Sandoval cites bipartisan efforts in signing 4 bills

CARSON CITY — Gov. Brian Sandoval signed bills Monday extending benefits to children of state workers killed on the job and protecting highway crews working along the roadside.

Two other bills address student safety and required training for school board members.

“Protecting our state employees from harm’s way and ensuring families who are devastated by tragedy are offered benefits to help them through difficult times are critical to building safe and livable communities,” Sandoval said in a statement.

“I was proud to join Assembly leadership today and sign these bipartisan, thoughtful bills into law. Each one will improve the lives of our fellow Nevadans.”

Assembly Bill 1, sponsored by Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton, requires the Board of Regents to pay undergraduate tuition fees and expenses for a child of a public employee killed on the job. Existing law covers children of law enforcement officers killed on duty.

The measure was amended to be retroactive to 2013 to allow coverage for dependents of Nevada Department of Transportation worker Ron Raiche Jr. and Sparks Middle School teacher Michael Landsberry.

Raiche, 47, of Battle Mountain, was part of two-man crew working along Interstate 80 when he was struck and killed by a semi-truck March 30, 2015. He was the 24th NDOT employee killed on the job since 1948.

Landsberry, 45, was shot and killed Oct. 21, 2013, when he tried to get a 12-year-old boy who shot at classmates to drop his weapon. Two students were wounded before the shooter took his own life.

Assembly Bill 17 was sponsored by NDOT in response to Raiche’s death. It requires drivers to move over into the next lane when an NDOT vehicle is on the shoulder and flashing amber warning lights.

Sandoval also signed Assembly Bill 85, sponsored by Assemblyman Michael Sprinkle, D-Sparks. It requires all private, charter and public schools to provide instruction in cardio pulmonary resuscitation and usage of an artificial defibrillator.

Assembly Bill 451, sponsored by Speaker Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, and Assemblywoman Teresa Benitez-Thompson, D-Reno, requires school board members to complete at least four hours of training in the first and third years of four-year terms. Training must include laws on public records, the Open Meeting Law, employee-management relations, ethics, preventing violence and financial management.

Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@review-journal.com or 775-461-3821. Follow @SandraChereb on Twitter.