United States Senator Jacky Rosen spoke to members of the Nevada State Senate and Assembly Monday, addressing several issues she's working on at the federal level, and some issues she supports state-level action as well.
"It's really incredible to think of how much our beloved state has progressed since I last addressed this chamber in April 2017," Rosen said during her speech.
She addressed state legislators in 2017 as a member of the US House of Representatives.
Her first mention of policy was about healthcare.
"There's no issue that affects every single Nevadan more than healthcare," Rosen said during her speech.
Rosen says it's important for rural areas in the state to have greater access to healthcare, and cited telehealth programs and increasing medical residency slots to increase coverage. She also wants drug prices to be transparent, saying no Nevadan should have to choose between paying bills, or paying for treatment.
One topic she said needs help at both levels of government is education. Rosen says she mainly works at getting funding, mentioning one plan she was working on to increase science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning opportunity for K-12 students. She says state lawmakers have to work with school districts to enhance learning opportunities, giving one example.
"If we don't get rural broadband out to our schools so the schools can improve what they're doing out there and try to increase access for that," Rosen says. "That's one issue."
The enhanced learning and education funding goes hand in hand with the problems facing the strong economy in the state.
"We have a shortage in our medical field all across the board," Rosen says. "Not just physicians, physical therapists, technologists. We have a shortage of teachers."
We spoke with a couple Republican State Senators following the speech, who said for the most part it was bi-partisan.
"Senator Rosen stuck to very bi-partisan issues, things that we can support," Republican State Senator Jill Tolles representing District 25 says.
"Some things I think we all absolutely have to work on together as far as healthcare, making sure the state of Nevada is protected," Republican State Senator and Minority Leader James Settelmeyer says. "And putting the right foot forward for economic progress."
That bi-partisan sentiment excludes Rosen's mention of the bill enforcing background checks for all gun purchases.
"The bill was a flawed bill," Settelmeyer says. "It was absolutely flawed, it's unenforcable."
"It was not a bill that there was a lot of effort to get across the aisle agreement on, unfortunately," Tolles says.
One topic that got a standing ovation from most of the legislators in attendance was Rosen denunciation of the US Department of Energy transporting high-grade plutonium to the state with notifying officials.
"[We will] decide what we can do at the federal level to stop them in partnership with the Attorney General and the Governor because we don't want secret shipments of plutonium coming here," Rosen says.
Rosen mentioned the historic achievements of women in the state. She mentioned US Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and her as the first female Senators in the state of Nevada, the first female-majority state legislature in the country, the first female-majority supreme court in the state's history, and the first majority leader of the Nevada Legislature with Nicole Cannizzaro being named Senate Majority Leader this month.
Rosen also mentioned a bill she's working on to incentivize businesses to hire student veterans. She mentioned Nevada's high rate of veterans, and says Nevada should be leading the way when it comes to treatment of veterans.
She also mentioned the importance of providing jobs in clean energy and advanced technology.
She plans to tour Nevada this week, saying she'll visit Fernley, Fallon, Lovelock, Winnemucca, Elko, Ely and West Wendover.
