Purple Politics Nevada is KUNR’s weekly show about the 2023 Nevada Legislative Session, which spans 120 days and reached its halfway point. In this week’s episode, host Lucia Starbuck checks in with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Republican Senate Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert about bills to improve health care and toughen punishments for trafficking fentanyl.
Click here for a transcript of the audio story.
Episode Overview
The top four lawmakers in the Nevada Legislature, on both sides of the aisle, have sponsored a bill aimed at increasing the number of graduating nurses.
Senate Bill 375 would fund a grant program for Nevada System of Higher Education colleges and universities to expand nursing programs in an effort to address health care workforce shortages. The appropriation would roughly average $18 million per year for the next two years.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert, who represents parts of North and West Reno, said it will increase the number of graduating nurses by 50% over the next three years.
“There’s a nursing shortage across the U.S. and what’s happening is Nevada is competing with every other state to bring nurses here. So this bill will really help on the supply side,” Seevers Gansert said. “When someone attends school in a certain state, they typically try to stay in that state for their career.”
Republicans and Democrats are also looking to increase penalties for selling and trafficking fentanyl. There has been a spike in overdose-related deaths in the country and locally.
Under current Nevada law, if a person sells 100 to 400 grams of a Schedule I or II controlled substance, it is considered low-level trafficking. Senate Bill 128 sponsored by Seevers Gansert and her Republican colleagues, would make it so someone could be charged with low-level trafficking for selling four to six milligrams of fentanyl. Two milligrams of fentanyl, or the size of a common mosquito, can be deadly.
Democratic Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro also has a bill to increase penalties for selling fentanyl. She said she’s still working with Nevada Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford to determine what the policy will ultimately look like.
“You don’t have to go very far to understand that fentanyl is a huge issue in so many of our communities. There are families who are losing their children, young people who are dying from fentanyl overdoses,” Cannizzaro said. “When you start to see trends like that, it is incumbent upon us as lawmakers to address that.”
The Nevada Legislature recently passed a major deadline for bills to be introduced on the floor. And by next Friday, April 14, bills must pass out of their first committee, or they will become dead.
Listen to this week’s episode of Purple Politics Nevada with Lucia Starbuck to learn more about the bipartisan efforts to improve health care in Nevada and address the rise in overdose-related deaths.
Editor’s note: April 7, 2023, at 3:29 PM PST: The episode overview was updated to include Sen. Heidi Seevers Gansert’s bill to increase penalties for trafficking fentanyl. The original version referred to a similar bill sponsored by Sen. Jeff Stone.
Transcript
(UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC BEGINS)
LUCIA STARBUCK, HOST: Welcome to the 10th episode of Purple Politics Nevada! I’m your host, Lucia Starbuck. The name reflects the fact that Nevada isn’t red or blue — it’s both.
We’ve reached the halfway point for the legislative session. I checked in with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Republican Senate Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert about some of their legislation to improve access to health care and toughen punishments for trafficking fentanyl.
(UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC ENDS)
STARBUCK: Senator Cannizzaro, we’re about halfway through the legislative session. How are you feeling with the bills you’re supporting? Any big surprises so far?
NICOLE CANNIZZARO: I wouldn’t say there are surprises. I’m glad that we’re about halfway through. Obviously, we just saw a number of bills get introduced. There are tons of members working on different priorities in the legislative building. We’re having lots of bill hearings for people to come and testify in support, in opposition, in the neutral space so that we can vet these policies. And as we move through the rest of this week and next week, we will see them come up for votes or not come up for votes, with full floor votes expected in the next few weeks.
STARBUCK: You’re sponsoring a bill that would extend Medicaid coverage for postpartum care from 60 days to 12 months. Why is that needed?
CANNIZZARO: Postpartum care is one of the biggest pieces for maternal health that we can invest in as a state. There are a lot of things that happen physically and mentally for people who have carried and delivered babies, and a lot of care that is still required past that 60 days. There are heart conditions that can develop. There are issues with lactation. There are mental stress issues with raising a new baby. Twelve-month coverage will ensure that, at least for a year, people who are on Medicaid can have coverage to seek that additional help. It’s huge changes to grow and to develop an entire human and then bring them into this world. And after that, it’s not as though the baby sort of appears, and everyone is fine, and life goes on.
STARBUCK: And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are looking to increase penalties for selling and trafficking fentanyl.
CANNIZZARO: You don’t have to go very far to understand that fentanyl is a huge issue in so many of our communities. There are young people and families who are losing their children; young people who are dying from fentanyl overdoses. When you start to see trends like that, it is incumbent upon us as lawmakers to address that. And so I have a bill that I am working on and a bill with the attorney general’s office. We are still in the process of putting together the parameters of what that policy looks like.
(UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC BEGINS)
STARBUCK: That was Democratic Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro. I’m Lucia Starbuck, and you’re listening to Purple Politics Nevada. Next up, Republican Senate Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert.
(UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC ENDS)
STARBUCK: Senator Seevers Gansert, we’re about halfway through the legislative session. How are you feeling with the Democratic-controlled legislature?
HEIDI SEEVERS GANSERT: Well, the process always starts out slow, and we just hit the first deadline, which was the introduction of bills, and we have about 450 bills on the Senate side. So I’m very happy that we’re moving forward and can start evaluating those bills.
STARBUCK: One bill is being sponsored by the top four lawmakers in leadership, including yourself. It aims to increase the number of graduating nurses.
SEEVERS GANSERT: We hear about the nursing shortage all the time, like every day, especially during COVID. And when I asked higher ed, “How much would it cost to increase the number of nursing grads?” It turned out it was about $18 million a year to increase the number of nursing grads by 50% in the next three years. And those nursing grads would be across the state.
STARBUCK: What’s contributing to Nevada’s nursing shortages, and how would this bill help fill some of those gaps?
SEEVERS GANSERT: There’s a nursing shortage across the U.S., and what’s happening is Nevada is competing with every other state. This bill will really help on the supply side. When someone attends school in a certain state, they typically try to stay in that state for their career.
STARBUCK: There has been a spike in overdose-related deaths in the country and locally. One bill that you’ve sponsored with your Republican colleagues in the Senate would impose tougher punishments for selling or trafficking fentanyl. Walk me through what that would do.
SEEVERS GANSERT: So right now, the threshold for prosecution for trafficking is 100 grams. Two milligrams, milligrams, is what’s lethal. So we are way off base with current statute. So my legislation contemplates if you were trying to traffic as little as four milligrams, you could be prosecuted.
STARBUCK: How is this legislation different than Republican Governor Joe Lombardo’s?
SEEVERS GANSERT: The governor also has a zero-tolerance level for fentanyl. There’s a couple other bills that are out there for four grams, and four grams is way too high.
STARBUCK: What ways can we support people who are struggling with substance use?
SEEVERS GANSERT: I think it goes to making sure that there’s services for people. And Governor Lombardo proposed additional funds to expand behavioral health clinics. Like in Reno, if you were to go to the HOPES Clinic, they help people with opioid addiction.
(UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC BEGINS)
STARBUCK: That was Republican Senate Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert. I’m Lucia Starbuck, and you’ve been listening to Purple Politics Nevada.
(UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC ENDS)
The theme song, “Vibe Ace” by Kevin MacLeod, is licensed under Creative Commons and was edited for this episode.
