FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sunday, November 16, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT: Mathilda Miller, [email protected], 808-897-1630
Open Letter to Carson City: When Government Closes Its Doors, Indian Country Knows Exactly What Comes Next
NEVADA – During an extraordinary special legislative session marked by restricted public access and rushed high-impact policy decisions, Native Voters Alliance Nevada (NVAN), the only 501(c)4 Native advocacy organization in the state, has issued an open letter highlighting the Nevada Legislature’s continued pattern of exclusion that echoes generations of government-inflicted trauma against Tribal Nations. The Assembly’s refusal to allow telephonic public comment prevented working families, Tribal citizens, and everyday Nevadans from participating in deliberations on a 1.8 billion dollar corporate welfare tax credit. The letter outlines serious concerns raised by lawmakers and community partners regarding transparency, accessibility, and the erosion of democratic participation. NVAN urges state leadership to end practices that silence communities most impacted by economic hardship and to commit to meaningful public involvement in decisions that shape the future of Nevada.
Copied below is the full text of the letter from NVAN (also see attached pdf):
Hello,
NVAN stands firm in the belief that leadership must honor Tribal sovereignty, respect working families, protect democratic participation, and defend every Nevadan’s right to be heard. These are not abstract principles. They are the values our communities live by and the protections we have fought generations to secure.
Our relatives know better than anyone what happens when the government chooses silence over participation. For generations, our communities have carried the weight of decisions made about us without us. We carry the trauma of being erased, ignored, and pushed out of the rooms where our futures were determined. Today, we are breaking those cycles. We are standing up when the government finds new ways to silence our people and inflict more pain on Nevadans who are already struggling in an economy that feels impossible to survive.
At the start of this special session, the Assembly chose to shut off telephonic public comment. Everyday Nevadans were told that the only acceptable way to participate in their government was to take off work, find childcare, drive across the state or city, and sit for hours in a building with no guarantee they would be allowed to speak. That is not public input. That is manufactured exclusion. The technology to allow full participation exists. The refusal to use it makes clear that access to government is treated as a privilege instead of a right.
While Speaker Yeager claimed he wanted robust public input, the Assembly restricted testimony in ways that left countless Nevadans unheard. Parents had to leave to pick up their children. Workers had to leave to protect their paychecks. People who waited for hours never got their turn. Several members of the Assembly raised these concerns and put them on the record. Community partners spoke up. During Committee, legislators were told to discuss the issue with the Speaker and that the lack of telephonic testimony occurred because of a staffing issue, despite the fact that the technology exists and the Senate is allowing phone testimony. Instead of fixing the problem, Speaker Yeager dismissed and talked down to colleagues who disagreed with him.
In addition, it is proving to be a little confusing as to why Speaker Yeager believes that two Republican Assemblymembers can participate electronically so they can prepare for vacation, yet refuses to allow Nevadans to participate in public testimony telephonically. When an Assemblymember requested an opportunity to debate the issue, the Speaker stated: I’m choosing not to recognize you.
It is clear that Speaker Yeager is committed to not recognizing those who disagree with him.
This is not how a democracy behaves. A government that only hears from the privileged is not a democracy. It is a gatekeeping system built to keep everyone else out.
Nevadans are already suffering under an economy that has stretched families past their breaking point. They are drowning in housing costs, food prices, medical bills, and instability. They needed leadership that listened to them. Instead, they got a process that shut them out and a bill that forces another burden they cannot afford. Silencing the public while advancing a 1.8 billion dollar corporate welfare tax credit is not leadership. It is a betrayal of the people who will have to carry that cost. We are tired of the tactics that pit labor and progressives against each other to justify jobs that offer no long term stability and no real benefit to the people who live here.
Our responsibility is to the people of this state. Not to titles. Not to power. And not to anyone who closes the doors of government in the faces of the communities we fight for.
Nevada deserves leaders who open the doors wider. NVAN will always stand with the people who are demanding to be heard. And we will not ignore any effort, old or new, to silence our communities.
Because we have seen this film before and we did not like the ending. Our people have lived through generations of being pushed out of the rooms where decisions about our land, our children, our rights, and our futures were made. We know exactly what it looks like when government decides who deserves a voice and who does not. And every time, it has been people who look like us who are told to wait outside.
We will not accept that ending again. Not for our children. Not for our communities. Not for Nevada.
Signed,
Native Voters Alliance Nevada
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About Native Voters Alliance Nevada: A rising powerhouse in the Nevada political landscape, Native Voters Alliance Nevada (NVAN) is dedicated to forging a dynamic Native ecosystem and fostering political strength within Indigenous communities. We serve as a resonating platform for urban and Tribal Nation voices, guiding elections, molding legislation, and championing Tribal sovereignty. Join us in our empowering journey and learn more at https://nativevotesnv.org/.