On the national level, there’s lots of Democratic hand-wringing over messaging and, it seems, a debate over where we spend our attention. Do we go after the working class (code: white male Trump voter) with primarily an economic message or do we double down on so-called “identity politics”, which also happens to correlate to the core Democratic base that has been doing the work? Now I believe that you can make the argument that systemic discrimination hurts all of us economically but if it’s about a choice over which voices we should be championing, the 2017 Nevada legislature gave all Democrats a blueprint to follow.
This year, Nevada Dems regained control of both state houses and both branches were led by African-American men. Women made up 40% of the legislature — the 2nd highest percentage in the country (behind Vermont) — and women chaired the two most powerful committees — Assembly Ways and Means and Senate Finance. NV went blue in 2016 in huge part because of the powerful Culinary Union (which is predominantly a Latino union) and the Latino community was also well represented in the Democratic majority. Five members are openly gay including the first openly gay POC in the legislature.
So what happened? Well, one of the first intriguing things was that all of the women (Democrats and Republicans) formed a women’s caucus. Is it any surprise that we were subsequently the first state in a few decades to pass the Equal Rights Amendment? What followed was a slew of female-friendly legislation that prompted the New York Times to profile the session. (www.nytimes.com/...)
My own rock star of a State Senator (Nicole Cannizzarro) got pregnancy protections passed. Senator Pat Spearman, an African-American woman, got legislation passed that keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. Freshman Senator Yvanna Cancela, a Latina whose determination is impressive, was thwarted on sanctuary city protections, had one pharmaceutical bill vetoed then got most of her bill as an amendment to a Republican bill that passed. That bill is one of the most aggressive measures ever to tackle drug pricing (focusing on insulin and diabetes). That particular disease and treatment was targeted specifically because of how the rise in price of insulin had directly impacted the Latino community but clearly it will benefit a much wider swath of Nevadans. In 2018, we will also vote on the Pink Tax — a chance to remove tax on feminine hygiene products — thanks to the women of the NV legislature.
We had major criminal justice reforms — from banning the box on government jobs to restoring the rights of felons to opening up more opportunities for internet usage to pursue education that can help prevent recidivism. We passed some pretty decent solar bills and we also passed a bill that keeps financial advisers accountable. This is yet another measure that has been noticed by outside media. (www.investmentnews.com/...) We protected trans people who want to avoid being bullied after changing their name by giving them a new measure of privacy and started the process to further protect gay marriage by getting it into our State Constitution.
On Education, Democrats fought back ferociously against the voucher program that went farther than any in the nation and significantly improved the budget to our public schools (although we are woefully still in the back of the pack on education spending). And though we failed to get sex education to be opt-out instead opt-in, we were able to adopt better standards and add financial literacy to the educational requirements.
But there were setbacks. Several union and worker bills were vetoed with moderate Republican Governor Sandoval claiming that the economy was still too unsteady and that these measures violated compromises that had come out of the 2015 session. A bill that would have altered bail rules for those unable to pay got vetoed and we were unable to limit the use of private prisons. He also vetoed an Automatic Voter Registration bill that will now be on the ballot in 2018 instead of in place by then.
The biggest loss, perhaps, was the veto of a healthcare bill affectionately termed SprinkleCare after State Assemblyman Michael Sprinkle. The bill would have allowed anyone regardless of income, to purchase into Medicaid (More info here - www.vox.com/...). With the recent announcement that insurance companies were completely pulling out of the exchanges in rural Nevada, leaving 8,000 Nevadans without an Obamacare option, this veto seems like a poor decision.
Thanks to The Nevada Independent (a must-read for anyone in Nevada or anyone who wants to follow Nevada), we also have a fantastic spreadsheet that shows every bill that passed (and how partisan the vote was), every bill that was vetoed and every bill that died in either the House or the Assembly (like an attempt to get the death penalty abolished).
Take a look at this —
WHAT THIS MEANS: Every veto is an argument that can be made for getting us a Democratic Governor in 2018. Every partisan vote is an illustration of what Democrats are fighting for. We are fighting for everyone — civil rights, women’s rights, healthcare, workers rights — and making it clear that we champion voices that don’t get heard. We have given our Democrats the greatest weapons possible for the upcoming debate and items that can inspire our base and appeal to cynics that feel government doesn’t look out for them. This is the sort of legislation that you get when you champion our greatest strength — our diversity. I’m more proud than ever to be a Nevada Democrat and I am more inspired than ever to spread the message of what being an NV Dem means.