Unread bills slide through Nevada Legislature
By Anjeanette Damon and David McGrath Schwartz, Las Vegas Sun
CARSON CITY β Any lobbyist will tell you itβs much easier to kill a bill than to get one through the Nevada Legislature.
But there is a golden hour at the end of every legislative session that is the exception, particularly for industries and individuals with the right connections to a small circle of connected lobbyists.
The end of every session is a frantic rush to close the 120-day process, when lawmakers, lobbyists and reporters have their attention diverted in a thousand directions. And as a result, with the right legislator on your side, the right lobbyist can bypass the political fights, public hearings and debates and slip through legislation, almost unnoticed.
To wit: Five minutes after midnight Tuesday β a mere 55 minutes before the constitutionally mandated close of the 2011 legislative session β lawmakers introduced a policy that could cost NV Energy ratepayers $1 billion.