Nevada Senate

The Nevada Senate is the upper house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of U.S. state of Nevada, the lower house being the Nevada Assembly. It currently (2012–2021) consists of 21 members from single-member districts.[1] In the previous redistricting (2002–2011) there were 19 districts, two of which were multimember. Since 2012, there have been 21 districts, each formed by combining two neighboring state assembly districts. Each State Senator represented approximately 128,598 as of the 2010 United States Census. Article Four of the Constitution of Nevada sets that State Senators serve staggered four-year terms.[2]

Nevada Senate
Nevada Legislature
Type
Type	Upper house
Term limits	3 terms (12 years)
History
New session started	February 4, 2019
Leadership
President/Lt. Governor	Kate Marshall (D) since January 7, 2019
Majority Leader of the Senate	Nicole Cannizzaro (D) since March 5, 2018
Assistant Majority Leader of the Senate	Julia Ratti (D) since March 5, 2018
Senate Minority Leader	James Settelmeyer (R) since November 7, 2018
Structure
Seats	21
Political groups	Majority      Democratic (13) Minority      Republican (8)
Length of term	4 years
Authority	Article 4, Constitution of Nevada
Salary	$146.90/day (first 60 days) per diem (entire session)
Elections
Last election	November 6, 2018 (10 seats)
Next election	November 3, 2020 (11 seats)
Redistricting	Legislative control
Meeting place
State Senate Chamber Legislative Building, Carson City
Website
Home

In addition, the size of the Senate is set to be no less than one-third and no greater than one-half of the size of the Assembly.[3] Term limits, limiting senators to three 4-year terms (12 years), took effect in 2010. Because of the change in Constitution, seven senators were termed out in 2010, four were termed out in 2012, and one was termed out in 2014. The Senate met at the Nevada State Capitol in Carson City until 1971, when a separate Legislative Building was constructed south of the Capitol. The Legislative Building was expanded in 1997 to its current appearance to accommodate the growing Legislature.

History

Boom and Bust Era (1861–1918)

The first session of the Nevada Territorial Legislature was held in 1861. The Council was the precursor to the current Senate and the opposite chamber was called a House of Representatives which was later changed to be called the Assembly. There were nine members of the original Council in 1861 elected from districts as counties were not yet established.[4] Counties were established in the First Session of the Territorial Legislature and the size of the Council was increased to thirteen. From the first session of the Nevada Legislature once statehood was granted the size of the Senate ranged from eighteen members, in 1864, to a low of fifteen members from 1891 through 1899, and a high of twenty-five members from 1875 through 1879.[5]

Little Federalism Era (1919–1966)

In 1919 the Senate started a practice called "Little Federalism," where each county received one member of the Nevada Senate regardless of population of said county. This set the Senate membership at seventeen which lasted until 1965–1967. The Supreme Court of the United States issued the opinion in Baker v. Carr in 1962 which found that the redistricting of state legislative districts are not a political questions, and thus is justiciable by the federal courts. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Reynolds v. Sims and struck down state senate inequality, basing their decision on the principle of "one person, one vote." With those two cases being decided on a national level, Nevada Assemblywoman Flora Dungan and Las Vegas resident Clare W. Woodbury, M.D. filed suit in 1965 with the Nevada District Court arguing that Nevada's Senate districts violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and lacked of fair representation and proportional districts. At the time, less than 8 percent of the population of the State of Nevada controlled more than 50 percent of the Senate. The District Court found that both the Senate and the Assembly apportionment laws were "invidiously discriminatory, being based upon no constitutionally valid policy.[6]" It was ordered that Governor Grant Sawyer call a Special Session to submit a constitutionally valid reapportionment plan.[7] The 11th Special Session lasted from October 25, 1965 through November 13, 1965 and a plan was adopted to increase the size of the Senate from 17 to 20.

Modern Era (1967–Present)

The first election after the judicial intervention and newly adopted apportionment law was 1966 and its subsequent legislature consisted of 40 members from the Assembly and 20 members from the Senate. Nine incumbent Senators from 1965 were not present in the legislature in 1967.[8] In the 1981 Legislative Session the size of the Senate was increased to twenty-one because of the population growth in Clark County. Following the 2008 election, Democrats took control of the Nevada Senate for the first time since 1991. In January 2011, Senator William Raggio resigned after 38 years of service.[9] On January 18, 2011 the Washoe County Commission selected former member of the Nevada Assembly and former United States Attorney Gregory Brower to fill the vacancy and remainder of the term of Senator William Raggio. After the 76th Session and the decennial redistricting the boundary changes and demographic profiles of the districts prompted a resignation of Senator Sheila Leslie, in February 2012, and she announced her intention to run against Sen. Greg Brower in 2012.[10] Later in February 2012, citing personal reasons, Senator Elizabeth Halseth resigned her suburban/rural Clark County seat.[11]

Legislative Sessions

Legislative Session	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)		Total
	Democratic	Republican
62nd Legislative Session, 1967	11	9	20
63rd Legislative Session, 1969	11	9	20
56th Legislative Session, 1971	13	7	20
57th Legislative Session, 1973	14	6	20
58th Legislative Session, 1975	17	3	20
59th Legislative Session, 1977	17	3	20
60th Legislative Session, 1979	15	5	20
61st Legislative Session, 1981	15	5	20
62nd Legislative Session, 1983	17	4	21
63rd Legislative Session, 1985	13	8	21
64th Legislative Session, 1987	9	12	21
65th Legislative Session, 1989	8	13	21
66th Legislative Session, 1991	11	10	21
67th Legislative Session, 1993	10	11	21
68th Legislative Session, 1995	8	13	21
69th Legislative Session, 1997	9	12	21
70th Legislative Session, 1999	9	12	21
71st Legislative Session,2001	9	12	21
72nd Legislative Session, 2003	8	13	21
73rd Legislative Session, 2005	10	11	21
74th Legislative Session, 2007	10	11	21
75th Legislative Session, 2009	12	9	21
76th Legislative Session, 2011	11	10	21
77th Legislative Session, 2013	11	10	21
78th Legislative Session, 2015	10	11	21
79th Legislative Session, 2017	11^†	8	21
80th Legislative Session, 2019	13	8	21
Latest voting share	61.9%	38.1%

Current session

13	8
Democratic	Republican

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total
	Democratic	Ind	Republican		Vacant
Begin 78th, February 2014	10	0	11	21	0
End 78th, November 2016
Begin 79th, February 2017	11	0	10	21	0
End 79th, November 2018	10	1	8	19	2
November 7, 2018[12]	13	0	8	21	0
December 4, 2018[13]
March 5, 2019[14]	12			20	1
March 15, 2019[15]	13			21	0
Latest voting share	61.9%	38.1%

Historical Activity of Political Parties

•   Democratic Party (1864–Present)^†
•   National Union Party (1864–1869)
•   Republican Party (1871–present)
•   Citizen's Party (1879–1881)
•   People's Party (1893–1899)
•   Silver Party (1893–1907)
•   Silver-Democrat Party (1899–1909)
•   Socialist Party (1913–1915)
• Independent candidates have been elected to the Senate sporadically from 1863 through 1965

Composition and Leadership of the 80th Legislative session

Presiding over the Senate

The President of the Senate is the body's highest officer, although they only vote in the case of a tie, and only on procedural matters. Per Article 5, Section 17 of the Nevada Constitution, the Lieutenant Governor of Nevada serves as Senate President. In their absence, the President Pro Tempore presides and has the power to make commission and committee appointments. The President Pro Tempore is elected to the position by the majority party. The other partisan Senate leadership positions, such as the Leader of the Senate and Minority Leader, are elected by their respective party caucuses to head their parties in the chamber. The current President of the Senate is Nevada Lieutenant Governor Kate Marshall of the Democratic Party.

Non-Member Officers

On the first day of a regular session, the Senate elects the non-member, nonpartisan administrative officers including the Secretary of the Senate and the Senate Sergeant at Arms. The Secretary of the Senate serves as the Parliamentarian and Chief Administrative Officer of the Senate and the Sergeant at Arms is chief of decorum and order for the Senate floor, galleries, and committee rooms. Claire J. Clift was originally appointed by then Republican Senate Majority Leader William Raggio. The Democratic Party took the Majority in 2008 and she was retained until 2010.[16] In August 2010, then Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford appointed David Byerman as the 41st Secretary of the Senate.[17] The day after the 2014 General Election, David Byerman was removed from his position and the previous Secretary, Claire J. Clift was re-appointed.[18] Retired Chief of Police, Robert G. Milby was chosen as the Senate Sergeant at Arms for the 78th Legislative by the Republican Majority Leader. Both of the elected non-member officers serve at the pleasure of the Senate, thus they have a two-year term until the succeeding session. The Senate also approves by resolution the remainder of the nonpartisan Senate Session staff to work until the remainder of the 120 calendar day session.

80th Session Leadership

Leadership

Position	Name	Party	District	Represented Area
President/Lt. Governor	Kate Marshall	Democratic	N/A	Statewide
President pro tempore	Mo Denis	Democratic	District 2	Clark (part)

Majority Leadership

Position	Name	Party	District	Represented Area
Majority Leader	Nicole Cannizzaro	Democratic	District 6	Clark (part)
Assistant Majority Leader	Julia Ratti	Democratic	District 13	Washoe (part)
Chief Majority Whip	Joyce Woodhouse	Democratic	District 5	Clark (part)
Co-Majority Whip	Pat Spearman	Democratic	District 1	Clark (part)
Co-Majority Whip	Yvanna Cancela	Democratic	District 10	Clark (part)

Minority Leadership

Position	Name	Party	District	Represented Area
Minority Leader	James Settelmeyer	Republican	District 17	Churchill, Douglas, Lyon, Storey
Assistant Minority Leader	Joe Hardy	Republican	District 12	Clark (Part)
Minority Co-Whip	Heidi Gansert	Republican	District 15	Washoe (Part)
Minority Co-Whip	Scott Hammond	Republican	District 18	Clark (Part)

Members of the 80th Senate

Districts of the Nevada Assembly are nested inside the Senate districts, two per Senate district. The final Legislative redistricting plans as created by the Special Masters in 2011 and approved by District Court Judge James Todd Russell represent the first time since statehood Nevada's Assembly districts are wholly nested inside of a Senate district. Each Assembly district represents 1/42nd of Nevada's population and there are two Assembly districts per Senate district which represents 1/21st of Nevada's population.[19]

District	Assembly Districts	Name	Party	Residence	Assumed office	Next election
1	1, 17	Pat Spearman	Democratic	North Las Vegas	2012	2020
2	11, 28	Mo Denis	Democratic	Las Vegas	2010	2022
3	3, 10	Chris Brooks	Democratic	Las Vegas	2018^2	2020
4	6, 7	Marcia Washington	Democratic	Las Vegas	2019^2	2020
5	21, 29	Joyce Woodhouse	Democratic	Henderson	2012^1	2020
6	34, 37	Nicole Cannizzaro	Democratic	Las Vegas	2016	2020
7	18, 20	David Parks	Democratic	Las Vegas	2008	2020
8	2, 5	Marilyn Dondero Loop	Democratic	Las Vegas	2018	2022
9	9, 35	Melanie Scheible	Democratic	Las Vegas	2018	2022
10	15, 16	Yvanna Cancela	Democratic	Las Vegas	2016^2	2022
11	8, 42	Dallas Harris	Democratic	Las Vegas	2018^2	2020
12	19, 23	Joe Hardy	Republican	Boulder City	2010	2022
13	24, 30	Julia Ratti	Democratic	Sparks	2016^2	2022
14	31, 32	Ira Hansen	Republican	Sparks	2018	2022
15	25, 27	Heidi Gansert	Republican	Reno	2016	2020
16	26, 40	Ben Kieckhefer	Republican	Reno	2010	2022
17	38, 39	James Settelmeyer	Republican	Minden	2010	2022
18	4, 13	Scott Hammond	Republican	Las Vegas	2012	2020
19	33, 36	Pete Goicoechea	Republican	Eureka	2012	2020
20	22, 41	Keith Pickard	Republican	Las Vegas	2018	2022
21	12, 14	James Ohrenschall	Democratic	Las Vegas	2018	2022

• 1 Senator Woodhouse previously served from 2007–2011
• 2 Senator was originally appointed.

Senate Standing Committees of the 80th Session

Committee	Chair	Vice Chair	Ranking Member of the Minority	Number of Members
Commerce and Labor	Patricia Spearman	Vacant	Joseph P. Hardy	8
Education	Mo Denis	Joyce Woodhouse	Scott Hammond	7
Finance	Joyce Woodhouse	David Parks	James A. Settelmeyer	8
Government Affairs	David Parks	Melanie Scheible	Pete Goicoechea	5
Growth and Infrastructure	Yvanna Cancela	Chris Brooks	Joseph P. Hardy	8
Health and Human Services	Julia Ratti	Pat Spearman	Joseph P. Hardy	5
Judiciary	Nicole Cannizzaro	Dallas Harris	Scott T. Hammond	8
Legislative Operations and Elections	James Ohrenschall	Nicole Cannizzaro	Heidi Seevers Gansert	5
Natural Resources	Melanie Scheible	Chris Brooks	Pete Goicoechea	5
Revenue and Economic Development	Marilyn Dondero Loop	Julia Ratti	Ben Kieckhefer	5

Standing committees in the Senate have their jurisdiction set by the Senate Rules as adopted through Senate Resolution 1. To see an overview of the jurisdictions of standing committees in the Senate, see Standing Rules of the Senate, Section V, Rule 40.

Diversity in the Nevada Senate

See also: Diversity in the Nevada Legislature

African American Senators

Nevada's State Senate has included eight self-reported African-American Senators.

Senator	Party	District	Term	Notes
Joe Neal Jr.	Democratic	Clark No. 4	1972–2004	Retired
Bernice Mathews	Democratic	Washoe No. 1	1994–2010	Retired due to term limits
Maurice Washington	Republican	Washoe No. 2	1994–2010	Retired due to term limits
Steven Horsford	Democratic	Clark No. 4	2004–2012	Successfully ran for the Nevada's 4th congressional district served 2013–2015
Patricia Spearman	Democratic	District No. 1	2012–
Kelvin Atkinson	Democratic	District No. 4	2012–2019	Resigned due to campaign finance violations
Aaron D. Ford	Democratic	District No. 11	2012–2018
Dallas Harris	Democratic	District No. 11	2018–

Hispanic/Latino Senators

Nevada's State Senate has included four self-reported Hispanic/Latino Senators.

Senator	Party	District	Term	Notes
Bob Coffin	Democratic	Clark No. 3	1986–2010	Term Limited Successfully ran for Las Vegas City Council
Mo Denis	Democratic	District No. 2	2010–
Ruben Kihuen	Democratic	District No. 10	2010–2016	Elected to Serve Nevada's 4th congressional district in 2016; Term started 2017
Yvanna Cancela	Democratic	District No. 10	2016–	Appointed to Serve after the resignation of Ruben Kihuen

Women in the Senate

Since statehood, 37 women have served in the Nevada Senate, seven of them were originally appointed to fill a vacancy. Twenty-six out of the 34 have been Democrats, 11 have been Republicans, one was elected as a Republican but switched to Non-Partisan and chose to caucus with the Democrats.

Senator	Party	Area Represented/District	Assembly Term	Senate Term	Notes
Frances Friedhoff	Democratic	Lyon County	-	1935–1936	Appointed to fill vacancy caused by husband's resignation
Helen Herr	Democratic	Clark No. 3	1956–1960 1962–1966	1966–1976	First woman elected to the Nevada Senate
Margie Foote	Democratic	Washoe No. 2	1966–1974	1974–1978
Mary Gojack	Democratic	Washoe No. 1	1972–1974	1974–1978
Jean Ford	Democratic	Clark No. 3	1972–1976	1978–1982	Served in the Assembly as a Republican but elected to the Senate as a Democrat[20]
Sue Wagner	Republican	Washoe No. 3	1974–1980	1980–1990	Elected in 1990 to Lieutenant Governor of Nevada
Helen Foley	Democratic	Clark No. 3	1980–1982	1982–1986
Ann O'Connell	Republican	Clark No. 5	-	1984–2004
Dina Titus	Democratic	Clark No. 7	-	1988–2008	Successfully ran for Nevada's 3rd congressional district in 2008 Successfully ran for Nevada's 1st congressional district in 2012
Peggy O'Neill	Democratic	Washoe No. 2	-	1989–1990	Appointed to the vacancy caused by the resignation of Don Mello served in the 1989 Special Session only
Stephanie Tyler	Republican	Washoe No. 3	-	1990–1992	Appointed to the vacancy caused by Sue Wagner's election to Lt. Governor
Diana Glomb	Democratic	Washoe No. 1	-	1990–1994
Lori Lipman Brown	Democratic	Clark No. 7	-	1992-1994	Elected to fill the term of Nicholas Horn who died in office in 1992
Sue Lowden	Republican	Clark No. 3	-	1992–1996	lost reelection to Valerie Wiener in 1996 lost the 2010 GOP Senate Primary to Sharron Angle
Kathy Augustine	Republican	Clark No. 7	1992–1994	1994–1998	Successfully ran for Nevada State Controller in 1998
Bernice Mathews	Democratic	Washoe No. 1	-	1994–2010	First woman of color elected to the Nevada Senate First woman of color elected to the Reno City Council in 1990
Valerie Wiener	Democratic	Clark No. 3	-	1996–2010	Term Limited
Maggie Carlton	Democratic	Clark No. 2	2010–	1998–2010	Term Limited in the Senate ran successfully for the Nevada Assembly
Christine Milburn	Republican	Clark No. 8	-	7/2002 – 11/2002	Appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mark James served in the 2002 Special Session only
Barbara Cegavske	Republican	Clark No. 8	1996–2002	2002–2014	Elected Secretary of State
Sandra Tiffany	Republican	Clark No. 5	1992–2002	2002–2006	Lost reelection to Joyce Woodhouse
Joyce Woodhouse	Democratic	Clark No. 5	-	2006–2010 2012–	Lost reelection in 2010 but successfully ran in a newly created district in 2012
Shirley Breeden	Democratic	Clark No. 5	-	2008–2012	Did not seek reelection
Allison Copening	Democratic	Clark No. 6	-	2008–2012	Did not seek reelection
Elizabeth Halseth	Republican	Clark No. 9	-	2010–2012	Resigned mid-term
Sheila Leslie	Democratic	Washoe No. 1	1998–2010	2010–2012	Resigned mid-term to challenge Greg Brower in 2012, subsequently lost
Patricia Spearman	Democratic	District 1	-	2012–
Debbie Smith	Democratic	District 13	2000–2002 2004–2012	2012–2016	Elected to fill the unexpired term of Sheila Leslie Died in office
Patricia Farley	Independent	District 8	-	2014–	In 2016, Patricia Farley switched her party affiliation from Republican to Non-Partisan and announced that she would caucus with the Democratic Party
Becky Harris	Republican	District 9	-	2014–2017	Resigned mid-term when appointed chairwoman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board
Julia Ratti	Democratic	District 13	-	2016–
Nicole Cannizzaro	Democratic	District 6	-	2016–
Heidi Gansert	Republican	District 15	2004–2010	2016–
Yvanna Cancela	Democratic	District 10	-	2016–
Marilyn Dondero Loop	Democratic	District 8	2008–2014	2018–
Melanie Scheible	Democratic	District 9	-	2018–
Dallas Harris	Democratic	District 11	-	2018–	Appointed to fill the seat of Aaron Ford

LGBT Senators

Nevada's State Senate has included five out LGBT Senators.

Senator	Party	Area Represented/District	Assembly Term	Senate Term	Notes
David Parks	Democratic	District 7	1996–2008	2008–	Term Limited in the Assembly Successfully ran for Senate in 2008 Lost a Primary Election to succeed Rory Reid on the Clark County Commission in 2010, remained in the Senate
Patricia Spearman	Democratic	District 1	-	2012–	Defeated sitting Senator John Lee in a Democratic Primary[21]
Kelvin Atkinson[22]	Democratic	District 4	2002-2012	2012-2019	Replaced Steven Horsford (D, NV4) who ran for Congress in 2012
Melanie Scheible	Democratic	District 9	-	2018–
Dallas Harris	Democratic	District 11	-	2018–

Past composition of the Senate

Main article: Political party strength in Nevada

See also

• Nevada State Capitol
• Nevada Legislature
• Nevada Assembly

References

1. "Nevada State Senate - 2011 Districts" (PDF). Legislative Counsel Bureau. January 6, 2012.
2. "Nevada Constitution". Legislative Counsel Bureau. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
3. "Nevada Constitution". Legislative Counsel Bureau. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
4. "Political History of Nevada" (PDF). Nevada State Printing Office. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 15, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
5. "Political History of Nevada" (PDF). Nevada State Printing Office. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 15, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
6. Dungan v. Sawyer, 250 F.Supp. 480 (1965)
7. Dungan v. Sawyer, 250 F.Supp. 480 (1965)
8. "Political History of Nevada, Pages 284-286" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 15, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
9. Sen. William Raggio (January 5, 2012). "Letter to Washoe County Commission" (PDF).
10. "Leslie Resigns State Senate Seat to Run in New District 15". Las Vegas Review Journal. February 15, 2012.
11. "Republican Halseth Resigning Senate Seat". Las Vegas Review Journal. February 17, 2012.
12. Election results. State legislators in Nevada assume office the day after the election.
13. Democrats Tick Segerblom (District 3) and Aaron D. Ford (District 11) resigned in order to take office as Clark County Commissioner and Attorney General of Nevada, respectively. The Clark County Commission selected Democrats Chris Brooks and Dallas Harris respectively to succeed them in the Senate.
14. Democrat Kelvin Atkinson (District 4) resigned.
15. Democrat Marcia Washington appointed to replace Atkinson.
16. Sean Whaley (May 25, 2010). "In Surprise Move, State Senate Majority Leader Replaces Long-Time Top Staffer". Nevada News Bureau.
17. "Nevada Senate Majority Leader Picks Census Bureau Liaison to Serve in Top Administrative Post". Nevada News Bureau. August 18, 2010.
18. "Claire Clift to return as Senate Secretary". Nevada Appeal. November 8, 2014.
19. Redistricting in Nevada
20. "Biography of Jean Ford". Women's Research Institute of Nevada. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
21. Miller, Ross (June 12, 2012), Nevada Primary Election Results, Nevada Secretary of State, retrieved January 9, 2013
22. Sen. Kelvin Atkinson Comes Out During Marriage Debate, Queerty, April 23, 2013, retrieved April 24, 2013

External links

• Nevada Senate official government website
• Project Vote Smart – State Senate of Nevada