Trampling the Constitution Wasn’t Going to Solve Nevada’s Budget Crisis

Tucked into proposals to solve Nevada’s budget crisis were thinly-veiled attacks on the Constitution and Nevada’s libertarian ethos. Some measures were illusory: they wouldn’t have actually solved Nevada’s financial woes because they would have shifted the financial burden from one part of the state’s system to another. While the ACLU of Nevada takes no position related to specific budget allocations of the state, we encouraged the Legislature to address policy shortcomings that marginalize our most at-risk youth and deny them access to education. Most notably, we urged the Legislature to recognize that Nevadans’ civil rights and rights to free speech and to be free of governmental surveillance are not for sale. We asked our elected officials to soundly reject the following provisions as unwise affronts to our civil liberties and civil rights.

Nevada Equal Rights Commission (NERC)
Governor Gibbons’ original budget proposal included the complete elimination of NERC. The ACLU believes that NERC serves a vital role in our state, as an expression of our state's public policy against discrimination in employment and places of public accommodation. We urged the Legislature to leave NERC's crucial services intact. NERC extends important resources that the federal Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission is simply too overburdened to grant to Nevadans, such as mediation services and factual investigation, for claims such as sex or racial discrimination in employment, or racial discrimination in places of public accommodation. The elimination of NERC would have undoubtedly led to more filings in state court - which of course needed to be weighed in any serious cost savings analysis. NERC’s elimination would have also removed the opportunity for any redress of grievances for individuals suffering discrimination based on sexual orientation, as this is not a protected class under federal law.

Special Session Outcome: Funding for NERC was restored, although with a 10% cut in its budget, like many other state agencies.

Closing Nevada State Prison or Other Correctional Facilities
The ACLU of Nevada did not oppose closure of the prison per se. We did, however, oppose the closure of any correctional facilities that would have included sending Nevada inmates to private or out-of-state prisons; this would have resulted in a lack of accountability or oversight, and an increase in the risk of liability and additional costs. We also opposed closing down correctional facilities and moving inmates to existing rural facilities, as moving prisoners, especial youth, to different facilities and further away from their families often undermines the rehabilitation process separating inmates from their families, who otherwise provide an important component of an offender’s rehabilitation. We stressed that successful rehabilitation isn’t only for the offenders-- it’s for the greater good of the general public.

Special Session Outcome: Nevada State Prison and Casa Grande, a transitional facility in Las Vegas, will remain open.

School Vouchers
While individuals have an absolute right to send their children an institution consistent with their own beliefs, the ACLU opposed the direct funding of any religious institution with taxpayer dollars. Just as the U.S. Constitution requires the separation of church and state, Nevada's own state Constitution clearly states that public funds cannot be applied to sectarian uses (Art. 11, Sec. 10). We believe that a school voucher program would not withstand constitutional scrutiny. In addition to the constitutional concerns they create, vouchers are simply unfair: they create a benefit only for those students who can already afford private tuition and marginalize the poorest kids in the system, who are generally students of color and ethnic minorities

Special Session Outcome: The Legislature refused to incorporate school vouchers as a “solution” for any budget gaps. Some legislators, however, hope to explore school vouchers during the 2011 legislative session, so this will remain on the ACLU’s radar.

An electronic police state is not a budget solution
The Legislature considered a proposal to give a private company an exclusive contract – without any competitive bidding – to install a surveillance net of cameras throughout Nevada’s roadways to catch “insurance scofflaws.” Under the proposal, your license plate would have been scanned, captured, and analyzed on roads statewide. It also would have laid the groundwork to allow surveillance data to be captured in ways that raise serious civil liberties issues. The government could, for example, seek the camera records of every car attending a political rally; could track the daily traffic patterns of individuals; could even request real-time location of a particular car -- without any court oversight or warrant. This is not paranoia: in similar contexts, this kind of surveillance happens all the time. For example, the government tracks people using cell phone data – without proper warrants.

Special Session Outcome: The Legislature rejected this dragnet approach to filling budget gaps. However, several legislators expressed interest in hearing more about this program during the next legislative session, so the ACLU will continue to remain vigilant.

Chapter 288/Collective Bargaining
Under Governor Gibbons’ proclamation, portions of Chapter 288 of the Nevada Revised Statues, which allowed for collective bargaining, may have been eliminated. The ACLU supports the rights of employees to organize and collectively bargain as aspects of their First Amendment freedom to associate. Public and private employees' right to engage in advocacy to improve conditions of employment is a protected civil liberty, and should necessarily include the right to meaningful employment advocacy. Because Nevada law already prohibits strikes by public employees, binding arbitration between the government and public unions remains the sole avenue for employees to rely on when concerns related to work conditions arise. We lobbied against the repeal of binding arbitration laws because their elimination would effectively leave the government free to ignore legitimate concerns of its employees and would prohibit employees from engaging in meaningful and protected union advocacy.

Special Session Outcome: The arbitration component of collective bargaining remained untouched.

Race to the Top
The ACLU of Nevada supports proactive, positive approaches to school discipline that can reduce suspensions and expulsions, and ultimately keep juveniles out of the criminal justice system, while improving student achievement and perceptions of school safety. There is a potential for the state of Nevada to implement programs that will address the school-to-prison pipeline issues currently created by our state’s unjust disciplinary policies using “Race to the Top” funds available from the US Department of Education. The final application guidelines for Race to the Top includes language encouraging states to support schools in “implementing approaches to improve school climate and discipline, such as implementing a system of positive behavioral supports (PBS),” and to develop data systems that track school climate programs and discipline.

Special Session Outcome: The Legislature passed a bill that would enable Nevada to apply for Race to the Top Funds. Although the Governor threatened to veto the measure, he has yet to do so.