Rolling up our sleeves in Carson City

The ceremonial glad-handing and smiles for the camera in Carson City kicked off the 2015 Legislature last week.

Those happy moments and pleasantries now give way for legislators rolling up their sleeves and burning the midnight oil to do what is right for Nevada.

After the last election that put the Assembly and Senate in Republican hands, lawmakers must remember all of their constituents … from the other political parties to those who proclaim to be either Tea Party or moderate Republicans.

Positioning on certain bills began in earnest before Feb. 2 with lawmakers pontificating their beliefs on specific bills.

As with other states except Nebraska, which has a nonpartisan unicameral system, Nevada’s Assembly and Senate are nothing more than a microcosm of the U.S. Congress with Democrats and Republicans jockeying to promote their ideologies.

More than ever before, this session is the time for Nevada’s citizen lawmakers, however, to find common ground to steady Nevada’s train as it chugs through some tight budgetary curves. But we will repeat our advice from two years ago: Prior to the last legislative session in 2013, state lawmakers had done enough damage to the state’s education system since 2008, but they cannot continue to treat education as a third-world commodity because it may take this state several generations to rebound and be viable again.

Already, those in state government who control the purse strings and the Nevada Policy Research Institute have looked at ways education can be funded and improved without implementing massive spending increases. Those ideas — along with others — must be examined before any decisions are made. Lawmakers must read drafts before passing them into law, not afterward.

Nevada is forging ahead with new industries. Another challenge is for lawmakers to provide quality education at the K-12, community college and university levels.

Not only should lawmakers re-examine the education budget but they should also look at all others to ensure that spending is focused on key programs that will help ... not those programs that add frivolity.

Both sides, though, have begun to draw their red lines on the chamber carpet. Gov. Brian Sandoval has proposed spending increases to improve education, while a faction of his own party has proclaimed that some proposals may not pass.

Although Nevada voters cast their ballots for change in November, they still want lawmakers from both sides to work together for the benefit of the state, not cowering every time someone threatens a recall campaign against those who do not toe the party line.

We are all Nevadans.

Editorials written by the LVN Editorial Board appear on Wednesdays.