Lyon County is making preparations for the 2023 legislative session with its lobbyists Steve and Mary Walker of Walker and Associates ready to track important bills and provide direction for the last time before retiring.
The Walkers have been serving Lyon County for nearly 25 years, guiding Lyon’s commissioners on amendments, fiscal impacts and counties’ positions on bills flowing through the Legislature on issues regarding community development issues, tax law, rural housing, funding and other critical bill draft requests that have passed or died in session throughout the years.
Interim County Manager Andrew Haskin, introducing the Walkers during the board’s Dec. 15 meeting, said his staff has met recently with the Walkers to prepare for February.
“One of the things we are considering in talking with Mary, because this will be their last session – they plan to retire at the end of this session – is a handoff for the next session,” Haskin said. “There’s a lot of issues she’s been tracking for a long time for Lyon County that are nuanced. We want to make sure we maintain great representation there.”
Mary Walker said of about 1,300 bills that come out, she and her husband actively monitor about 500 per session that directly affect Lyon.
“I am hopeful that it’s going to be better than the last session,” she said. “We had a lot of anti-rural and anti-consideration of rural Nevada, and we have a new Republican governor putting rural counties over the top.”
Walker said judicial reform will be a priority. Last time, there were 12 legislative committees they had followed with sentiment expressed even from the Democrats that they had wanted to hear more from the state’s rural regions on Assembly Bill 424 affecting criminal procedure and allowing courts to adopt an administrative order related to pretrial release with hearings to be held with 48 hours a person is taken into custody.
Walker said it remains “basically near impossible” to do a good job on concerning pretrial hearings.
In the meantime, Senate Bill 55 would revise the days justice and municipal courts are open, prohibiting them from transacting business on Sundays and holidays, which would be helpful to the courts, she added.
She noted having Gov.-elect Joe Lombardo as a sheriff in the governor’s office would be useful for assisting with certain judicial reform bills moving forward.
Walker said the City of Fernley might be concerned about its consolidated tax, or C-Tax, funding, although details are not available yet on what such a bill might look like in 2023. She said she would be willing to meet with Mayor Neal McIntyre to discuss its history and previous work to help the city tune its revenue opportunities.
Steve Walker also mentioned they will be watching two water bills, including AB34, which will provide notification requirements for actions on water.
Other issues to watch for this session for Lyon would be equity issues pertaining to tribal representation on water boards, he said.
The Walkers said they would help identify another firm or representative who would best align with Lyon’s interests to succeed them once this legislative session has concluded and they retire.
Commissioner Wes Henderson, representing District 1, thanked the Walkers for their assistance.
“A lot of lobbying is the relationships you have,” he said. “My first session was in 2007, and there’s not one person in office now who was in office in 2007. I look forward to working with you.”
He also asked if Lyon has access to a bill tracking system for ease of use.
Assemblyman Ken Gray, who vacated the board’s District 3 seat and was present at the meeting, said county officials and commissioners could receive access to a tracking system.
As of Thursday, 893 bill draft requests had been filed for the 82nd session of the Nevada Legislature that begins Feb. 6.