On the final day of the regular legislative session, state legislatures passed so-called “Christmas tree” legislation.
The two bills – SB341 and AB525 – allocated a significant amount of money from the general sovereign wealth fund to more than 70 non-profit organizations and government agencies – from food banks to homeless services to community theaters.
Funding, pending approval by Gov. Joe Lombardo, totals more than $109 million between the two bills.
Opponents of the Christmas tree bills use a different name: “pork bills.” During the brief special session on June 6, Senate Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert (R-Reno) stated that her faction voted against a major budget proposal in regular session because Democrats refused to spend Republican-backed funds $75 million for charter school teachers to add wage and other educational proposals, while also distributing millions of dollars in Christmas tree funds.
“The irony is that we saw pork bills [with] There’s more bacon and lard in these bills than you can find in a Farmer John packing plant,” she said.
The largest recipients include the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas ($25 million total), the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada ($5 million), and $5 million to develop a Las Vegas art museum. Both bills require recipients to report to lawmakers how their money was spent.
Here are the highlights of the bills. Below is a full table of beneficiaries. Do you have a question about the invoices or more information about a funds transfer? E-mail [email protected].
SB341/AB525 Expense Tracker
The Culinary Academy, a popular campaign site for prominent Democrats, is set to receive $25 million. Oct. 22, 2022. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)
A Culinary Union victory after a disappointing session
The Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, which trains thousands of students each year in hospitality and language skills, will receive a total of $25 million from the two Christmas tree bills. A capital improvement project will receive $21 million and the remaining $4 million will go to an outreach campaign to enroll new students.
Democratic lawmakers added wording to the Capital Improvement Project’s budget (which typically deals with public works) to allocate $25 million to the union in the event Lombardo vetoes the two Christmas tree laws — part of the Handshake agreement between the governor and the governor-legislative Democrats to end the session.
A spokesman for the Culinary Union did not respond to a request for comment on what the $25 million would be used for.
The Culinary Academy is a partnership between Resorts and the powerful Culinary Union Local 226. The union played a key role in Nevada’s Democratic election.
Several Culinary Union-backed bills fell through that session, including SB426, which wanted to introduce a nationwide rent control. A COVID-era daily housekeeping bill that the union had been campaigning for also ended at that session, with Lombardo signing SB441.
Vegas art museum project is given new life
After decades of failed efforts, Las Vegas remains the largest metropolitan area in the United States without an accredited art museum. The most recent attempt to expand the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno to Las Vegas was canceled in 2020.
Funding allocations for the Christmas tree raise hopes for a new museum. With the two bills in place, lawmakers now have $5 million available to donate to a nonprofit organization, once formed, to take on the project.
The Gem Theater in Pioche on Thursday, May 9, 2019. In 2002, a storm blew off the roof of the building. (Tim Lenard/The Nevada Independent)
We’re bringing the big screen back to Lincoln County
The Gem Theater in Pioche is the only remaining movie theater in Lincoln County, but it hasn’t shown a movie since a storm blew its roof off in 2002. Sen. Pete Goicoechea (R-Eureka) earlier this session had presented SB101 would have committed $2 million to restore and reopen the theater, but there was no vote in either the Senate or the Assembly.
Instead, the gem gets money from the Christmas tree bills — albeit only $1 million.
Friends of Gem Theater’s Melissa Cary told The Nevada Independent that the rebuilding plan needed an overhaul due to less money.
“The building is in a state of disrepair like it was 20 years ago when the roof was ripped off and the building needs to be brought up to date,” she said.
When the theater reopens, the Friends of Gem Theater hopes to use the 1937 building for trivia nights, film festivals, and paranormal activity tours.
Legal Aid Center funds to support victims and vulnerable tenants
The Christmas tree bills include two appropriations to the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada (LACSN): $250,000 for a tenant rights clinic and $4 million for a capital improvement project.
According to Christine Smith, director of community initiatives and outreach at LACSN, the $4 million will benefit an already ongoing project to provide a permanent home for the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center, which is administered by LACSN. The center provides resources and support to victims of the 2017 Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting, crime victims across the state and first responders in southern Nevada.
The Tenant Law Clinic will be a collaboration with UNLV’s Boyd School of Law. The clinic’s students will work with attorneys to provide protections to renters “who are at risk of eviction and losing their homes,” Smith told The Nevada Independent.
Expanding school garden programs to enable hands-on STEM learning at Title I schools
With $3 million from the state, Green Our Planet hopes to expand hydroponic gardens — soil-free growing systems that can be set up as indoor labs — to every Title I school in Nevada. The Las Vegas-based nonprofit has already helped create outdoor gardens in 200 Nevada schools and hydroponic gardens in 100 of the state’s 400 Title I schools, which serve a high percentage of students from low-income families and receive federal funding.
According to Ciara Byrne, Founder and Co-CEO of Green Our Planet, the new hydroponic gardens will open up a variety of opportunities for students.
“They enhance practical STEM education,” she told The Nevada Independent. “And it’s more fun.”
In Clark County, more than 600 students have been able to improve their entrepreneurial skills by hosting farmers’ markets selling produce from their school gardens.
“By 2024 or 2025, around Earth Day, we will be able to have farmers markets across the state. Not just in Clark County and Carson City. We’ll be in Sparks, Ely, Pahrump,” Byrne said.
The funds will also help begin a pilot program to equip two high schools in Clark County and one in northern Nevada with full-fledged hydroponic gardens early in the 2023-2024 school year. According to Byrne, each of these gardens can grow 3,000 to 4,000 plants that end up in either the school canteen or an on-campus pantry.
thenevadaindependent.com
https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/legislatures-christmas-tree-bills-would-give-109m-to-70-plus-community-service-organizations
