Legislative Watch

Q & A

Assemblyman Denis volunteered in the Boy Scouts of America and was president of the Nevada Parent Teacher Association. His campaign message was: “I’m the neighbor we need in the Assembly.”

Assemblyman Denis works as a computer technician for the state of Nevada; he previously owned a real estate advertising distribution company and owned a music store in the mid-eighties.

Said Assemblyman Denis: “I got involved with computers at the time when personal computers were just starting.”

Assemblyman Denis recalled the story of when he met a woman addicted to prescription pain medication. The woman had been injured in a car accident and grew dependent on the medication.

Said Assemblyman Denis:  “She had kind of recovered, but she got injured again and started taking them again… the doctor gave her twice what she really needed, even though she was addicted at that point. Which is common for that kind of addiction—she was just a normal person… she had access to it through legal means.”

This led Assemblyman Denis to push through legislation that holds doctors accountable for negligible prescriptions. Denis said that there is a Web site where doctors can check to see if patients have requested or received the same prescriptions from other hospitals in the past 30 days. Denis also said that the majority of people addicted to prescription drugs go into various hospital emergency rooms and request the drug and that doctors often prescribe them without checking the site.

Said Assemblyman Denis: “If someone comes to a doctor to get a prescription for narcotics, if the doctor suspects they’re using, they can print out the past 30 days, or past year, and check for (previous subscriptions).”

“Education, health care issues, family issues. Anything that will help families in different things… senior issues… and, of course, any issue that deals with the Latino, Hispanic community.”

Assemblyman Denis represents the district with the largest Hispanic population in Nevada. Both of Denis’ parents came from Cuba, which Denis said helps him relate to the language barrier and other issues Hispanics face.

“Phil Cook was my government teacher in high school. There have been other people in my life that weren’t necessarily involved in politics but encouraged me in life.

Assemblyman Denis added: “I look to people like Barbara Buckley that serve and work on a lot of the same issues that I have… it’s been interesting to see how she goes and does things, that’s been helpful.”

(Speaker Barbara Buckley is the leading Democrat in the Nevada Assembly.)

“Looking for ways to increase funding for education. Every time we do things, in the end, it always comes down to we don’t have enough funding to implement.”

Assemblyman Denis expressed concerns that race plays a role in the public’s perception of Hispanics in Nevada; he believes that many citizens may just be afraid of change or do not understand the Hispanic community.

Said Assemblyman Denis: “I’m really concerned with a lot of the racism I see… usually you can strip away all the superficial things, and it’s really just people worried that things are going to change.”

Other goals include:

-Expansion of prescription drug addiction regulations

-Education, including all-day kindergarten. Assemblyman Denis said that more funding in education now would be fiscally responsible for the state because it would lead to less spending on correctional facilities in the future.

Assemblyman Denis listed:

-Education: Denis expressed concern over the idea of vouchers for public schools, which would allow students to choose which public school they went to in their district. He said it would lead to a further gap from poor and wealthy schools, causing already low-performing schools to do even worse.

-Transportation

-Prison system: “One of the biggest trends is in the women’s prisons, which we weren’t prepared for.” Denis linked long-term correctional facility funding to education funding (as shown in the question above).

-Heath care: “We need to maybe look at some ways to get incentives for preventive health care. If they don’t have access to affordable health care, they tend to wait for an emergency… which is a lot more expensive.”

Did you Know?

- Assemblyman Denis is a member of the Latin Chamber of Commerce

- Assemblyman Denis reached the status of Eagle Scout

- Assemblyman Denis is in the Clark County School District Parent Hall of Fame

Sources: