Nevada Current: Lawmakers slam governor’s office for leaving budget hole in fund for crime victims
After pretending to prioritize Nevadans’ safety on the campaign trail, Joe Lombardo’s proposed budget failed to replenish a fund to help crime victims that is on track to run dry next year. After leaving Clark County with a skyrocketing crime rate while he campaigned for a promotion, Lombardo is now disregarding the victims who are facing the consequences of his dereliction and didn’t even care enough to offer an explanation.
Read more below about Lombardo turning his back on crime victims.
Nevada Current: Lawmakers slam governor’s office for leaving budget hole in fund for crime victims
Michael Lyle
April 26, 2023
Key Points:
- Lawmakers scolded the governor’s office for failing to provide a solution to fix a $2.3 million budget shortfall for program that provides financial assistance for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors.
- The fund, which is expected to receive less federal funds this year than anticipated, is at risk of being insolvent during the 2023-2025 biennium without additional money, lawmakers were told Tuesday during a joint hearing of the Assembly Ways and Means and the Senate Finance subcommittees on Human Services.
- In a statement following the hearing, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro said Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office “had months to bring forward a budget amendment to address the Victims of Crime Fund shortfall but has failed to do so.”
- “It’s easy to talk tough on crime when you want to score political points, but shortchanging funds for victims of crime is unacceptable,” Cannizzaro said.
- The fund is facing a $2.3 million total budget shortfall, and without immediate action the program won’t be able to compensate future claims during the biennium.
- Lawmakers questioned why the governor’s office hadn’t brought forward a budget amendment that takes care of the problem at hand rather than waiting for the interim, especially if a lack of funding could result in victims not receiving assistance.
- “I think it’s disingenuous on our part and probably a slap in the face to victims of crime to say the only way to take care of this is during the interim when we know there is a problem now,” said Democratic Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe Moreno, adding that the interim fix proposed by the governor’s office would leave the funding “to depend on a bill that may or may not live.”
- “If we could get a budget amendment to take care of this now, I believe that’s what we should do as a body,” Monroe Moreno said.
- Young told lawmakers Tuesday the fund could be insolvent in the second year of the biennium.
Read the full story here.
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