(Victor Joecks, Las Vegas Review-Journal) – Hundreds of bills died Friday, including a property tax increase, the sanctuary state bill and a plastic bag ban, but the most interesting part of the session is just beginning. Here are good, bad and ugly bills still alive at the Legislature with seven weeks to go until the sine die:
The good
Senate Bill 506, sponsored by Gov. Brian Sandoval, would re-establish Education Savings Accounts. In 2015, the Legislature passed ESAs, a school choice program that allows parents to use a portion of the money the state spends on public education for private school tuition, online learning or tutors. The Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that ESAs are constitutional but the proposed funding mechanism isn’t. Sandoval’s proposal re-establishes this program with needed technical changes.
While Democrats and their union allies hate school choice, if Democrats want Sandoval to compromise on any of their priority issues, they’ll have to pass and fund ESAs.
