Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 15–Committee on Natural Resources

FILE NUMBER........

Whereas, The Lake Tahoe Basin exhibits unique environmental and

ecological conditions that are irreplaceable; and

Whereas, The Nevada Legislature is vitally concerned with conserving

those unique environmental and ecological conditions; and

Whereas, The construction and maintenance of facilities and projects

necessary for the conservation of those unique environmental and

ecological conditions will be highly labor-intensive; and

Whereas, Public and private entities, including, without limitation, the

Division of State Parks of the State Department of Conservation and

Natural Resources and the League to Save Lake Tahoe, have successfully

used labor provided by volunteers to carry out activities relating to

conservation in the Lake Tahoe Basin; and

Whereas, Some state agencies that perform activities relating to

conservation in the Lake Tahoe Basin, including, without limitation, the

Department of Transportation and the Divisions of Forestry, State Lands

and State Parks of the State Department of Conservation and Natural

Resources, have successfully used labor provided by offenders to construct

and maintain facilities and projects to carry out those activities; and

Whereas, The use of labor provided by offenders and volunteers to

construct and maintain facilities and projects in the Lake Tahoe Basin is a

method by which state agencies may carry out activities relating to

conservation within their budgets; and

Whereas, The Nevada Legislature has enacted laws authorizing the

employment of offenders, including, without limitation, provisions

requiring the Director of the Department of Prisons to contract with

governmental agencies for the employment of offenders; and

Whereas, The Department of Prisons and the Division of Forestry have

entered into a cooperative agreement that allows offenders housed in

conservation camps to perform labor related to the conservation of the

natural environment; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of Nevada, the Assembly

Concurring, That the members of the 70th session of the Nevada

Legislature hereby urge state agencies that perform activities relating to

conservation in the Lake Tahoe Basin to use, to the greatest extent

practicable, labor provided by offenders and volunteers to construct and

maintain facilities and projects to carry out those activities; and be it
further

Resolved, That the members of the 70th session of the Nevada

Legislature hereby urge the Division of Forestry to, where practicable,

provide crews composed of offenders to be dedicated exclusively to

working on the construction and maintenance of facilities and projects to

carry out the conservation of the unique environmental and ecological

conditions exhibited in the Lake Tahoe Basin; and be it further

Resolved, That any such use of labor provided by offenders to

construct and maintain facilities and projects for the conservation of the

unique environmental and ecological conditions exhibited in the Lake

Tahoe Basin must have an insignificant effect on the number of jobs

available to the residents of this state as required by NRS 209.461 for

programs for the employment of offenders; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate prepare and transmit a copy

of this resolution to the governing body of the Tahoe Regional Planning

Agency, the Director of the State Department of Conservation and Natural

Resources, the executive head of the Divisions of Forestry, State Lands and

State Parks of the State Department of Conservation and Natural

Resources, the Director and the Board of Directors of the Department of

Transportation, the Director of the Department of Prisons and the Chief of

the Budget Division of the Department of Administration.

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