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by Mark LaPointe,Outpost Staff
Although the state legislative session often runs over the allotted 60 days set forth by the state's constitution, elected officials expect to work beyond the session itself. Whether working with constituents or serving on any of several ongoing committees, Nevada's citizen legislators do not leave their elected duties at the office. For some legislators, like Brian Sandoval, a second-term Republican assemblyman who represents Washoe County Assembly District 25, such work can be extensive. Sandoval, a partner in a Reno law firm, sits on six interim committees. Sandoval said that, while he sits on more committees than most legislators, the work is rewarding. For example, Sandoval's work as a member of the committee overseeing the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) allows him to participate in environmental issues that he has "a very strong interest in." The committee, like all others is a joint committee, made up of six elected officials, three from the Assembly and three from the Senate. To Sandoval, one of the benefits of this structure is in the chance for assembly members and senators to work together. "It's a golden opportunity to sit with senators," he says. "In concept we work together during the session, but not physically. In the interim committees you are working very closely with one another." Such a system, in Sandoval's opinion, makes the legislative branch more, not less effective. "There's even a litmus test of sorts... at least two of the three members from each house need to vote for something" Sandoval says. This, at least in theory, helps to make the two houses more cooperative during the official session when laws and spending bills are considered. Jan Evans, a Democrat who has served as Washoe County Assembly District 20's assemblywoman for 12 years and is speaker pro tempore of the Assembly, sits on the Interim Finance Committee. The committee consists of the budget committees of both houses and reviews, fashions and approves the state's two-year budget. The committee's purpose is to provide ongoing oversight of that budget and the agencies it funds. In financial emergencies, the committee can pull from funds that have been set aside and can audit and reign in agencies not spending their budgets in the manner approved by the elected official, Evans says.
Committees also offer a chance for assembly members to focus on issues that are important to them and their constituents. Evans, a development official at the University of Nevada, is an example of professional and elected interests intersecting. "Budget is my main interest," she said. "I've sat on the Interim Finance Committee for all six terms and have been vice-chair the last three times." Because Evans has expertise in this area, she says she can be more effective on the committee. Republican freshman Rep. Pat Hickey, who represents Washoe County Assembly District 27, also sees a benefit in working on committees that interest him. As the father of four school-age children, Hickey believes he brings a particular perspective to his seat on the Education Committee, which deals with Nevada's attempt to create new educational standards while reviewing current standards and programs in the state's schools. Hickey sees his personal interest in the committee's focus as a positive. "I'm not one of those who takes simplistic views and says that teachers or politicians or kids or society is to blame (for educational problems)," he said. "We're all part of the reason it does or does not work" Hickey is putting this theory to the test in introducing legislation that will, as he says, "treat kids as young citizens" by closing school campuses and focusing young people's attention on their work and on learning responsibilities that he says come with citizenship. copyright 11/15/97 Nevada Outpost http://www.jour.unr.edu/outpost |