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Lombardo signs state worker bonus bill

CARSON CITY— State workers will receive two $500 bonuses this year under a bill signed by Gov. Joe Lombardo Tuesday.

Assembly Bill 268 will give retention bonuses to executive branch employees, judicial department employees and full-time legislative staff. Lombardo signed the bill with more than a dozen Transportation Department workers standing behind him at the agency’s Carson City headquarters building.

“I wanted to be here today with the Department of Transportation to sign AB 268 because this winter, we had some severe winter weather across the state,” Lombardo said. “When our state needed it this winter, NDOT employees stepped up.”

Lombardo was joined by legislative leadership, including Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, both D-Las Vegas, Assembly Minority Leader P.K. O’Neill, R-Carson City, and Senator Marilyn Dondero Loop, D-Las Vegas.

During his State of the State address in late January, Lombardo proposed annual retention bonuses of $2,000 for all executive branch employees. It was part of his push to increase state worker pay to attract new employees and retain current employees, some of whom have left state jobs in order to work for local governments in Nevada.

The funds for the bonuses come from a nearly $25 million budget item in the state’s general fund.

Contact Taylor R. Avery at TAvery@reviewjournal.com. Follow @travery98 on Twitter.

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