Performance-based budgeting becoming possible

Geoffrey Lawrence

The Nevada Policy Researh Institute has been writing for a long time about the failures inherent in Nevada’s baseline budgeting process and the need for an immediate shift to the performance-based approach when crafting the state budget.

NPRI’s “Better Budgeting for Better Results” study was instrumental in raising the issue’s profile at the outset of the 2011 legislative session and, soon after, Gov. Brian Sandoval’s administration produced the first official performance-based budgeting document in state history.

Yesterday, the legislature passed AB248 which would require performance-based budgeting for all future budget cycles. This change will be a huge victory for Nevadans who wish to see their tax dollars used in the most cost-effective manner possible.

Congratulations to the Nevada Legislature for its bipartisan support of a very sound policy change! Now, if only the same could be said for meaningful education reform…

Geoffrey Lawrence

Geoffrey Lawrence

Director of Research

Geoffrey Lawrence is director of research at Nevada Policy.

Lawrence has broad experience as a financial executive in the public and private sectors and as a think tank analyst. Lawrence has been Chief Financial Officer of several growth-stage and publicly traded manufacturing companies and managed all financial reporting, internal control, and external compliance efforts with regulatory agencies including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  Lawrence has also served as the senior appointee to the Nevada State Controller’s Office, where he oversaw the state’s external financial reporting, covering nearly $10 billion in annual transactions. During each year of Lawrence’s tenure, the state received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Award from the Government Finance Officers’ Association.

From 2008 to 2014, Lawrence was director of research and legislative affairs at Nevada Policy and helped the institute develop its platform of ideas to advance and defend a free society.  Lawrence has also written for the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation, with particular expertise in state budgets and labor economics.  He was delighted at the opportunity to return to Nevada Policy in 2022 while concurrently serving as research director at the Reason Foundation.

Lawrence holds an M.A. in international economics from American University in Washington, D.C., an M.S. and a B.S. in accounting from Western Governors University, and a B.A. in international relations from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.  He lives in Las Vegas with his beautiful wife, Jenna, and their two kids, Carson Hayek and Sage Aynne.