Lawmakers on Wednesday reviewed the proposed $73.38 million biennial budget of the Nevada legislative branch.
Counsel Bureau Director Brenda Erdoes told them that includes a 6 percent reduction from what they originally requested to meet directives issued by the governor’s Finance Office.
She said the primary way they reduced the legislative branch budget was by ordering a one-day per month unpaid furlough for all employees for the two-year budget period. Erdoes said that was the only way LCB could meet the required reduction since 90 percent of the legislative branch operating budget is personnel costs. LCB has just over 300 full-time, permanent employees.
She said furloughs were a better option than reducing staff because, especially in a division as small as fiscal with just 29 employees, the loss of even one or two people just means more work for the remaining employees and those people are already putting in many overtime hours to keep up with the demands.
The largest slices of the LCB budget go to the Administrative Division and Legal Division.
Administration, which includes accounting, IT, maintenance, legislative police and the director’s office, is budgeted for $22.4 million over the biennium. The division has 93 employees
Legal, with 78 employees is budgeted for $20.3 million this budget cycle.
The smallest of LCB’s five divisions is Fiscal at 29 FTE’s and $8.4 million over the biennium.
Audit has a budget of $8.9 million and 32 people and Research is $12.2 million with 47 employees.
That budget does not include the estimated $15 million cost of running the 2021 legislative session or the cost of running the Interim Finance Committee through the biennium.
It also doesn’t include the roughly $3 million a year to operate the state Printing Office which is funded by sales of Nevada Revised Statutes and other printing jobs for both state agencies and local governments.
Finally, major one-shot projects such as replacement of computer equipment are not included in the budgets reviewed Wednesday.
The Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees took no action on the budgets.
