The Globe has learned that Chelsy Fischer, Nye County School Board Trustee, District V, will announce her Republican candidacy for State Senate District 19 soon. The District was formerly represented by Republican Pete Goicoechea, who has termed out. Former Assemblyman John Ellison anounced his candidacy for the rural, Republican stronghold back in October.

In a written statement to The Globe, Fisher announced:

After much consideration, I intend to run for Senate District 19. I will announce my candidacy soon. 

 While I have the utmost respect for the issues that Governor Lombardo has worked on and the numerous bills he vetoed last session,  we are missing needed pieces of legislation that I simply can’t ignore.

There are claims that “Businesses are booming,” but for who?

With businesses receiving tax credits, if the hourly wage isn’t enough for my constituents’ rent or mortgage, and the business does not provide health insurance, who is actually footing the bill? These incentives might be good short-term solutions, but in the long term, these incentives could harm our economy and lead to tax increases for our working class.

We have a dwindling middle class. I believe many of our elected officials are out of touch with the issues my constituents face. Without a stronger middle class, businesses will lack the support needed for their bottom line. We keep hearing that we can’t force companies to provide a certain wage or health care, but in turn, the state provides them tax credits.

Nye county has the highest poverty and unemployment in the state and many Nye County residents are forced to rely on government assistance. One of the things we should explore is a corporate tax if these businesses do not pay a livable wage or offer full health care benefits.

In addition, SB163 is controversial legislation that needs to be repealed or amended. This bill was intentionally misleading, with verbiage used to hide the simple fact that my constituents, and Nevadans, are paying for sometimes botched, always permanent, and proven, experimental surgeries on children. Plastic surgeons are not the specialists who perform gender surgeries. Years of psychology contradicts allowing for permanent, medically harmful surgeries on children.

Lastly, education “reform” is purposefully over complicated and has negatively impacted many teachers. Our general education teachers are not certified special education teachers. We shouldn’t be expecting them to pay for extra training/certification that isn’t provided in their current salaries. In many of our classrooms, we only have one teacher, so the teacher spends most of the day redirecting special needs students. This redirection negatively impacts learning for students without special needs. Our K-12 grades should be staffed with two, full-time adults. Nevada does not have universal Pre-K and that is detrimental to our children. Early education is critical to success. Last year in a first grade classroom, fine motor skills were, in my opinion, at a preschool level. Most of these students struggled to write their name and hold scissors properly.

In the future, I believe great things will come out of Nye County Schools under the direction of our new Superintendent Dr Joe Gent, and with the addition of some of our new Directors, one being Director of Curriculum PreK-5th grade, Mrs Candace Mapp.

While I am very happy to serve on our school board, we have so many state laws we need to fix, amend, or introduce.

We need people who will invoke change, get the needed work done during the legislative session and be accountable to the voters, especially in non-election years. I expect my constituents to ask hard questions and put my feet to the fire to bring about positive and needed changes for Nye County and our great State of Nevada.

Senate District 19 covers a vast swath of rural Nevada covering 60,000 square miles, accounting for over half of Nevada’s total land area, and is the largest state legislative district in the United States. The district includes all of Elko, Eureka, Lincoln, and White Pine County and parts of Clark and Nye County. The district is also home to Area 51.