In case you missed it…

Sharon Rossie

Nevada PERS:

As if NVPERS members didn't have enough to be frustrated about with reduced benefits and higher costs, PERS board members have added insult to injury: “Our workforce is dumbed-down… Their capacity to understand this stuff is pretty diminished. I’m sorry, it just is,” says Chairman Mark Vincent. Not only are his claims insulting, but misleading. In fact, it was PERS board members who misunderstood the fundamentals of how PERS rate hikes have impacted workers and taxpayers. (Read more)

 

Federal overreach:

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt has filed the first state-led lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Labor’s new overtime rules — rules aimed at forcing private companies into paying overtime for large swaths of previously exempt employees. “Not only do we think [this is] an unlawful rule, but this rule will ratchet upward automatically forever,” Laxalt said. “We do not believe that federal law allows this to go into effect.” (Read more)

 

Fiscal and taxes:

This isn’t the kind of bipartisanship most taxpayers were hoping for: Six of the 14 Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee joined with Democratic counterparts in favor of providing a multibillion-dollar bailout for a private union pension and healthcare fund. (Read more)

 

Teacher unions:

After five days of asking for donations, an apparent online fundraising effort for the Newark Teachers Union failed to attract even a single contribution. Maybe if the union provided substantive value to its members, it wouldn’t have to resort to inadequate GoFundMe fundraising efforts. (Read more)

 

Voter rights:

California Gov. Jerry Brown is considering whether to sign a bill that would allow tens of thousands of incarcerated felons to vote. The Legislature sent a bill to Brown’s desk that would restore voting rights to an estimated 50,000 convicted felons who are currently behind bars in county jails. If signed, the bill would create an odd situation in California where felons incarcerated in county jails could cast a ballot, while prisoners in state penitentiaries — as well as parolees — would remain prohibited from doing so. (Read more)