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.
Solution of the Week: PERS reform
Nevada lawmakers should protect Silver State taxpayers from the open-ended liabilities associated with DB pension plans by adopting pension reform along the lines of Utah’s hybrid system.
Solution of the Week: Collective Bargaining
Nevada lawmakers could realize tens of millions in annual cost savings by returning to the state’s original prohibition on government-sector collective bargaining.
Solution of the Week: School Choice
In the realm of education — arguably the most significant area of an individual’s life — most Nevadans have been deprived of choice. Instead, they have been forced into a state-run monopoly.
Top 10 labor reforms for 2015
Now that Nevada voters have granted them unified control of the legislature and governor’s mansion for the first time in 85 years, Republicans will have a historic opportunity in 2015 to enact policies that will mean better opportunities for Nevadans for generations to come.
The basics of school choice
The need for school choice in Nevada is clear. Empirical research into existing programs of school choice in other states has consistently found that choice leads to improved outcomes for both students who participate in those programs and for students who elect to remain in district-run schools.
How Republicans can succeed where Democrats have failed: Part III
North Las Vegas is in a financial mess. Although Gov. Sandoval was able to broker a temporary deal between city officials and union bosses — allowing the city to…
How Republicans can succeed where Democrats have failed: Part I
With Republicans set to assume control of both chambers of the Nevada Legislature — along with all the state’s constitutional offices — parents across Nevada can only wait with bated breath to see if Republicans will move to implement the fundamental reforms Nevada’s K-12 education system needs.
How Republicans can succeed where Democrats have failed: Part II
Not beholden to public-employee unions, Republicans have a chance to reform public pensions.
What should "revenue reform" look like?
Any discussion about reforming the structure of Nevada’s tax code should be divorced from the debate over how much in total revenue state officials would like to receive. In other words, for tax reform to have legs politically, it must be done on a revenue-neutral basis.