The 2017 Nevada Legislature: Fault lines and big ideas

Think government, and you’re likely to picture whatever drama is unfolding today in Washington, D.C.

But closer to home, in Carson City, lawmakers are deciding issues that will affect Nevadans more directly than much of what’s coming from the nation’s capital — such as the quality of schools, the growth of the Southern Nevada economy and access to public lands.

The 2017 session of the Nevada Legislature began Feb. 6, with Democrats back in control of both the Assembly and Senate after losing their majorities to Republicans in 2015. Here are some of the key issues lawmakers are expected to tackle.

ESA

• The issue: The Education Savings Account law would provide state funding for parents to send their children to private school, home school them or find another alternative to public school. Under the original plan, most parents would have received about $5,200. It passed in 2015 on a party-line vote, back when Republicans controlled both the Assembly and Senate. But implementation has been on hold thanks to a Nevada Supreme Court ruling in 2016 saying the funding mechanism was unconstitutional. Republicans are now treating the ESA law like it’s the Alamo — including Gov. Brian Sandoval, who included $60 million in his budget for it. Democrats derisively refer to the measure as “school vouchers,” and their leaders went into the session saying Sandoval should have put the $60 million into public education.

Read more: https://lasvegassun.com/news/2017/feb/13/the-2017-nevada-legislature-fault-lines-and-big-id/