Why did this Nevada legislator travel to Rio, Dublin, Norway and Normandy last year?
Rio and Dublin, Norway and Normandy, are popular tourist destinations. They are also locations of “legislative leaders study tours” taken by a leader of Nevada’s Assembly last year.
The trips, paid for by outside groups, were among those reported by Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager in a financial disclosure statement required under Nevada law.
Yeager, a Las Vegas Democrat, disclosed about $15,500 in expenses for sponsored travel outside the U.S. in 2023, as well as $11,000 in sponsored travel within the country.
“These working trips are never funded by taxpayer dollars, obviously,” Yeager wrote in an email to the Review-Journal.
The National Conference of State Legislatures sponsored legislative leaders study tours to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Bayeux in Normandy, France; Dublin, Ireland; and Mexico City, Mexico. The State Legislative Leaders Foundation sponsored a study tour to Oslo, Norway, according to Yeager’s disclosure statement.
“National nonprofit, non-partisan groups such as NCSL and SLLF support state legislators with leadership development seminars as well as information sessions and legislative updates from around the country,” Yeager wrote.
NCSL’s mission includes advancing the effectiveness of legislatures and fostering interstate cooperation, according to its website. SLLF is dedicated to professional development for current and future state legislative leaders, it states.
The speaker reported trips in the United States for training, meetings and summits sponsored by the aforementioned groups as well as by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. The locations included Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Salt Lake City and Newport, Rhode Island.
Yeager also disclosed $12,100 in expenses for tickets, food and beverage related to a Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee fundraiser in Las Vegas. The DLCC works to elect Democrats to state legislatures.
Asked for specifics on the fundraiser, he said it was in connection with the 2023 Formula 1 race.
“As an unpaid member of its national board, I attended a DLCC fundraiser in Las Vegas around last year’s F1 race,” he wrote. “F1 tickets have a high retail face value, no question about it, and I disclosed that value to maintain transparency. The race was, and remains, an event important to Las Vegas’ local economy.”
He also disclosed $1,500 in expenses for a leaders in technology program sponsored by the Consumer Technology Association. The trade group owns and produces the CES trade show.
Yeager and his counterpart in the Nevada Senate – Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas – were both re-elected earlier this month.
Cannizzaro disclosed $9,100 in expenses for tickets, food and beverage for the DLCC fundraiser. She also reported $2,200 in expenses for a summit in Vail, Colorado, sponsored by the DLCC
She reported accepting gifts of $2,900 in tickets to events and non-profit dinners, including $1,600 in tickets from Allegiant Stadium to two unspecified events.
In October, the ethics commission required training for the executive director and staff of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District in connection with accepting free Super Bowl tickets. An ethics commissioner also urged government officials not to accept tickets to sporting events offered in Las Vegas.
Among the leaders across the aisle in the Nevada Legislature, Sen. Robin Titus, R-Wellington reported $500 in sponsored travel to attend the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education annual meeting in Phoenix. She was named the Senate minority leader in January when state Sen. Heidi Seevers Gansert, R-Reno, stepped down from the post.
Gansert and Assembly Minority Leader P.K. O’Neill, R-Carson City, reported no sponsored meetings, events, travel or gifts.
The Review-Journal has reported on the disclosed gifts and sponsored travel of Nevada’s constitutional officers, Clark County commissioners, Las Vegas City Council members, and Henderson City Council members. \
Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on X. Hynes is a member of the Review-Journal’s investigative team, focusing on reporting that holds leaders and agencies accountable and exposes wrongdoing.