433 had been signed by Governor Brian Sandoval. Below, the Guinn Center provides a summary of the major pieces of legislation in the Guinn Center’s five research areas: (1) Governing Nevada; (2) Growing Nevada; (3) Educating Nevada; (4) A Changing Nevada; and (5) Sustaining Nevada.

The 78th Session of the Nevada Legislature adjourned “sine die” shortly following the midnight deadline on June 1 after which no further legislative measures could be acted upon. Sine die literally means “without a day” and signifies the end of the legislative session since it does not set a time for reconvening

On or by Wednesday, May 27, the five major budget bills to implement the legislatively-approved Executive Budget are scheduled to be introduced, and exempt bills must be passed from committee. The major budget bills are: the Appropriations Act to provide general funds for the operation of state government; the Authorizations Act that provides for agency expenditures from Federal, fees, transfers, and other funding sources; the Distributive School Account bill for K-12 education funding;

Conference committees start appearing more often near the end of session as one House makes changes to a measure from the other House. If an amendment to a bill in the second House does not receive concurrence from the House of origin, and the second House does not recede from its amendment, a conference committee is called to attempt to resolve the differences.

The Guinn Center is proud to announce the Southern Nevada business community will recognize its executive director, Dr. Nancy E. Brune, this month with two separate distinctions for her efforts to help advance Nevada through policy research and analysis. On May 14, the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Southern Nevada will recognize Brune as a finalist for the 2015 Annual Women of Distinction Awards.

As the 78th Nevada Legislature enters its final month of the regular session, budget deadlines take prominence on the 120-Day Calendar. On Friday May 1, the Economic Forum established the final revenue projections for the legislatively approved budget. Monday, May 4, marks the date when the “money” committees of the two Houses “Start Resolving Budget Differences,” which are scheduled to be finished on Thursday, May 21.

Another milestone of the 78th Legislative Session will be reached on Friday, May 1, when the Economic Forum meets to provide the final revenue forecast. This forecast must be used for the final budget approved by the Legislature for the 2015-2017 biennium. The Forum was established in 1993 (SB23, Chapter 528, Statutes of Nevada, 1993) consisting of five private sector experts in the field of economics, taxation, or other economic forecasting discipline.

Our new policy brief, Comparison of 2015 Nevada Tax Proposals, provides a comparison of the tax plans being considered by the Legislature. Based on our analysis and interviews with tax policy experts in other states that have implemented gross receipts taxes, the Guinn Center concludes by offering a series of policy questions and recommendations for Legislators.

On Tuesday, April 21, the Guinn Center, in partnership with the UNLV Boyd School of Law, College of Southern Nevada, Accion Nevada, and the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, will host an open town hall meeting to review the current tax policy proposals (SB252, SB378, and AB464). Tax policy experts will review the tax proposals and discuss the legislative process.

Friday, April 10th, marks the 68th day of the 2015 Legislative Session and is the first major deadline on the 120-Day Calendar that affects the passage of bills and joint resolutions. Measures that are not passed out of the standing committees by the “First House Committee Passage” deadline are generally considered dead and receive no further consideration.

Thursday, April 2nd, marks the 60th day and halfway point of the 120-day limit on the length of the regular 2015 legislative session. That date also is notable because it is the last day on which legislators will receive a salary. That compensation is set by statute, tied to any across-the-board increases for classified State employees, and currently stands at $146.29 per day, or $8,777.40 for the biennial legislative session.

Since the beginning of session, the Senate Committee on Finance (SFIN) and the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means, known as the “money committees,” have been meeting almost daily to review the Governor’s recommended budget. SFIN has completed its hearings on 100 percent of the 442 budget accounts in the Governor’s proposed Executive Budget, one week ahead of schedule.