Weekly Newsletter

Nevada's Vaccine allocation

This week, I wrote a letter to acting Health and Human Services Secretary Norris Cochran regarding the State’s federal allocation of the COVID-19 vaccine. According to publicly available federal data, Nevada has received the second-lowest number of vaccine doses per capita among all U.S. states so far. As Governor, I have directed every government resource to focus on getting shots into the arms of Nevadans – we have great State and local partnerships that could drastically scale up the number of vaccines that could be administered per day. We need the doses to match that. We need our fair share of vaccine doses to stand up and sustain successful vaccination efforts to reach Nevadans in an equitable fashion.  The State is still working with the Department of Health and Human Services to look into why Nevada is so low on the allocation list, and more important, to find ways to increase our allocation both immediately and for the long term. To view this full press release, click here. To read my letter click here.  

Governor Sisolak, State officials hear from Nevada's small business owners 

Earlier this week I was joined by Lt. Governor Kate Marshall, Nevada State Treasurer Zach Conine, and a group of Nevada’s small business owners for a virtual small business roundtable. As you know, one of the priorities I laid out in my 2021 State of the State address concerned continued assistance for Nevada’s small businesses – which account for almost half of the jobs in our State. I am so glad to pull together this group as one more step in this process to provide more support for our vibrant and diverse small business community. Throughout the pandemic, our small businesses have worked hard to meet the unprecedented challenges, and I know it has been anything but easy. I look forward to continue working with them and leaders throughout the State as we continue down the road to recovery and implement Nevada’s Economic Action Plan.  

To read the full press release, click here. To learn more about PETS, click here . Nevada small businesses that are interested in being notified of future grant funding opportunities are encouraged to fill out this form.  

Governor Sisolak requests State, local partners accelerate infrastructure projects, offers State assistance  

This week, I issued a letter to State and local partners about accelerating infrastructure projects in the State to create immediate jobs for Nevadans. The letter follows my remarks made at the State address last week where I spoke about the need for the State to collaborate with our local partners to find ways to create good paying jobs and economic opportunity for residents to reenergize our economy. Nevada’s state agencies and local governments have billions of dollars of potential infrastructure projects in various stages of planning. The faster we can turn planned projects into actual projects, the more Nevadans we put back to work. With interest rates at a record low, we can save our residents hundreds of millions of dollars in borrowing costs by accelerating critical infrastructure projects while also creating opportunities to leverage federal assistance in the process To read the full press release click here. To view the letter, click here. 

Make a Plan: Knowing How and Where to Get Your Vaccine 

The Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation (OWINN) has been awarded a 2.5 million dollar H-1B Rural Healthcare Grant.  

The Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation (OWINN) is happy to announce that they have been awarded a $2.5 million dollar H-1B Rural Healthcare Grant. OWINN will be partnering with key healthcare organizations and training providers to implement training & job placing programs geared towards developing healthcare occupations in the northern and rural communities of Nevada. To stay up to date with this and other initiatives set forth by the Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation, please visit their website here. To stay in tune for their press release click here.  

Emsi SkillsMatch program to help Nevadans get back to work 

Free, Confidential Workplace Safety Consultations Available to All Nevada Businesses

Nevada Safety Consultation & Training Section- SCATS- offers onsite consultation services designed to help employers recognize and control potential safety and health hazards at the workplace, improve their safety and health programs, and assist in training employees. Our services are confidential and are free for all employers in Nevada. SCATS also offers free OSHA training classes, including OSHA-10 and OSHA-30-hour classes for construction and general industry. For more information, please visit our website by clicking here or call 702-486-9120 (Southern Nevada) or 1-775-688-3730 (Northern Nevada). 

Breathe easy! Up to $1,200 in rebates now available to Carson City and Douglas County residents to help purchase energy-efficient household heating appliances  

How we heat our homes matters. Did you know that wood-burning stove heaters are a significant source of harmful air pollution? Not only are these heating units among the most popular in Northern Nevada, they’re also one of the least cost-efficient heating options for homeowners.  Help clear the air! The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection is partnering with the University of Nevada, Reno’s Business Environmental Program to provide instant rebates, ranging from $600 to $1,200, to Carson City and Douglas County residents who replace their old wood-burning stoves through Nevada’s wintertime clean-heating rebate program. The rebates are being offered to homeowners to help offset the cost to upgrade their older wood-heating appliances to new EPA-certified wood, pellet, gas insert, or gas heating technologies. To learn more about the rebate program, click here.   

Department of Taxation Launches Nevada’s Tax Amnesty Program on February 1, 2021

The 31st Special Session of the Nevada Legislature enacted Senate Bill 3, which provides a one-time tax amnesty program for businesses or individuals doing business in Nevada who may have an existing tax liability. The amnesty program will allow for penalty and interest to be waived, provided the outstanding tax debt meets certain criteria. The tax can be paid online using a credit/debit card, or by check mailed to our office with AMNESTY written on the envelope. More details on Tax Amnesty, click here. 

2021 Nevada Women Veterans Virtual Conference March 3, 2021; Free Registration 

DMV asks for your help

Division of Health Care Financing and Policy – Open Enrollment for Medicaid 

Nevada Medicaid would like to remind you that while the Nevada Health Link has an open enrollment period, Nevada Medicaid is always open for applications. Apply here.

Nevada 211 Youth app launched - Zip code-based information and resources  

The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services has announced the release of a Nevada 211 Youth resource app to complement the Nevada 211 app launched earlier this year. The app, which focuses on youth resources including counseling, education, emergency food and shelter as well as youth employment is free to download and can be searched based on zip code.  

Nevada 211, a free service that includes information about health and human service programs and resources that are available throughout the state, can also be accessed online at Nevada211.org, by dialing 2-1-1 or by texting your zip code to 898211. 

The Nevada 211 app was announced in May 2020 to help more Nevadans connect with the resources they need. Money Management International (MMI) administers the program.  

Available in the Apple App Store and Google Play, the Nevada 211 Youth app is free to download. 

COVID Trace App: Protecting your community. And your privacy.   

More than 502,379 of your neighbors have downloaded the COVID Trace App. It's a free and easy-to-use mobile phone app that gives you the information you need to fight COVID-19, without compromising your privacy. Nevadans have answered the call since Nevada day, and have doubled the number of downloads. Join your friends, family and neighbors on the app today! Together, we can help slow the spread of COVID-19 in Nevada!

Join the fight! To download the fight on your Apple device or Android, click here. 

State railroad museum in Carson City now open Thursdays 

Beginning last week (Jan. 21), the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, home of the 1910 McKeen Motor Car (a National Historic Landmark), is open Thursdays. New hours of operation are from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday through Monday. The museum is dedicated to educating visitors and the community about Nevada railroad history. It is one of seven state museums, and one of three state museums dedicated to railroad history.

Nevada’s State Based Exchange enrolls nearly 82,000 Nevadans during Open Enrollment Period for 2021 coverage  

2021 NEVADA STATE TEACHER OF THE YEAR L. JULIANA URTUBEY AMONG FOUR FINALISTS FOR 2021 NATIONAL TEACHER OF THE YEAR

This week, I had the pleasure of congratulating Ms.  Juliana Urtubey, a learning strategist at Kermit R. Booker Senior Innovative Elementary School in the Clark County School District for being selected as one of the four finalists for 2021 National Teacher of the Year. This past September, Ms. Urtubey was previously chosen as Nevada’s 2020 Teacher of the Year, and now she will be representing us on the national stage. I have said that Juliana represents the best of Nevada’s educators, so it is no surprise that she also shines brightly on the national stage. Her commitment to making learning engaging and accessible for students and families from all backgrounds is more important today than ever, and we can all be proud to have her representing the Silver State – Congratulations Juliana!  

Governor Sisolak Appoints Elisa Cafferata as Director of Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation

This week, I announced the appointment of Elisa Cafferata as the permanent director of the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) effective on Tuesday, January 19th, 2021. I was pleased to appoint Elisa as the permanent director at DETR. The services rendered by DETR are now more vital than ever and during her time as Acting Director, Elisa has proven her commitment to progress. Elisa has made significant strides in addressing DETR’s backlog of unemployment claims and I am confident her continued leadership and skillset will improve DETR and continue benefitting the people of our great State. To read the full press release, click here. 

Unemployment Update

Finalized data from the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) show initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) totaled 10,105, down 369 claims, or 3.5%, compared to the previous week’s total of 10,474 claims. Regular continued claims totaled 80,927 claims, a decrease of 268 claims, or 0.3%, from the previous week’s total of 81,195.

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which provides benefits for self-employed, 1099 contract workers, and gig workers saw 111,662 initial claims filed in the week ending January 23, an increase of 55,084 claims, or 97.4%, from last week’s total of 56,578. Initial applications for the PUA program continue to be highly variable due to ongoing high levels of fraudulent applications. Through the week ending January 16, there have been a total of 962,284 PUA initial claims filed. 

COVID-19 Task Force Updates

The COVID-19 Mitigation and Management Task Force met on January 28, 2021. For more information on these meetings and more, please visit the links below. 

• COVID-19 Task Force Assessments 
• COVID-19 Weekly Situation Report 
• Daily COVID Press Bulletins 
  

Boards & Commissions

Last month, I was proud to announce 52 appointments were made to State of Nevada boards, commissions, and agencies during the month of December. I have appointed hundreds of individuals since assuming office, and I encourage anyone who might be interested in serving Nevada and their community to review opportunities posted on the Governor’s WEBSITE, which is updated on an ongoing basis. 

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS?

The Governor makes appointments to three types of boards and commissions:

• Advisory - An advisory board, commission or council serves as a formal liaison between a state agency and the public, in addition to making recommendations on how to address specific issues.
• Regulatory Board - Regulatory boards are those that oversee the licensing, handle complaints, and enforce disciplinary actions of individuals or industries that fall within the jurisdiction of the board’s authority.
• Task Force - A task force is created for the purpose of accomplishing a definite objective and goal.

If you are interested in serving, apply now! 

• Board Vacancies *Vacancies are updated once a month
• Frequently Asked Questions 
• Boards and Commissions Application 

Stay up to date on the latest news from Governor Sisolak by following his social media accounts or by visiting his website.

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