There are a lot of issues to consider when choosing who to vote for. And it’s important to understand that elected officials alone don’t always have the power to address issues single-handedly. Local, state and federal governments must work together to affect change in our communities. Here’s a breakdown of how different levels of government work to address Southern Nevadans’ most pressing issues.

Education

Education is not only essential for individual success, it’s essential to a functioning society. Good education doesn’t simply impart facts, it also improves our ability to reason and problem-solve, develops our vocabulary of other tools of communication and helps place each of us as individuals into the larger context of society.

When we think of the role that elected officials play in education, we might imagine the role of school board members, who set policies and make hiring decisions that impact schools directly. However, almost every other level of government also impacts education.

Federally, Congress can use its power of the purse to pass mandates on schools, as it did with the No Child Left Behind Act, which mandated standardized testing for any school in the United States receiving federal education funds.

At the state level, the Nevada State Board of Education sets vision and policy goals for student achievement, including minimum curriculum requirements. In some Republican-controlled states, that authority has been used to eliminate curriculum related to slavery and the U.S. Civil War, and to discriminate against LGBTQ students.

Like Congress, state legislators can also influence education by funding certain initiatives and passing legal requirements for teachers, schools and districts. In Nevada, GOP lawmakers have fought for years to privatize education by changing state laws to allow taxpayer dollars to be redirected to private, sometimes religious, institutions.

Even local elected officials like city council members and county commissioners play a role in education as they can boost investments in preschool, early literacy and quality childcare; provide policing near campuses to keep schools safe; provide quality after-school programs; and champion bonds for improved facilities. Some city councils have even sought to attract high quality teachers by providing financial incentives such as no-interest home loans for teachers in the communities in which they teach.

Public Safety

Public safety is the backbone of thriving neighborhoods. When people don’t feel safe, they don’t go out, causing businesses and civic organizations to suffer, eliminating jobs and opportunities. Similarly, when students don’t feel safe, their learning suffers and behavioral challenges increase.

Local lawmakers who serve on city councils and the Clark County Commission work directly with local law enforcement to try and create safer communities, but that is not the only role of government in promoting public safety.

Federally, lawmakers can prioritize funding for federal agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to stem the flow of weapons, drugs and other instruments of organized crime in our communities. They can also work to secure funding and partnerships for local law enforcement needs. Earlier this year, Senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto secured millions of dollars in federal funds to help LVMPD and North Las Vegas PD replace outdated technology and vehicles.

In Nevada, the large percentage of federal land means that the federal government also has an outsized role in direct law enforcement and prosecution compared to many other states.

State lawmakers define most felonies and other major crimes, giving them the most direct ability to update criminal laws and protect public safety. Additionally, state governments are a major source of funding for law enforcement agencies, court systems, prison systems and state social services agencies that can help prevent crime from occurring in the first place.

Local governments often define the most common criminal offenses and exercise direct authority over local law enforcement agencies. Moreover, local governments have the greatest ability to prevent crime and promote a culture of public safety by tackling issues such as homelessness, drug addiction and mental health crises. They can also ensure that neighborhoods are clean and have robust access to parks, community centers and social services.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS

Despite a popular belief that homelessness is exclusively an issue of addiction and mental health that is unrelated to the crisis of affordable housing, a 2023 study by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that “changes in rents precipitate changes in rates of homelessness: homelessness increases when rents rise by amounts that low-income households cannot afford.” This finding was backed up in a report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, which found that “the most fundamental driver of the nation’s growing homelessness is the ongoing housing affordability crisis.”

Perhaps most disturbing, a study by the University of California, San Francisco revealed that nearly a quarter of all homeless people in California didn’t experience homelessness for the first time until after the age of 50, at which point they were priced out of their homes.

Those sobering statistics mean that governments that hope to address the crisis of homelessness must also address the lack of affordable housing.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the Las Vegas Valley has the worst affordable housing shortage out of 50 U.S. metropolitan areas, with only 13 affordable housing units for every 100 renter households in need.

Homeless shelters, addiction recovery centers and mental healthcare facilities are all necessary and vital, but they cannot alone solve the crisis of homelessness if finding an affordable, long-term place to live remains out of reach for so many Americans.

As such, the federal government must step up to the plate and secure funding for increases in social security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP and other programs designed for basic subsistence.

State lawmakers also have a role to play in keeping housing costs down. A bill recently passed the housing committee of the Minnesota House of Representatives, for example, that would limit corporations, LLCs and investment funds from purchasing and renting more than 10 single-family homes.

Local governments can also invest in affordable housing, as Clark County has done over the past few years in allocating more than $200 million for building and rehabilitating 5,000 homes.

TRANSPORTATION

Southern Nevada is in the midst of a transportation boom. Work is finally underway on the Brightline West high-speed rail line to Southern California. The Boring Company is expanding its network of tunnels under the Strip. And as any frustrated commuter knows, there are road improvement projects occurring on what feels like every mile of highway in Clark County.

Much of this progress is thanks to the infusion of money provided by President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill, combined with the efforts of the Regional Transportation Commission, or RTC. The RTC is a special government entity that streamlines communication and cooperation among the various government jurisdictions in Southern Nevada and offers a unified voice for lobbying state and federal officials.

This is important, because while local governments generally approve transportation projects, the high costs of those projects generally require state and/or federal funding to reach completion. This means that elected officials at every level of government play a role in creating robust transportation infrastructure.

If you’re frustrated by road conditions, the lack of synchronized traffic lights or the absence of bicycle lanes, local government officials at the city and county level have the power to create change.

If you dream of a light rail system to connect the airport and the Strip to Downtown and the Arts District, county officials could greenlight such a project, but funding from the state or federal government would almost certainly be required.

If you wish there was an interstate highway connecting Clark County’s 2.3 million residents to the state capital in Carson City, the Federal Highway Administration is where the conversation might start.

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