Titus goes after Lombardo on data centers

Open for business. With an election coming up, the Nevada chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business has released a scorecard grading how business-friendly your state legislators were when last they met for a regularly scheduled session in 2025.

The answer: Very.

Some of the issues/votes used to rate legislators on the scorecard had a high-profile, like the paid family leave bill that was passed by legislators but killed by the veto governor. Other votes on the list were pretty obscure, which probably reflects a targeted but modest Nevada NFIB legislative agenda.

But the sort of eye-catching bit, to me anyway, was that in a Legislature where both houses are controlled by Democrats, only one of those Democrats (Assemblymember Selena La Rue Hatch) was given a score below 50%, and it wasn't that much below (44%).

The Democratic Senate majority leader, Nicole Cannizzaro, and the Democratic Assembly speaker, Steve Yeager, sided with the business group 64% and 67% of the time, respectively.

Nevada Republicans, including your governor and the billionaire- and corporate-funded PACs that exist for the sole purpose of keeping him in possession of a veto stamp, breathlessly tell anyone who will listen that horrible terrible Democrats are anti-business.

By contrast, over the years I've contended that elected Nevada Democrats are far too cozy with business, often putting the interest — and ideology — of business ahead of an agenda that would foster a more broadly shared prosperity.

So thank you, NFIB for making a small but not uninteresting contribution to the proposition that Lombardo's PACs are wrong and I'm right.

IN NEVADA CURRENT

In addition to the federal precedent angle, which is significant, Dina Titus is doing this because this proposed data center is in her district. And it's in her district because during redistricting after the 2020 census, state legislative Democrats decided to puff up the Democratic registration advantage in CD3 and CD4, at the expense of the Democratic registration advantage Titus had enjoyed in historically safely Democratic CD1. Upshot: Susie Lee used to represent Boulder City. Now Dina Titus does. That's not to say Lee — though she is more inclined to "partner" with Lombardo than critique him — wouldn't have done this. But it is no surprise whatsoever that Titus did. Jeniffer Solis reports: Titus calls on Lombardo to freeze data center tax abatements

Trump yet again told to quit ignoring laws. A federal judge in South Carolina ordered the Trump administration to fund hundreds of environmental justice grants it illegally canceled last year, a decision that could impact $20 million in federal funding rescinded from the Walker River Paiute Tribe in Nevada. A busy Jeniffer reports: Judge orders EPA to fund climate grants, including $20 million for tribe in NV

2% drop in NV vs 16% nationally. Local and federal officials have been conducting interviews with Southern Nevada residents living in overdose hot spots to get more insight into those struggling with substance use, including their housing status, and if and how they have access to overdose interventions like naloxone. Micheal Lyle reports: Overdoses haven’t fallen as much in NV as in rest of nation, officials trying to find out why

So is that housing bill a thing that's a thing? Trump, you'll recall, dismissed it as a "big yawn." That was when he was refusing to sign it because he was in toddler tantrum mode over the Senate's refusal to kill democracy for him. And of course when Trump says something there is always an excellent chance that the exact opposite is true. So is it a thing? "There’s not one huge idea that’s going to change the dynamics of the housing market," offered one observer, "but there are tons of small bills and provisions and programs that collectively really could have an impact." Stateline's Robbie Sequeira reports: Landmark federal housing law tries new ways to boost local building

Good Luck