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June 30, 2022

Nevada’s Legislators Have Day Jobs. Should They?

City Cast Las Vegas

Nevada’s Legislators Have Day Jobs. Should They?

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Nevada is one of just a handful of states with a “citizen legislature” — our lawmakers convene every other year, get paid a nominal fee, and have day jobs. A recent lawsuit claims that at least some of those legislators violate our state constitution: Government employees aren’t supposed to be legislators. But, as host Dayvid Figler points out, lawmakers with any sort of day job inevitably have conflicts of interest. And because they’re biennial part-timers, guess who ends up wielding a lot of influence? Lobbyists! Dayvid has some big feels about all of this, so lead producer Sonja Cho Swanson chats him up about why the framers of the state constitution created a citizen legislature … and why it might not be such a good idea anymore.


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