CARSON CITY – Proposals to cash in on people who owe child support, allow college athletes to make money on endorsements, and change the makeup of school boards in the state’s two largest counties were among the 30 or so bills that were heard in committees on Tuesday as lawmakers neared the law midway through the 2021 session.
Another recent bill would aim to enforce energy efficiency standards for new equipment sold, leased or installed in the state.
Congregation 406 Bill, the garnishment bill heard by the congregation’s judicial committee, would extend to casino winnings, a procedure that already applies to people who win the lottery but owe child support. Child support enforcement officials told the committee that there are currently more than 83,000 active child support cases in the state, with more than 68,000 people in arrears.
Nineteen other states introduced such procedures in 2008. In Colorado, where the gambling industry battled the proposal for five years, more than $ 500,000 was raised in the first year after the law went into effect, supporters testified.
“Nevada is a leader in a variety of actions including license suspension, withholding tax, pension confiscation and passport suspension. But game interception is the big thing we miss in Nevada, ”said Karen Cliffe, assistant director of family support for the Clark County District Attorney. Child support collections “significantly lower” the state cost of supporting single parents, she said.
Previous efforts to institute similar procedures have met privacy concerns and implications for the state’s dominant casino industry. In answering questions, proponents noted that the attachment would only apply to child support cases in Nevada, not any other state.
Gambling interests spoke out against the bill in its current form.
“While we understand that similar systems exist in other states involved in gambling, the gaming industry in Nevada is much larger and more complex than most other states,” said Misty Grimmer of The Ferraro Group on behalf of the Nevada Resort Association. Hence, the complexity of the system and privacy concerns are a more important factor here. “
Elected school authorities
Law 255 on the Convention would change the composition of school boards in Clark and Washoe counties, creating hybrid seven-member boards with four elected members and three nominated members. The three appointed people would be selected by the district commission and governing bodies of the two largest parishes in the district.
Sponsor Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, spokesman for the convention, commented, “Ongoing debate about how best to structure school boards to best support student outcomes.” Proponents of elected school authorities cite accountability to voters, while critics cite low turnout, influence of special interest and possible politicization.
Frierson told the congregation’s education committee that appointed members would add experience, diversity, and greater accountability to school boards and professionalize them “to make sure that when we talk about huge budgets and when we talk about curriculum development, when we do When we talk about the system our children are involved in for most of their day, these people have experiences that would enrich these bodies. “
The Clark County Commission, local governments, and business interests were among the groups testifying in favor of the proposal, while the Clark County School District opposed and split the teacher unions, with the Clark County Education Association supporting it and the Nevada State Education Association against it .
College endorsements
Also sponsored by Frierson and served on the Congregation Education Committee, Bill 254 would allow college athletes in Nevada to make money from endorsements. Thirty-three other states have similar laws in the works, pending federal action sought by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The Nevada bill “is designed to get out of the way” when federal action is taken, Frierson said.
The spokesman, who played soccer at the University of Nevada, Reno, said he was “proud to have participated in intercollegiate sports at UNR, but I also had four knee surgeries and one shoulder surgery afterwards. And I looked at this stadium and found that we helped pay for that and build the stadium. “
Nobody testified against the bill.
Also on Tuesday, Congregation 383 bill, sponsored by Rep. Howard Watts, D-Las Vegas, and heard by the Congregation’s Growth and Infrastructure Committee, would require the state to pass energy efficiency standards for appliances and sales, rentals or Ban the installation of equipment New equipment that does not meet these standards from 2023 onwards. Consumer and clean energy companies voted in favor of the bill, while builders voiced concerns about some of the appliance directives and whether manufacturers may be making fewer products available in the state to meet the standards.
Contact Capital Bureau reporter Bill Dentzer at [email protected]. Follow @DentzerNews on Twitter.
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