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1. How do I get credentials?
If you plan to be in Carson City, get a press badge from the Legislative Counsel Bureau by first visiting the ‘Press Information’ page. (As I write this, it still says 2013 session.)
You fill out a form, get your picture taken in Room 1144 and receive a badge. Wear it anytime you’re in the building, because it easily identifies you as a member of the press.
Almost everybody in the Legislative Building where’s some kind of badge. Yours will be yellow because, well, the LCB has a sense of humor.
2. What are the criteria for a press badge?
Each house — the Senate and Assembly — will vote whether to approve your credentials, so your name goes in the official record for time immemorial.
If there’s a question whether you’re legit, the LCB will contact me at the Nevada Press Association or the Nevada Broadcasters Association to ask us to confirm that you are a working journalist.
I’m going to use the same basic principles I use when someone applies to become a member of NPA: Do you publish regularly using recognized journalistic standards? Are you an advocate for a narrow interest or cause? There’s no precise definition anywhere for a journalist, and it gets more blurred every day. But I generally recognize one when I see one.
3. What special access does the badge get me?
None.
You’re not allowed on the floor of the Senate or Assembly. (Photographers may get special permission from the sergeant at arms on certain occasions.) You’re not supposed to approach legislators while they’re sitting at the dais in a committee room.
The access you get is pretty much the same access as the general public. Actually, that’s a reason for not worrying too much about whether you qualify for a press badge as a working journalist. You can still see and hear everything.
4. Where do I sit?
There are a few seats for reporters in the Senate main-floor gallery. There are more seats on the Assembly side, with electrical outlets.
Every committee room has a table with a chair or two for reporters. On the main floor of the building is a small Press Room with space for a half-dozen reporters to work, and a closed-circuit TV tuned to committee hearings.
That’s not a lot of space — and the half-dozen capital bureau reporters who are there every day will be using it. But there is always plenty of room in the galleries and in the committee rooms to find a place to take notes.
5. Wifi?
Yes. Fast and free.
6. Where should I park?
The parking garage on the east side of the Legislative Building will be full. Be cautious of two-hour zones on Curry and other side streets nearby.
Your best bet is probably the public lot off Curry Street a block east of the building, at Third Street.
7. Where do I get information on bills, a schedule of meetings, background on legislators?
The Nevada Legislature site has tons of information. Learn to use NELIS, where you’ll find testimony and exhibits prepared for hearings.
8. What if I can’t get to Carson City?
The website has almost everything you need to report a story, including the ability to watch live streams of most hearings.
You’ll have to do interviews yourself, though.
9. How do I keep up with everything?
Search for the hashtag #nvleg on Twitter. Reporters, legislators and lobbyists will post an endless stream of news, updates and snarky comments throughout the session.
Follow the ones you find most useful and entertaining. Use that hashtag for your own tweets.
10. Where do I find legislators when they’re not in the building?
Since Nevada went to 120-day sessions, it’s become a whirlwind. There is an events calendar on the site with scheduled events.
Otherwise, at lunchtime you’ll find them at restaurants downtown like Mom & Pops, or across the street getting refueled at Comma Coffee. Evenings, try Adele’s or Glen Eagles. Late on Friday afternoon, your best bet is the Reno airport Southwest Airlines gate with departures to Las Vegas.
Be sure to add your own tips in the comments.
