Behind the Bar is The Nevada Independent’s newsletter devoted to comprehensive and accessible coverage of the 2021 Legislature. 

In this edition: Adding additional checks before an HOA can foreclose on a home, expanding jury discrimination rules, and tax credits for charter school facilities and construction. Plus, another Carson City Restaurant Spotlight.

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I want to hear from you! Questions, comments, observations, jokes, what you think we should be covering or paying attention to. Email me at [email protected].

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On Monday, The Nevada Independent’s legislative coverage team hit an important milestone.

We published the 14th and likely final installment of our Freshman Orientation series this session, the final edition focused on freshman Democrat David Orentlicher.

We’ve done some form of a freshman profile since the Nevada Independent launched in 2017, and have rarely lacked subjects — term limits on the Legislature ensures there are anywhere from one to two dozen new faces every session.

Heading into the 2021 Legislature, we wanted to put extra effort into this series. In the past, they’ve usually just included a quick biographical rundown and answers to a questionnaire focused on major policy areas.

Knowing that at least the start of the session would be closed to the public — meaning that people have even less access to their representatives than normal —  we wanted to put more work into describing and profiling the freshman lawmakers.

Yes, many of these individuals are (at least for their first session) legislative backbenchers — few if any will end up working on major pieces of legislation late into session, or stay in the headlines.

But especially as the press corps covering the Legislature has continued to thin out, it’s an important public service to profile these elected officials, many of whom will likely go on to hold major roles or helm major policy pushes in future sessions. 

I know that these aren’t the sexiest or “scoopiest” stories that we’ve ever published, but I think there is real value in providing regular high-quality, in-depth reporting on the occasionally mundane topics. 

There’s a line from a 2008 Washington Post piece authored by The Wire creator David Simon that’s stuck with me for a long time and is applicable here — that even the best newspapers and news organizations have a tendency to focus not on the “form of consistent and sophisticated coverage of issues, but of special projects and five-part series on selected topics — a distraction designed not to convince readers that a newspaper aggressively brings the world to them each day, but to convince a prize committee that someone, somewhere, deserves a plaque.”

None of these Freshman Orientation articles are going to win a Pulitzer Prize. But there’s value in this journalism and in telling the stories of these people making major decisions for the state. I hope you take time to read a few of them:

Assembly: David Orentlicher, Clara “Claire” Thomas, Elaine Marzola, Cameron “C.H.” Miller, Andy Matthews, Heidi Kasama, Tracy Brown-May, Venicia Considine, Cecelia González, Shondra Summers-Armstrong, Natha Anderson.

Senate: Roberta Lange, Fabian Doñate, Carrie Buck.

— Riley Snyder

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Bill seeks to add checks to HOA foreclosure process

Under Nevada law, if a member of a Homeowners Associations (HOA) fails to pay off debt or dues, the association can foreclose on the property without going through the court system.

Sen. Pat Spearman (D-Las Vegas) is looking to change that with SB144.

The HOA foreclosure process disproportionately affects communities of color, Spearman said during a bill hearing Friday, adding that communities of color experience higher HOA foreclosure rates than other demographics.

"The ability to buy a home has been and is the foundation on which we build personal wealth in this country, indeed there is a direct correlation in the widening wealth gap and the lack of home ownership in BIPOC communities," Spearman said.

The bill would require an HOA go through the judicial process when pursuing a foreclosure, adding a layer of due process. It also would require HOAs to submit a report documenting the demographics of people whose past-due obligations are sent to a collection agency, and create a website allowing homeowners to check their accounts and receive immediate notices.

Spearman described the bill as a vital tool for gathering data on HOA practices and keeping Nevadans housed during a pandemic that has dried up income sources and threatened the state's most vulnerable populations.

"This bill does not remove the HOA's ability to enforce the non-payment of dues or assessments; it simply changes the process," Spearman added.

Supporters of the bill praised it as a necessary step to addressing housing insecurity in Nevada. A letter from a Culinary Union member read during public comment stated that a woman owes her HOA $900 and does not know where she will go if her home is foreclosed.

"I'm afraid that they will come after me at any time," the letter-writer said, adding that the bill will help her and others in a similar situation.

Critics questioned increased costs that might stem from the judicial process. Cameron Clark, president of Nevada Association Services, characterized the legislation as "a punitive measure on the homeowners that are paying their bills."

Spearman pushed back against the criticism, saying that homeowners would not bear the brunt of additional costs.

"I really want us to look at what Senate Bill 144 does. It helps people stay in their home. And it helps to give them an extra layer of protection for due process. That's all it does," Spearman said. "I have no idea why the judicial process has worked folks up so much."

— Tabitha Mueller

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Expanding jury discrimination rules to include sexual orientation, gender identity

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a landmark 7-2 decision in the case of Batson v. Kentucky, finding that prosecutors could not use peremptory challenges in criminal trials to remove potential jurors solely based on their race without a stated rationale. 

Nevada could go beyond that ruling under Sen. Dallas Harris’s SB233, expanding what’s known as a Batson challenge — a motion objecting to opposing counsel’s use of peremptory challenges to strike jurors based on race — to also include sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, physical disability or other inherent factors.

“These protections are not a new idea,” she said on Tuesday, during a bill hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. “They just need to be codified to be preserved.”

The bill itself is straightforward — adding those specific protections against juror discrimination, while also noting that the provisions don’t infringe upon any statutory or constitutional rights of accused persons, nor creating any right of a potential juror to serve on a potential jury (or to sue, if that potential juror is strange enough to want to serve on a jury). Harris said 11 other states have adopted similar protections for sexual orientation, and eight had approved similar language on gender expression.

Asked by Sen. Ira Hansen (R-Sparks) if there was an issue with the Clark County district attorney’s office regarding discrimination in jury selection, Harris said she wasn’t aware of any “flurry of prosecutors striking people unfairly.”

But advocates said the measure would beef up existing law prohibiting discrimination in jury selection, marking a needed step beyond existing federal protections (under Batson v. Kentucky) and because of issues in past cases with prosecutors in Clark County.

“Neither Senator (Melanie) Schieble nor Senator (Nicole) Cannizzaro is guilty of this, but the Clark County district attorney's office as a whole has a long and tortured history of violating Batson and getting serious cases reversed because of their problems with that issue,” Clark County Public Defender’s office lobbyist John Piro said, referencing two legislators employed by the district attorney’s office.

Harris said SB223 wasn’t the end point of discussions on diversity on juries — she said she hopes to bring legislation next session (or, if she can “pull off a miracle,” this session) to address the front end issue of ensuring jury pools represented an adequate cross-section of society, before any selections are made or peremptory challenges are filed.

“I could not quite get there, but you are correct,” she said in response to a question by Scheible. “We need to worry about both sides of the issue. This bill only addresses the latter.”

— Riley Snyder

Tax credits for charter school buildings and facilities

State Sen. Carrie Buck (R-Las Vegas) participated in an education choice rally roughly five years ago as a newly minted charter school principal. 

Now, as a first-year state senator, Buck said she has come “full circle” by introducing legislation that would help solve one of the problems she lamented during that rally years ago — the lack of facility funding for charter schools.

SB333 would provide up to $10 million in annual tax credits to businesses that donate money to help Title I charter schools that serve students from low-income households. The donated money would be distributed to eligible schools on a per-pupil basis to help with facility costs. Although charter schools are technically public schools, they do not receive funding generated by local property taxes for facility needs or capital projects. That leaves them dipping into their operational budgets to cover those expenses.

It has long been a point of contention in the charter community given that traditional public school districts receive about $1,200 more per student for facility needs.

Buck framed the proposed legislation as the key to incentivizing high-quality charter schools to open in neighborhoods with struggling traditional public schools. Finding available and affordable buildings or land can be difficult in dense urban areas, she said, which has been a barrier in expanding charter school access to the state’s most vulnerable students.

“I’m hoping that we can prove that this would make a difference and then maybe inevitably grow the fund in my next term,” Buck said. 

If this bill passes and becomes law, the businesses that donate money would receive a credit against the modified business tax (assessed on payroll) or the general tax on insurance premiums. The credit amount could not exceed that of the donation itself.

Renee Fairless, principal of Mater Academy East Las Vegas, said the facility funding would do wonders for her school, which is temporarily operating out of a site formerly occupied by Mountain View Christian Schools. A new building for Mater Academy East Las Vegas is under construction and will cost $2.3 million per year in payments, she said. But Fairless recently learned it will cost $46,000 to fix the air conditioners in portable classrooms they’re currently using. 

She said it’s an example of how facility costs balloon quickly for charter schools, especially ones in high-need neighborhoods where it’s even more difficult to find space or land. Mater Academy East Las Vegas is sponsored by the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority.

“I think all charter schools — all state schools — should get funding. I don’t think you can put the word ‘state’ in front of what I’m doing and then not provide dollars to open a facility,” she said. “But do I think if you start with Title I schools that that’s a good start? I definitely think it is. I think a lot of people can get behind that because they know we need these resources.”

No bill hearings have been scheduled yet. 

— Jackie Valley

Carson City Restaurant Spotlight — Mangia Tutto

A few months back, I had some friends visiting from Chicago, and figured that my default Little Caesars wasn’t going to cut it for people with easy access to the best pizzas in the world.

But I figured Mangia Tutto, located just to the north of the Capitol and with a name that means “eat everything” in Italian, could impress even a discriminating pizza snob. I was right.

Last week, I went back and splurged on one of the restaurant’s hearty deep dish pizzas. The “Kiss Me” pizza featured pepperoni, Italian sausage and hot giardiniera— pickled peppers and other vegetables — for a great kick even before I doused it with red pepper flakes.

But beyond the showstopper pizzas is the real star — the Mangia Tutto salad. With chicken, bacon, gorgonzola, tomato and — surprise! — pasta, it’s like a whole summer barbecue in a bowl. I don’t say this often, but you will not forget this salad.

An extra large pizza (big enough for six servings) and a large salad (big enough for two large portions) will set you back $67 with tip, but you’ll be glad you did it. Place your order at (775) 461-3353 — allow at least 45 minutes or so for that huge pizza to cook through — and then pick it up at 200 N Stewart St. Open until 8 p.m.

Have a restaurant suggestion for the Spotlight? Tell me at [email protected]. FYI: We’re not accepting free food in order to preserve the integrity of the reviews.

What we’re reading

Nevada’s female-majority Legislature could pass a bill this session that allows women to bypass a doctor’s visit and receive birth control through a pharmacy, Tabitha Mueller reports.

Michelle Rindels with major takeaways from the latest Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation budget hearing.

The bill upping penalties for litigation brought over noncompliance with public record requests got expected pushback from local governments, Sean Golonka reports.

Sean also reported a bill that would modernize state laws related to HIV.

A must-read roundup of environment and mining bills in Daniel Rothberg’s weekly newsletter.

On the ACA’s 11th anniversary, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra made some news in announcing an extended open enrollment period for health insurance exchanges during a visit to Carson City, Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez reports.

Not sure any parents will willingly go back to distance learning once schools resume in-person instruction, but just in case, the Department of Education and Sen. Mo Denis (D-Las Vegas) have a bill for that.

Our roundup of “deadline day” bill introductions (bill introduction deadline rules were all suspended, continual proof that we’re in the Whose Line is it Anyway-themed session).

Totally normal and cool to make a small, retroactive $41,000 loan to your political action committee that you’ve used to pay your daughter’s events company and spend more than six figures on restaurants, travel and your own business for “constituent outreach.” (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The indomitable Ray Hagar reports on Nevada Newsmakers interviews with Assemblywoman Jill Tolles (R-Reno) and Sen. Chris Brooks (D-Las Vegas).

Slavery is still in the Nevada Constitution. Howard Watts (D-Las Vegas) wants to take it out (Nevada Current).

The Reno City Council’s plan to end gun violence by not immediately banking with JP Morgan Chase (Reno Gazette-Journal).

UPCOMING DEADLINES

Start closing budgets: 5 (Tuesday, March 30, 2021)

First Committee Passage: 15 (Friday, April 9, 2021)

Days Until Sine Die: 70 (May 31, 2021)