Democrats chide governor’s office over allocation of federal funds for assistance programs

Democratic lawmakers on Thursday criticized Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s handling of federal relief money, accusing his administration of not working with them and attempting to tie their hands financially.

Caught in the middle was a food assistance program that could help approximately 350,000 Nevada children this calendar year. On the surface, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services only needed the Interim Finance Committee to approve the transfer of $905,206 in federal grants to their Division of Welfare and Supportive Services, but that request came with an understanding that administrators would need to return to IFC in June and request $6 million.

The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Program will provide $40 per kid per month for the three months of summer to eligible low-income families. States pay half the cost of administering the program, but the federal government provides the entirety of the money given to families.

Democrats took issue with potentially being asked to pay for $6 million from the IFC Contingency Account instead of reallocating unspent American Rescue Plan Act money.

Another request before the IFC on Thursday was to de-obligate $9 million in ARPA funding that was set aside but not spent for a universal school lunch program.

“Why are we not using that money for this new program?” asked Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno (D-North Las Vegas), adding that she was worried approving the initial grant money would put the committee in the position of having to fund the $6 million out of the contingency fund.

Using the contingency fund for the EBT program would leave the fund with an $11 million balance–considered too low by lawmakers.

“ARPA is a shared responsibility,” said Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas). “I feel like this is an issue that could have been solved before we got to this meeting, if we had been at all advised that there was a program coming forward to feed kids.”

Yeager added that Lombardo vetoed a bill Democrats introduced in the 2023 session that would have provided universal free lunch for K-12 students.

DWSS Administrator Robert Thompson said the department is neutral when it comes to what fund pays for the $6 million they will need to fully implement the EBT program.

“We can use a GoFundMe account,” said Thompson. “We can do whatever we need to.”

Democrats eventually approved the initial $950,000 transfer request and rejected the request to de-obligate the $9 million in unspent ARPA funds, with the intention of having the leftover universal school lunch funds cover the future $6 million request.

“That solves the issue without further depleting the contingency fund,” said Yeager.

The IFC contingency fund balance was a point of contention for lawmakers during Thursday’s meeting, which followed a report from The Nevada Independent that Lombardo said during a Board of Examiners meeting earlier this week that a legislative special session might be needed to replenish the IFC contingency fund. Yeager said the fund has “adequate funding to handle emergencies.”

Yeager made the comment during a request from the Nevada Department of Education for $158,855 from the contingency account to fund two new positions, which administrators said they needed to assist with new programs and a new director who’d replaced a longtime employee who’d left.

“I do not see this as an emergency,” said Yeager. “It isn’t a lot of money but we don’t want to set this precedent.”

IFC denied the funding request.

At another point in the meeting, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizarro (D-Las Vegas) criticized the Governor’s Office of Finance for providing financial information to IFC members the morning of their meetings, which leaves lawmakers little to no time to review and prepare to make decisions on requests.

Cannizarro told the Governor’s Office of Finance it wasn’t the first time it had happened, “but this better be the last time.”