The Griffin Company hopes everybody enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday! This week we saw more positive economic development news, continued updates for the 2024 election cycle including more candidate announcements and endorsements, and another Superintendent departure for the Washoe County School District. Weekly updates and more below!
Days until:
- Nevada presidential primary: 67
- GOP presidential caucus: 69
- Primary Election Day: 193
- General Election Day: 340
Updates from the Governor’s Office
Eight Companies expected to create 731 jobs in 5 years with a weighted hourly wage of $32.86. Five of the companies receiving abatements are in Clark County. The other three are in Lyon, Nye, and Washoe Counties. (NV.gov)
A diversified and balanced approach to energy is working for Nevada
In early 2023, Gov. Joe Lombardo outlined a comprehensive and balanced energy policy for Nevada that embraces a wide range of fuels, technologies and supporting infrastructure. (The Nevada Independent)
Governor adds new members to PPC
Governor Joe Lombardo announced his new appointments to the Patient Protection Commission. (NV.gov)
Lombardo rubber stamps Sisolak’s appointee to Patient Protection Commission
Gov. Joe Lombardo is invoking his predecessor, Gov. Steve Sisolak, in defending his appointment of pharmaceutical lobbyist Flo Kahn as the lone representative of the public on the state’s Patient Protection Commission, a board designed to improve health care in Nevada. (Reno Gazette Journal)
State and Local Government Updates
Nevada unemployment rate stays at 5.4% in October, Carson City at 4.4%
Nevada’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.4 percent in October 2023, which was unchanged from September 2023, according to the state’s Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation’s monthly economic report. (Carson Now)
Colorado River deal opens cash spigot for big farms
A POLITICO investigation has found that many of the deals to save water under the three-year $1.2 billion pact struck by Arizona, California and Nevada in May are driving up the value of existing agreements to save or transfer water by nearly 50 percent. (Politico)
Judge rules against tribes in fight over Nevada lithium mine they say is near sacred massacre site
A federal judge in Nevada has dealt another legal setback to Native American tribes trying to halt construction of one of the biggest lithium mines in the world. All have argued the bureau violated numerous laws in a rush to approve the mine to help meet sky-rocketing demand for lithium used in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles. (AP News)
LV resort industry asks judge to throw out PUC order granting NV Energy statewide rate
An order from the Nevada PUC requiring Southern Nevada residents and businesses to subsidize $19.6 million in electricity charges for their Northern Nevada counterparts violates the PUC’s statutory mandate to “provide customers with just and reasonable rates” according to a petition for judicial review filed in Clark County District Court. (Nevada Current)
New Google geothermal electricity project in Nevada could be a milestone for clean energy
The data centers require more electricity than that, so Google signed other agreements for solar and storage too. It has two sites in Nevada, one near Las Vegas and the other near Reno. Michael Terrell, who leads decarbonization efforts globally at Google, said the company is looking at using geothermal energy for other data centers worldwide as a portfolio of carbon-free technologies. (KNPR)
Washoe schools searching for 5th superintendent in 10 years
Washoe County School Superintendent Susan Enfield announced she’s stepping down in February for personal reasons after just a year and a half on the job in Reno. Enfield notified school board members privately of her decision, but staff didn’t learn of it until Nov. 20. She told the Reno Gazette Journal it had nothing to do with internal district issues or because of any kind of threats. (Nevada Appeal)
Las Vegas resort industry asks judge to throw out PUC order granting NV Energy statewide rate
NV Energy’s natural disaster preparedness and prevention plan (NDPP), which is focused primarily in Lake Tahoe. The average $2.50-per-month NDPP charge is expected to double statewide as a result of the PUC’s approval. (Reno Gazette Journal)
New Clark County School Board members share their goals for district
In January, the Clark County School Board will ring in the new year with four nonvoting members. The trustees were appointed over the past two months by Clark County commissioners and the city councils of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Henderson. All have backgrounds in k-12 and higher education. (The Nevada Independent)
Judge rules against state worker union challenging Lombardo vote of retroactive pay raise
In a major legal test of a landmark 2019 law that allowed state workers to unionize, a Carson City judge ruled against Nevada’s largest state worker union Thursday, preserving a veto from Gov. Joe Lombardo that scuttled a $25 million appropriation funding a now-2-year-old state worker arbitration agreement. (The Nevada Independent)
Federal Updates
White House updates interagency group tasked with protecting federal facilities
Under an executive order issued Monday, the White House is modernizing an interagency committee designed to evaluate and improve the security standards of federal facilities, by adding mobile workforce security practices under its purview. (Government Executive)
Bid to hold Trump accountable for Jan. 6 violence stalls at appeals court
A three-judge panel of the appeals court is mulling a thorny constitutional question that hangs over each of the cases: whether Trump can be sued over his speech to an angry crowd on Jan. 6, 2021, just before the deadly riot at the Capitol. Since the panel considered whether Trump has immunity, Trump has surged to the front of the GOP presidential primary pack and been charged criminally twice for his efforts to subvert the 2020 election. (Politico)
How U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson helped derail a fight against election lies
A federal court had recently granted a temporary injunction, in Missouri v. Biden, finding that the Biden administration had violated the First Amendment by coercing social media companies to remove content, related both to elections and the COVID-19 vaccine, that it deemed false and harmful. The ruling is being appealed to the Supreme Court, which last month temporarily blocked the order, but Johnson wanted to press the advantage. (Nevada Current)
New legislation seeks to drive development, create jobs at Apex Industrial Park
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto recently shepherded passage of legislation with bipartisan support in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with the goal of easing a burdensome permit process for businesses hoping to build in the area. (Las Vegas Sun)
National report tracks huge costs of climate change in Southwest
A new national climate assessment paints a dismal picture of the Southwest over the next decade, as the rapidly warming climate drives food shortages; intensifies droughts, floods, wildfires and diseases; and jeopardizes public infrastructure like roads and dams. (Reno Gazette Journal)
Articles of Interest
Culinary ratifies deals for 32 percent wage hikes with Caesars, MGM and Wynn
New five-year collective bargaining agreements with a cumulative 32 percent wage increase were overwhelmingly ratified before Thanksgiving by some 40,000 non-gaming Strip employees, ending a prolonged contract stalemate that lasted more than seven months and averting a potential strike on the eve of last week’s Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix. (The Nevada Independent)
Miriam Adelson intends to buy a majority ownership interest in the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks franchise. (Las Vegas Review Journal)
Election News
Nevada judge strikes down effort to place abortion rights on 2024 ballot
Abortion is already legal up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy in Nevada because of a 1990 referendum, but other states have taken action to enshrine abortion rights in their constitutions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. More than 60 percent of Nevadans support adding abortion rights to the constitution, according to a Nevada Independent poll from April. (The Nevada Independent)
Anti-gerrymandering ballot initiative resurrected for 2024 election cycle
Fair Maps Nevada last week filed two notices of intent to circulate petitions for the 2024 general election ballot. Both are proposed constitutional amendments that would strip the power to draw the state’s political boundary maps away from the state legislature and create an independent redistricting commission. (Reno Gazette Journal)
Another member of the Assembly eyes Las Vegas Councilman Crear’s seat
Shondra Summer’s Armstrong announced that she’s vying to represent Ward 5, which encompasses the Historic Westside. (Las Vegas Review)
Election 2024: Tracking Nevada legislative candidate announcements (The Nevada Independent)
· Nevada Assembly Democratic Caucus announced its endorsement of Venise Kerris for Assembly District 10 and Joe Dalia for Assembly District 29.
· The Senate Democratic Caucus endorsed Jennifer Atlas for Senate District 5.
Upcoming Fundraisers
Republican Assemblymembers Bert Gurr, Gregory Hafen, Melissa Hardy, Brian Hibbetts, Dr. Gregory Koenig, and Toby Yurek
Date: Monday, December 4 @ 11:30am-1:30pm
Location: Capital Grille, 3200 Las Vegas Blvd #3300, Las Vegas, NV 89109
Assemblywoman Tracy Brown-May
Date: Tuesday, December 5 @ 5-7pm
Location: Taps & Barrels, 6111 S Buffalo Dr. Suite 11L, Las Vegas, NV 89113
Senator Roberta Lange & Assemblymembers Venicia Considine and David Orentlicher
Date: Thursday, December 7 @ 5:30-7pm
Location: The Beverly Theater, 515 S 6th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
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