On the final day of the regular session, Nevada legislators passed what are known as "Christmas tree" bills.
The two bills altogether appropriate more than a $100 million from the state general fund to non-profits across the state.
Each bill is like a Christmas tree and every new appropriation is like a new ornament being hung on the tree.
But Southern Nevada is getting a lot more than everybody else in Nevada.
Let's dig into the appropriations by percentage.
North vs. South appropriations
Clark County is getting 68%
Washoe County, 17%
Douglas County, 1%
Lincoln County, 1%
State-wide 13%
Let's take a look at the appropriations that will be helping Northern Nevada.
These come from the two Christmas tree bills: AB525 and SB341:
$2 million to the Pioneer Center
$2.4 Million to United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra.
$4 million to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada
$2 million to communities in schools
$1 million to Domestic Violence Resource Center, Reno
$1.2 Million to Tahoe Douglas Visitors Center
$4 million to Community Health Alliance
$2 million to Northern Nevada Hopes
$1 million to the Nevada Small Business Development Center
$250k Boys and Girls Club Truckee Meadows
Separately, SB263 is contributing $6 million to The Oddie Project in Sparks.
Republicans slammed the democrat-controlled legislature for not allocating any dollars for charter school teachers to get equal pay raises to regular public-school teachers.
Senate Majority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert contends that a $25-million appropriation to the Culinary Union in Southern Nevada is a partisan allocation within the Christmas tree bills.
"The majority's response to our list has been disregard, disdain, and dismissal. The irony is that we've seen pork bills. There have been more bacon and lard tucked into this bill than you can find in a Farmer John packing plant," said Heidi Seevers Gansert.
What about those Federal Covid-19 relief dollars left over from the pandemic?
AB526 distributes remaining Covid funds to numerous non-profits.
Right now, the exact amount of Federal Covid relief dollars is not yet determined.
However, if the Covid dollars did not get appropriated they would go back to the Federal government.
So, the solution laid out by AB526 is a line-item list of nonprofits that get a certain percentage of the left over Covid dollars.
Once the exact amount of remaining Covid dollars for Nevada is determined later this year, those dollars will be appropriated to the non-profits based on the percentage allocated to each item defined in the bill.
