The Nevada Legislature Building in Carson City on Tuesday, July 14, 2020.
Photo: David Calvert / The Nevada Independent
By Sam Metz AP/Report for America
Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Nevada lawmakers approved millions in new spending for schools, food subsidies and housing assistance on Tuesday, digging into the coronavirus relief funds that the federal government allocated to the state in March.
Members of the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee met in Las Vegas and approved $40 million in rental assistance, $12 million for homeowner's assistance, $5.6 million to the state's unemployment insurance system and additional funds to hire auditors to oversee $1.1 billion in relief funds designated for elementary and secondary schools.
Nevada received $2.7 billion in unrestricted funds as part of the latest package of federal coronavirus relief as well as billions of additional funds geared toward specific spending on schools, infrastructure and aid programs. Lawmakers begun allocating the funds in the legislative session before adjourning at the end of May, backfilling revenue loss, allocating additional dollars to schools and propping up the state's unemployment insurance system.
Sam Metz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
