Sandoval Signs First Two Public Policy Bills

(Sean Whaley/Nevada News Bureau) – Gov. Brian Sandoval today signed the first two public policy bills of the 2011 legislative session.

Sandoval signed Assembly Bill 127, a bill sponsored by Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, which eliminates the requirement that employees of the Senate and Assembly compile and prepare sets of books containing bills, resolutions, journals and histories during each legislative session. The information will now be published electronically using the Nevada Electronic Legislative Information System (NELIS) operated on the Legislature’s website.

“I am proud to join 17 other states in our country in instituting paperless systems and I applaud the speaker for taking the lead on this initiative,” Sandoval said. “Making information available electronically not only helps our environment, it gives Nevadans near-instant access to the facts and figures before committees and their representatives.”

Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, said the measure will save more than $1 million in the 2011 session alone.

“I am pleased we continue to show our constituents that Republicans and Democrats can come together and agree on cost-saving measures that make sense, and I fully expect the governor and I will be getting together to do many more of them,” he said.

Sandoval also signed Assembly Bill 15, sought by the Budget and Planning Division and Administration Department Director Andrew Clinger, which eliminates the requirement to produce the statistical abstract and the Biennial Report. The Biennial Report will be consolidated into the overall Governor’s Priorities and Performance Budget publication. The Priorities and Performance Budget publication also contains the data previously published in the statistical abstract.

“This bill is a direct result of the Budget and Planning Division taking a hard look at its priorities and deciding to use our resources more effectively,” Sandoval said. “What’s more, by consolidating information into one publication, we are making it easier for Nevadans to locate the data they are interested in and making government more responsive.”