The problems with Nevada’s public schools won’t be fixed by teachers spending less time in the classroom. Yet that could be a consequence of a proposal pending in Carson City.

The Senate Government Affairs Committee recently heard Senate Bill 161 and moved it to the floor. The bill would allow teachers unions to petition a court for the ability to strike. It’s now illegal for Nevada public employees to strike.

Under the legislation, a union could justify a strike based on grievances involving class size, the number of teachers in the district or a policy related to the emotional or mental health of teachers. A court could sanction a strike upon a finding that it would “be equally or less detrimental” to students “than the continuance of the alleged policy or condition.”

Further, the bill would remove penalties on teachers who engaged in an illegal strike. Only the union could be punished. And it would redefine the legal definition of “strike” to exclude teachers coordinating sick-outs or walking out of individual schools.

It isn’t hard to figure out who this bill would benefit — and it’s not students.

Fewer than two years ago, the Clark County Education Association attempted to use tactics such as these to pressure the Clark County School District during contentious contract negotiations. The district went to court to prevent the union from striking. A judge ruled against the district, finding there wasn’t enough evidence that the union would initiate a work stoppage. Then several schools couldn’t open because of rolling sick-outs.

“The court finds that a strike has occurred,” District Judge Crystal Eller said in September 2023. She imposed a preliminary injunction, and both school and contract negotiations continued. The district and union eventually agreed to a lucrative pay package for teachers.

But the union wasn’t satisfied. It collected signatures for a ballot measure that would allow teachers to strike. In Nevada, initiatives go to the Legislature before the voters. The union wants to use the threat of that initiative as leverage to pass a bill such as SB161, which is slightly less destructive. In Nevada, enabled by a compliant state Supreme Court, initiative sponsors can withdraw their initiatives.

But this legalized blackmail works only if your opponents believe the initiative will pass. That’s unlikely in this case. There are good reasons to ban public employees from striking. Strikes by public employees are strikes against the public and, in some cases, threaten public safety. Public employees shouldn’t be able to extort concessions from the taxpayers who support them. Nevada’s binding arbitration process is already slanted in favor of the union.

Allowing teachers to strike is bad policy. Democrats should be working to advance the interests of students, not union officials.

The Hoover Dam is a lifeline to rural communities throughout the American Southwest. More than 1 million people in Nevada, Arizona and California rely on the clean energy that the dam produces. Public power utilities — that are not-for-profit community-owned — such as our organizations depend on the Hoover Dam to bring affordable and reliable energy to our rural Nevada communities.

Unfortunately, widespread drought on the Colorado River has had a dramatic impact on the dam’s ability to produce electricity. Energy generation by the dam has been reduced by 40 percent since pre-drought levels. When there is a reduction in the supply of hydropower generated from the dam, small rural public power utilities such as ours are forced to go to the market to purchase other energy sources, which are typically more expensive and less reliable. This has serious implications for rural Nevada ratepayers as energy prices are driven up and grid reliability is threatened.

While these challenges are significant, there are common-sense solutions that can help mitigate them. Unfortunately, the very resources that could help alleviate these challenges have been tied up in federal bureaucratic red tape.

In 2000, the federal government began collecting fees from hydropower users, putting the money into an account for dam employees’ retirement benefits. But when those benefits found other funding sources, the money was left unused. We are not talking about pocket change — right now there’s $50 million in funds for operations, maintenance and improvement projects to strengthen the Hoover Dam. These funds should be invested to strengthen the dam to safeguard Nevada’s hydropower. Instead, the money is just sitting in some account going unused because the Bureau of Reclamation can’t legally access it.

Fortunately, there is a solution, and we are grateful to Nevada’s congressional delegation for coming together to push for legislation to solve this. The Help Hoover Dam Act was introduced by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Rep. Susie Lee and co-sponsored by Reps. Mark Amodei, Dina Titus, Steven Horsford and Sen. Jacky Rosen. If passed, this will allow the Bureau of Reclamation to invest that $50 million back into improving the dam.

These improvements modernize the dam so it can better withstand drought conditions and disasters, safeguarding the production of hydroelectric power, all while saving our taxpayer dollars.

Without access to affordable hydropower, utilities would have to purchase more power from the open market, which can spike to unaffordable costs on peak days. Rural Nevada communities simply can’t afford those price hikes.

The act puts funding that has already been allocated by the federal government to work, keeping hard-earned money in the pockets of rural communities, and secures our energy supply to prevent catastrophic failure in the event of a storm or natural disaster.

We urge Congress to join Nevada’s federal delegation and pass the Help Hoover Dam Act to invest in the future of the Hoover Dam’s hydropower that millions of rural Americans rely on, many of whom are our fellow Nevadans.

Lisa Levine is the executive director of the Nevada Rural Electric Association. This essay was also signed by Joe Stubitz, utilities director in Boulder City; Dane Bradfield, general manager of Lincoln County Power District No. 1; MeLisa Garcia, general manager and CEO of Overton Power District No. 5; and Robby Hamlin, CEO of the Valley Electric Association.