The Scoop with Tanya Flanagan

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a Kun V studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Tanya Flanagan 0:19
Good morning, and thank you for joining me for the scoop with Tanya Flanagan, I'm so happy you decided to wake up and start your day with me here on the scoop, where we talk about life, joy, funny moments, trending topics and so much more. We promise to keep you in the know and find out what you know. So let's get started.

You Good morning Las Vegas, and thank you for waking up and tuning in. And good morning to those of you who may not be in Las Vegas, because you can listen anywhere if you're listening online. We thank you for tuning in to the shows here at K, U N, V, 91.5, jazz and more. I'm always delighted to have you with me here on the scoop. I am Tanya Flanagan, your host. I am excited about this week's conversation. We've been in a series of conversations about what is going on at the 83rd legislative session of the Nevada legislature. And this morning, I have with me Assembly Member Ruben da Silva, who I am proud to serve with as well up here during the legislative session. So without further ado, good morning. Assembly member DaSilva, good morning.

Reuben D'Silva 1:29
Good morning. Assembly member Flanagan, I'm very happy to be here on the show with you today. Well,

Tanya Flanagan 1:33
thank you for taking some time out. I can't believe we're already in March. For those of you don't know, not only are we in March in terms of heading towards spring. But the session only has 120 days, 120 1000 per day. And so we started on February 3, and we are pretty much at almost, you know, roughly 30 days later. And so it's a four month sprint, and just a lot goes on assuming member da Silva, you're in your second term here at the state legislature, and I wanted to talk with you about your experience and allow the community to get to know who you are, your priorities, things that we maybe should prioritize or keep an eye on, what You think those trending things are here at succession, this, this, this time, and just how our state is evolving as a whole through your lens. So tell us a little bit about who you are, because I know you're also an educator. Yeah, that

Reuben D'Silva 2:35
is true again. Thank you for the opportunity again, Tanya, for having me on your on your show. So just a little bit about myself, you know, I'm from Las Vegas. I grew up in the city. I was born in Mumbai, India, so I am an immigrant. But my family came to the United States when I was two years old. We lived in New York City before moving to Vegas. And when I was six years old, we moved to Vegas, you know. And you can do the math, you know, I'm 40 years old now, so I've been there for, for a long time, down in, down in Las Vegas. And for most of my life, I've lived in the exact same area, you know, the civic center, Lake Mead. You know, area, the area where, like, North Las Vegas, meets the East Side meets downtown. You know, I graduated from Rancho High School, you know, for the longest the whole time we've been in Las Vegas, actually, my family and myself too. We've been parishioners at a st Christopher's church right there on Bruce and Lake Mead. And today I'm representing, you know, parts of that area, you know, as as a state assembly member, you know. So I've really been, you know, focused and zoomed in on, you know, that part of Las Vegas, my little niche, you know, you know that really, you know, created me, you know, informed me as a young person, and even to this day, as, you know, as Tanya, as you as you mentioned, you know, I worked, I'm a school teacher at Rancho High School, you know. So aside from my time in the Marines, I did serve in the Marine Corps and was deployed to Iraq, and my time in grad school, you know, where I did my two masters degrees wanted at Penn in Philadelphia, and a second one at Yale in New Haven, outside from those times I've really just, you know, been a North town kid, so that's really, you know, my, my, my upbringing. And, you know, as you mentioned, you know, there's a lot of going on up over here. I hope we have some, you know, some you know, some pointed questions about, like, what's taking place, just so much, you know, as you know, as a fellow legislator, as a fellow state lawmaker, we really deal with everything up here. I mean, the all the issues of state, whether it's health and, you know, health care, whether it's growing the economy, whether it's tax credits, whether it's education, whether it's, you know, parks, whether it's, you know, our deal with the federal government, our our work with local municipals, licensing, I mean, everything, the buck stops here, essentially, you know. So it's a lot of work, and you're right. We only have 120 days to get this all accomplished. Yeah,

Tanya Flanagan 4:56
we do. You know, I enjoyed hearing. To talk about your life story. I actually didn't know all those things about you. So I think the other neat part about having these conversations is I'm allowing it allows the listening audience to get to know the people who represent them at the state level, to really get to see a little bit more of you than just what you get when campaign literature comes home in the mail, or you see someone at a community event. I did not and I know you also your member of the Divine nine, as am I remember Alpha gal Incorporated, and you are a member of Phi, Beta Sigma. And even though our lives overlap when we cross paths a lot, there were so many things that you shared that I didn't know about you. I knew you were an immigrant, American. I didn't know you lived in New York, or that you had gone and done two master's programs, one at Penn and one at Yale. I knew education was near and dear to your heart. I didn't realize how much of your own life you had invested in taking advantage of the benefits of academia. So to you for that, what is it like? I mean, to now teach at Rancho, to grow up in the community, come full circle, and then decide to get back to that community by being a teacher at the very high school that you attended, and then to see yourself to realize the dream, because this is your second term, but you got started running for office, you know, that first run didn't yield a win, and mine didn't either. But how did that feel? Can you talk about that? Yeah,

Reuben D'Silva 6:27
most definitely. So, you know, as you mentioned, education is important. It's been the fundamental sort of driver in my life, and it's what's opened up all the doors for me. You know, when my family, you know, came to the United States, and when we were living in Las Vegas, you know, we were, we were, like, poor, poor, you know, my mom was undocumented. She didn't really, she couldn't work, so she had to find, like, side jobs here and there, you know, whatever she could, if she could even and and then my dad, you know, though he had got his, you know, by that time, by the time he came to Vegas, he got his work permit in his green card, but he was working at, you know, a lot of odd jobs, you know, as a gas station attendant, he was delivering, he's a Pizza Hut delivery person, you know, and then eventually became a cat bus driver, today, the RTC, the RTC busses. He drove the cat busses, and then the para transit. So we didn't really have much, you know, growing up and, you know, but one of the fundamental things that, you know, my my my parents, you put into me was, hey, look, you have a great opportunity in this country. You know that you don't have anywhere else, and, you know. And the actual ticket to that is an education, you know. So you got to do, you got to do well, you got to, you'll make, you know, school a priority. I mean, yeah, you can, you can, you know, you can get out there, you know, have fun, you know, do what you need to do, but make sure that your grades are good and that, you know, you make, you make school, your your focus. And, you know, we grew up in a very, you know, myself and my siblings, my I have two younger brothers and a younger sister, you know, we grew up in, you know, pretty rough part of town. I mean, we got in a lot of trouble, you know, we did some things that, you know, you know, that a lot of you know, yeah, yeah, we did something. You know, we were, you know, we were, we were North town kids in the 90s, you know, in that specific neighborhood, and there was a lot going on, you know, thankfully, I didn't get caught up in anything. There were multiple opportunities where I could have, I think, you know, been caught up, you know, you know, either, either I got lucky, or people took took an interest in me to make sure that, you know, I was quickly removed out of certain situations. But, you know, school was the focus. You know, even though, like, my, you know, my mom was working, my dad was always at work, you know, there was a sense that, hey, look, you know, I see how hard they're sacrificing, you know, for us, and I gotta, like, you know, do well, and that that really was the was, the was what brought me to this understanding that education is the ticket, you know, I myself, went on, you know, from North town to the not just one, but two Ivy League degrees. You know, my brother, my younger brother, is also a as a lawyer. He serves as a personal injury attorney. He's a captain in the US Army today, the education was what was gotten into the ROTC program. And then my youngest brother, he's a deputy attorney general with the Department of Corrections. You know also an IBD graduating, graduated from Penn, and my sister is a PA, you know, working in Intermountain Healthcare on MLK, and Craig that that Intermountain Healthcare Facility as a primary care practitioner. And it was, it was education, it opened this door for us. So that's why, you know, but if you ask, what are some of my priorities? What are some of my biggest issues? That is, like my bread and butter issue, that it's what brought me to run for office. Yes, my first one, you know, my first couple runs and attempts weren't successful, but I'm finally here and but again, it was, it was that sort of like desire to to weigh in and move the needle on education issues that really inspired me to run for office. And it's what motivates me and drives me here today. You know, like, half my bills are education related bills, you know,

Tanya Flanagan 9:45
if you wanted to talk about some of your I was just like to ask if you wanted to talk about some of your legislation, because as much as we're talking about education, and I know you passed it, and we serve on the education committee together. There. But if your bills this session, or your your your bills whenever you're here, because the session means, for those who don't know, the Nevada legislature meets every two years. We meet in the odd number years you want to talk a little bit about legislation, as well as how you're feeling. We're early in the session, but we're starting to get into the, you know, the, not quite the home stretch, but we're definitely in the middle, yeah, so how are you about what's going on up here? I'm, you know, I'm optimistic,

Reuben D'Silva 10:33
you know, I know we got some real challenges, and a lot of this stuff that that's coming upon us, you know, it could change the mood, I think, of the vibe, especially some of the sort of, like federal executive orders we have to deal with that pertain to, you know, taking resources and services away from Nevadans. I mean, that's, that's the sort of directive that, you know, you know, states are getting from the from the presidency, you know. And I know that's going to cause huge issues. And again, it's beyond our scope. I think right now, I know we do all the Bucha that the Speaker of the Assembly, Steve Yeager, and the Senate Majority Leader, Nicole COVID Zara, are really, like, on top of this. So, you know, we're, you know, getting a lot of solid guidance from these veteran lawmakers. And that's another great thing too about our legislature. We have a lot of folks who've been here for, you know, for some even five sessions, and they've been able to, like, you know, help us weather this situation. I'm optimistic. I think that if we stick to, you know, and corral ourselves as Nevadans, about taking care of Nevadans first, and making sure that, you know, if anything is coming, you know, from the federal government that's going to like, you know, we have to stand up to that, I think we'll be good. We just got to see how the rest of our colleagues are going to also act out. You know, when, post comes to subs, you know, are you going to support these Medicaid cuts that are coming from the Trump administration? Are you going to, like, try to tie in, you know, education funding for energy with these mandates to remove dei out of the schools and out of the universities? We'll see, you know, but I'm feeling, I'm feeling, you know, again, I'm just being cautiously optimistic, but I, you know, I got to start from there. That's my philosophy. Just, you know, start from a good place, and then as things progress, we'll deal with those issues. But I'm hoping that we can have a good legislative session, at least move the needle on on certain issues, but certain things that we quickly realize that out of and you know this as well, you know, Tanya, that are really, you know, outside of our control, and that are being forced on us by the federal government and the Trump administration.

Tanya Flanagan 12:25
I agree with you. We are living in a very different time, and it's unlike any other. It's a very crucial and pivotal time to be engaged in political activity, political advocacy, because so much is happening at the national level and how the national narrative affects people at the local level. So to be in the space that we're in, seeing life through the lens that we're looking through is very important the work that goes on up here, and it's a huge sacrifice on the part of the people who come up to do it. So I tip my hat and say thank you to you for being on your second term, because coming up here to be away from your community for four to six months. On top of all of that, it requires of you when you're not in session at the legislature, because you're still working in the community, for the community, the neighborhoods, the peoples and the families that you understand, that you love, that you have this community bond. So thank you for the sacrifice. What what legislation you know? What do you have come in? Do you want to talk a little bit about what you've got going on through this session, what people can can look for, engage in and what are you education is your top issue. But what are some, and also, what are some other top trends that you would say people should be mindful

Reuben D'Silva 13:45
of? Yeah, so it's a lot of, you know, with education, you know, that is, that's my number one issue. I'm also a veteran, you know, I served in the Marines, you know, I served in Iraq. I was actually shot to the arm, you know, by a sniper in the war, and disabled at the age of 22 I can't really use my left arm, my left hand, you know, you can't really tell, because, you know, but that's a good thing, you know. But I can't really use, you know, use my, my hand, you know, I was, you know, it was a 762, it almost blew my whole arm off. I spent one year going to rehab at a Balboa Navy hospital, where they pretty much rebuilt my whole arm, you know. So those issues, of course, are, like, really important to me, veterans issues. And I am carrying an omnibus veterans bill that was brought to me by the veterans community. The bill is going after, and, you know, trying to curtail claim sharks, people who are representing veterans and making a lot of money off them, you know, you know, by representing them on these claims, when you know, the Federal law says that you have to go to VSOs, your congressional office, and you can't charge vets. You know, that's one thing we're trying to, you know, get a spouse of internments, you know, cost free at the State Veterans cemeteries. We're trying to, like, you know, streamline the veterans hiring process for the state of Nevada, where vets will get certain advantages when they're applying. And then we also have developed a peer mentor program, so like, vets who are, like, coming into state government work and. State Government will have somebody who's more experienced, who's also a veteran, help them, you know, navigate that terrain and to serve as a mentor. And we're trying to do some work with Park access. So that bill is an omnibus. An omnibus pretty much means, you know, for, you know, for the wider audience out there, one bill that has a bunch of other stuff in it, like, you know, related but like, various topics. So that's, that's my veterans bill. It's like five deals in one. And then on the education side, you know, we are looking at like, you know, reevaluating, like, the role that the South plays in board in board nomination, that this bill was sort of yesterday in education. So right now, we only have one organization, the Nevada State Education Association, that can make all the appointments to the boards. But there was a split between the union. So Clark County has its own teachers union, and that's against 75% of all the teachers, like, like 78% of all students and a bulk of K to 12 public education, like happens there in Clark County. So what that bill is essentially doing it allow both to make nominations. So this is the way of like, cleaning up and also adding. And I'm a southerner. I'm from South I'm from Las Vegas, you know. So I have to be cognizant of these sort of things. You know, sometimes you people want to pick us against geographies. But I also got to know that we need a voice in the state and a larger one, because for the 160 years that the state has been in existence, it's really been the North that's had the most say in what goes on, you know, in Nevada, so we're looking at having a role in appointing people to the state board of education, to the various commissions and councils that deal with education. This may just sound mundane to a lot of people, but it is a really big deal, because you want to have somebody who understands your locality making those decisions and serving on those boards and influencing policy making. So that's one bill. I have a another education bill that's looking at bringing in a an appropriation to the Nevada School of the Arts. I have another education bill too. That's, that's that's going to be looking at bringing in some digital resources for you and our it's called the Digital wolf pack initiative. It's a partnership at Apple, so they're also looking at partnering and working with us, you know, on this legislation. And then my last education bill, this is the one that's going to be the one that's a bit controversial. It's a study on reparations, you know it, and it's going to be initiated by, and she the Nevada System of Higher Education here in the state. So it's going to be an academic sort of study on the role of slavery, and then Jim Crow and other discriminatory policies and how they specifically affected the descendants of enslaved peoples in this country, and how we should educate Nevada public about what took place during that time frame. And then also, if warranted, make recommendations for restitution and reparation. So that's also, you know, one of my education related bills here. It's a more controversial one, I know, but you know, you know, my fraternity brothers brought this to me. I was working on this with Senator Dina news. He gave me a lot of insight into how I should structure the bill and work the bill. You know, we need to keep her in our prayers, because she did have a, you know, she a medical emergency. Is now in the hospital where she's recuperating. You know, we got to keep her in our prayers. But those are generally now the the veterans and education bills that I'm working on. Well,

Tanya Flanagan 18:14
that was quite the list of bills. Folks. You heard it Assembly Member Ruben da Silva. Remind me again. I know I have so many numbers in my head. What's the district? 2048 28 Yeah, good. 28 I was on it, but you heard this laundry list, and he is picking up a lot of ways. He's carrying a heavy mode, and he's he's working, and I watch you in committee and sessions, and your

Reuben D'Silva 18:42
questions together. I think we wanted to,

Tanya Flanagan 18:45
we are committee twins. We have government affairs, education and revenue, and I am a lot of interesting stuff in talking specifically about education, your space of passion. A lot of, really people say, What do you like up here at session, I tell them the committees I serve on, and sometimes education presentations are daunting. Let me tell you, folks, they're heavy. It's a lot of stuff in there, but it's one of the most critical issues and areas of concern that are being addressed up here. So figuring out from bills to talk about board trustees being salary positions versus minimal pay at $750 a month as a board as a school board trustee, because you want to get the most from the people elected to represent you, from talking about competency based learning, where you're structuring a learning curriculum to meet the needs of the student, where the student is. And there's a lot of conversation around curriculum competency based learning, and how that type of curriculum structure is good or bad. So we're just hearing a lot of the. Some conversations about education, about students. There is the portrait of a learner, conversation that is top of mind and going on. So there is a lot of stuff going on in and with regard to education at the state legislature. And if you are an advocate and a lover of education, a lover of students, a proponent of the of that space, you ask, you go on the Nellis website, the state legislative website, state government website, and sign up to track, look up the bills and deal with education and track those bills. You can track any, I don't care what the subject is. It can be health care, it can be criminal justice, it can be judicial. There's so many spaces every aspect of your everyday life, in some way, is impacted and affected by decisions that are made at the state legislature. Yep, 1000 now, what do you like most? What do you not? What do you like most? I think what you like most is probably being here to represent your community and help make a difference in people's lives. But what would you say is the most surprising thing that you found once you got into this space, necessarily like about it?

Reuben D'Silva 21:10
Yeah, so, you know, you come, you know, very like optimistic and googly eyed and everything you like, you know, I'm here. I'm going to make a difference. You know, let's get, let's get to it. Let's, let's, let's get to work, but the process, it's a slow one, you know, to be honest with you, that's, that's what I, you know, sometimes what I found to be a little bit disheartening when I got here. There's a lot of, like, you know, work that you got to put in, and it's dedicated diligence, a sort of, like, long term work, you know, drudgery is some word that people associate with it. You have an idea, you got a bill, then you got to work the bill. You got to get support, does, you know, I think it's, it all boils down to a monitor. They say there's, there's a million ways to build can die, but there's only one way it can get passed, you know. And then you have to get there one sort of way of getting it passed. And you got to work through, you know, you know, you know, building committee support. Then you got to go to the floor. You got to build support in one house, even once it's voted out of the assembly. You got to do the same thing in the Senate. Now again, work on building support within the Senate Committees. You know, curry hopefully, hopefully your bill gets passed to the Senate floor then. And then you got to curry support there. And then, then you got the governor. You got to deal with the governor, who's, who's not of the same party, you know, as we are. So we have to always worry about a veto or something like that. So there's multiple different, you know, opportunities where a bill can be killed. But again, it's a long, drawn out process, and it doesn't like flow as freely, you know, as you know. I originally thought that it that it that it would, you know, but then I also see that that is designed, there's safeguards in place. They want to make sure that bills that pass are deliberated on their work through that, you know, questions are asked, that people can feel good about a certain topic. And oftentimes you have people who just don't feel good about a bill, but you have the opportunity to try to win them over, you know, which is one of the great aspects of our about of our democratic process, you know, it's a collegial, based, deliberative, democratic sort of world that we live in. So, so it's a good and a bad thing. Do I wish that we could get things done quicker? Do I wish that we had maybe an annual legislative session where, if we passed the bills, the bill was worth we could come back to reevaluate it, or if we have new ideas that come up in a more, you know, expedient fashion,

Tanya Flanagan 23:22
yeah, because they come up now and you it's two years to deal with it again. Technically, two

Reuben D'Silva 23:27
years. Yep, you're right, yeah. So those are the two things that I had issues with. You know, that I think that we sit better at, and I think that does, if you want to use the word, kind of, kind of sucks about our legislative process here.

Tanya Flanagan 23:39
Yeah, we both sat through a really interesting hearing yesterday, and you're talking about education, made me think about at least wanting to touch on it. We're getting into the last five minutes of the show. I always like to make sure, in case anyone is interested in tracking someone or getting to know them better, if you have any social handles that you'd like to share, to make sure people are watching and connected to you, connected with what's going on in District 28 if you live in District 28 he was listening this morning to the show Assembly Member da Silva. Ruben, da Silva, how can people get to know you even more track what's going on

Reuben D'Silva 24:16
with you? Oh, no, no. First, I really appreciated Assembly Member Flanagan, about you know of us to put a shot up for so folks can come on and connect. It's really just my name, ruben.da Silva, but my name is a bit complicated. So my name, my first name is spelled r, e, u, B, E, N, and my last name is E, S, I, L, V, A, for social media purposes, there's an actual apostrophe between the D and the s, you know, but it had the same handle pretty much everywhere, ruben.da Silva or Ruben da Silva envy. That's, that's Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, too. Is it's Ruben da Silva. Just my name and but, yeah, I try to be as accessible as I can, make sure that I'm available. That you know, if you send me an email, I'll try to respond. As many as I can that are coming from the community, and my website, too is a good way of reaching out to me. It's www.da Silva for Nevada, not the, not the letter for, but the actual word spelled out for nevada.com, and I have all my contact information up there too.

Tanya Flanagan 25:18
I appreciate you making yourself available and allowing people to stay connected or get more connected with you. As the time takes out. We won't get through this whole part of the conversation, but yesterday, there was a conversation. Or not yesterday, but earlier this week, there was a time to fly. Earlier this week, there was a conversation about the film industry coming into Southern Nevada, and they were on Thursday. They were no, yes, Thursday, they came to see the revenue Committee, which includes you and it also includes me. But education, there's a there was a lot of conversation around the benefits of new industry and the value to education. And any thoughts on that, any excitement around that?

Reuben D'Silva 26:06
Yeah, one of my, one of my, like, guiding philosophies, has been that there's a crux between economic growth and education, but specifically, sort of economic growth that that diversifies our economy, you know? So we want to see, like, multiple sort of industries, certain facets of the economy made available in Nevada, you know, we've been, for the longest, a gaming and mining town. But we want to look into other things that that we can also like incorporate as a revenue generator. You know, sports is one thing about tech has been something we've talked about. Transportation is another one. There's some talk about, you know, aerospace, you know, coming to the to the to Nevada, but this, this opportunity here with the film industry, I think, is a real one, and we have to be open and and to the to the prospect of the idea of bringing in Sony and not Warner Brothers, that's a big deal. You know, that was the other big, you know, story that happened last earlier this week, was the fact that the Warner Brothers and Sony deals are not one deal. They're no longer two bills that were competing each other. They're now combined. And I think we should we just got to get the numbers right this. This bill has to make sense for Nevada. In the end, it has to make sense fiscally and monetarily. But I think there's great opportunity with, with bringing these to, like juggernauts, you know, in the global film industry and housing, large parts of their industry here in in Nevada. So it's gonna be a wild ride, but I'm ready for it. But just like last hearing last night, yeah,

Tanya Flanagan 27:38
yeah, now, yeah, earlier this week, but time flies off all of us, because it seems like it was just last night, and it's like, oh no, it wasn't, but it was an interesting conversation. And folks, if you've been hearing about this project, it is a project to watch. Thank you for being interested and engaged in what we are doing up here in the northern tip of the state, I will say I asked you one of the coolest things about being up here, and I'm going to offer that one of the coolest things about being up here, for me is all the history that you're surrounded with about Nevada. You learn a lot about the history of the state. There's so many pictures, but we are coming to the end of the show, assembly members, Ruben da Silva district, 28 in Southern Nevada, down in Clark County. Thank you for spending some time with me this morning here on the scoop on kumb 91.5 Jasmine Mar where we aim to bring you wonderful entertainment and enlightening, engaging conversation. I want to wish you a great week. As we head into the first week of March, it's almost spring. Stay safe and stay hydrated. I want to thank you for tuning in to the scoop with me. Tonya Flanagan, and I want to invite you to get social with me. I'm on Facebook and Twitter. My name is my handle, T, a n, y, A F, l, a n, a G, A N. You can also find me on Instagram at Tanya almond eyes Flanagan, and if you have a thought, an opinion or a suggestion, don't hesitate to shoot me an email to tanya.flanagan@unlv.edu Thanks again for joining in. Stay safe and have a great week. You.