The Nevada Youth
Legislature will have its first official meeting of the 2013-2015 biennium
tomorrow. The Nevada
Youth Legislature is comprised of 21 high school students appointed by State
Senators to represent the youth of their districts. The Nevada Legislature has empowered its
Youth Legislature to propose one actual bill or resolution at each session; we
are one of only two states in the nation that empowers its youth leadership
entity in this manner (Maine is the other).
My office staffs the Nevada Youth Legislature on a volunteer basis as
part of our focus on education and our advocacy of participatory
democracy. (No public resources are
expended on direct costs for this program; the program is funded through grants
and through donations from individuals.)
It is a labor of love for us – these are truly inspirational young
people.
We flew our 15 Clark County
members up to Northern Nevada last month.
All 21 Youth Legislators stay at the same hotel and engage in an
intensive two-day training seminar at the Legislative Building. This year, they were sworn in by Chief
Justice Kristina Pickering, heard a presentation on Executive/Legislative
branch relations from Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto, and held a
session on the floor of the Nevada Senate presided over by Lt. Governor Brian
Krolicki. Former Senator Valerie Wiener,
who founded the program in 2007, continues to serve as a mentor and chairs the
NYL Foundation Board of Directors.
We will hold monthly meetings
over the next two years, with a variety of engaging guest speakers. Assemblymen David Bobzien and Pat Hickey and
Senator Justin Jones will speak to the group this month on the topic of
constituent relations. For the first
year, these meetings will be focused on training, while in the second year, the
meetings focus more on whittling down to, selecting, and shaping the
legislation that will be proposed at the Legislative Session to come.
All of these young people are
outstanding in their own way; they have emerged from a competitive application
process, with as many as 12 applicants per district. Each has been appointed, either by the State Senator for the district in which they live or for the district in which they go to school.
This is a program that should make us all proud as Nevadans. If you would like to support this program, either monetarily, as a guest speaker, or by providing developmental opportunities for these outstanding young people, please contact my office anytime.
