Nevada's response to a potential showdown between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Plus, should Nevadans pay sales tax on diapers.

That's this week on Nevada Week.

Support for Nevada Week is provided by Senator William H. Hearn.

Stat.

Welcome to Nevada Week on member Rene Dixon.

And if you plan on casting a ballot in Nevada this year, expect to be asked whether Nevadans should pay a sales tax on diapers.

The economics behind that ballot question will cover that ahead.

But we begin with the 2024 presidential election.

President Joe Biden, who's decided to pull out of the race, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic Party's nominee.

He announced this on Sunday, and by Monday night, all 49 of Nevada's national delegates followed suit and pledged their support for Harris.

Joining us now with her insight into Nevada's response to this major shakeup is Gabby Birnbaum, Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Nevada Independent.

Gabby, welcome.

Thank you for taking the time.

I know you have been very, very busy.

Thank you for having me.

So as far as those Democratic delegates in Nevada, was there support of Harris ever in doubt?

I don't think so.

I think from the minute the president, I think it was six minutes after he announced he was dropping out, he endorsed the vice president.

And from there, all I heard was positivity about the vice president.

a lot of the, federal delegation, you know, the senators, members of the House and their initial statements stake the president and then very shortly after threw their weight behind Harris.

they're also all delegates to the convention just from checking in with delegates, leading up to that Monday night vote.

I didn't hear anything but support for Harris, excitement about Harris.

And they made that unanimous decision pretty quickly.

I think the Nevada Democratic Party likes to, you know, be in the national conversation.

and they definitely wanted to make sure that as a battleground state, they, they made their voice heard for the vice president.

And so what happens next?

And then what about a primary?

I mean, why isn't that being discussed?

Yeah, I think part of the reason, right.

We had a primary, right.

President Biden didn't have any serious challengers, especially in Nevada, where there was one member of Congress, Steve Phillips, who did run against him.

He wasn't on the ballot in Nevada.

He didn't get on in time.

and so I think a lot of people feel that if the president is going to make the decision to drop out a vote for Biden in the primary, what she won in Nevada was almost 90% of the vote was, you know, also a vote of confidence, even though her name wasn't there in his vice presidential choice.

In here, as you know, there's been the Biden Harris campaign.

And so I think there was talk of doing some sort of primary at this point.

It would be too late for voters to weigh in.

So it would be delegates to the convention.

that would have to make that decision.

Nevada.

Right, has 49 of them.

in theory.

Right.

We could have had an open convention.

I think Democrats, and I think from talking to a lot of voters as well, felt like, let's move forward.

United and focused on Donald Trump.

and that's that's what happened.

And so the vote in Nevada's delegates had the 49 of them and other state parties have had is just symbolic right now that can't commit to the vice president.

But it means they're saying when we go to the convention in a month, in August, we plan to vote for the vice president.

And at this point, she has enough delegates who have said that to where she would lock up the nomination.

And talking to voters.

You, came up with the term or maybe it wasn't you.

Did you come up with this term?

Harris meant, what does it mean?

I don't know, I don't know if I, I don't know if I saw it somewhere, if I came up with it.

I'm not sure.

I mean, it's it's not the most, you know, it's not the biggest linguistic challenge.

Those two words together.

but.

Yeah, I mean, from from talking to Democrats in, the weeks between President Biden's debate performance, and his decision to drop out, I think there was even among those who publicly supported him and were sticking by him, there was trepidation and for good reason.

Right.

He was losing in the polls to President Trump, a ticket to former President Trump, particularly in Nevada.

He had not led a poll that I saw all cycle, and a lot of those polls were out that the margin of error, you'd see Trump up 4 or 5, six, seven points.

Right.

and I think this has just ignited a new energy among Nevada Democrats.

the campaign, you know, they woke up as a Biden campaign on Sunday, went to bed as the Harris campaign.

They told me that they had 600, they recruited 600 volunteers on Sunday.

Typically they'll do 150. they had people walking in off of the streets saying, you know, how can we help?

What can we do?

People who weren't responding to texts from the campaign saying, okay, now, now I'm ready.

What can I do?

and I think that bore out in the national data, right?

I mean, she raised a record.

I think it was $1 billion.

in the first 24 hours, there, we saw a record number of new voter registrations.

So, I mean, I think for Democrats, this is a watershed moment.

Say they feel they're getting rid of the baggage that President Biden had with age.

Definitely.

But even somewhat, I think, on his liabilities with the economy, in particular, it seems that voters don't penalize Harris quite the same way.

and so it'll be interesting to see if this is sort of a honeymoon, as Trump's pollster called it, a Harris honeymoon.

or if this can be sustained all the way through November.

But certainly I think for the campaign staff on the ground, and for volunteers, they're feeling a lot more energized than they have been.

And what about the voting blocks in Nevada that the now Harris campaign hopes to attract, that perhaps President Biden wasn't?

Yeah, I think President Biden, you saw his biggest weaknesses were with voters of color and with younger voters.

And I think, you know, we don't yet have data, but the campaign is really hopeful that the vice president, who, was talking about how young she is, which she has 59, right.

love that.

You know, the young.

I think that's great.

but compared to, you know, Biden and Trump, who are both seniors, we have someone who's significantly younger, who is a woman of color who's both black and South Asian.

you know, those are, particularly black voters in Nevada are pretty well organized.

and from what I can tell, quite excited about her candidacy.

and then I think you've seen younger voters get really excited.

They've been making means they've been, you know, posting stuff.

And so we'll see how much of this is just an unprecedented event.

And people, you know, weighing in and how much of this is real momentum.

But, the campaign certainly believes she can do better with those voter groups.

All right, Gabby, I hope we're not cringe when we attempt to do this, but actually, I'm going to have you do it and tell me, what does it mean when it is said that Kamala is brat?

Okay, so let's start with brat is an album, by the British pop star, actually Charli XCX that came out earlier this year.

It's I would recommend anyone listen to it.

It's a lot of fun.

Just dance pop.

But, it's kind of funny because a lot of the themes of the album are about, you know, being a party girl.

And, Charli XCX herself is actually in her 30s.

so I think people maybe misunderstand a bit.

Gen Z, definitely.

I'm Gen Z, I love this album.

but I think the idea Gen Z's I think humor sense tends to go towards the ridiculous.

and so people have been making edits of the vice president.

She, you know, has a lot of memorable moments.

over the past four years, especially a lot of quotes that people know.

So taking those moments, of her, you know, saying funny things, putting the brat music over it.

The brat album cover is sort of lime green.

So putting that lime green filter, and I think you've seen the campaign wink and nod to it.

Definitely.

and we'll see how that plays out.

And again, we'll see if this is just Gen Z sort of posting.

Ironically, or if this is true enthusiasm.

But it's definitely, I think, for me and for the young people, it's fun to see.

Yeah.

Well, and everyone in Gen Z is not of voting age.

So it's important to remember also that British pop star, she she can't vote in this election.

But hey, we'll move on.

She cannot.

The Trump campaign.

How did they view Nevada prior to this announcement prior to Biden dropping out?

And how does the campaign view Nevada now?

The Trump campaign was incredibly confident about Nevada.

it was a state where I think in some sense, there have been reports that they'd even taken it off of their battleground map, that they felt like the true battlegrounds were in the Midwest, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, and that Nevada in particular, as well as Arizona and Georgia, were locks.

so former President Trump, I think, you know, they're going to be digging into the data, especially as new polls come out and evaluate that.

The Harris campaign certainly thinks this is going to the Biden campaign.

Never said we can't win Nevada, but you know, they acknowledged in internal memos our path is through the Midwest, through the Rust Belt.

I think the Harris campaign, particularly because she's from California, because maybe connects more to some of the voters in the Sunbelt, in Nevada and Arizona in particular, that they can, again, be competitive in Nevada.

And so I think, you know, it's hard to write off either campaign in July.

There's so, so much time.

But I think the Trump campaign had been really confident.

And we'll see if they maintain that confidence.

Right now, they don't have much presence in Nevada.

And so I think if they feel worried, they'll probably see some campaign offices opening and some staff coming to Nevada.

how has the Nevada GOP responded?

I think their plan is just to attack harass the same way they've attacked Biden.

I think they plan to attack her on inflation.

They plan to attack her on immigration.

for them, you know, a different candidate, but the same message.

and we'll see.

I mean, there has been discussion of potential and, you know, because she was the vice president, she can take over the campaign infrastructure, the campaign finance account, all of that.

but we'll see if there's some element of legal challenges to her candidacy, coming forward.

And that's already, I believe, happening the Trump campaign, asking the FEC to step in in what regard?

So I think they're concerned about, this, you know, campaign was registered to Joe Biden.

And can he just transfer that money over to Kamala Harris?

Now, most of the campaign finance experts I've seen have said yes, because it's the Biden Harris campaign account.

And that would have been, I think, one of the real risks of Democrats having an open primary.

If it had been someone else, they would not likely have been able to take over that campaign account might have had to start from scratch.

so we'll see if the FEC weighs in.

But from my understanding, I believe she's on solid legal ground to take that over.

All right.

And lastly, Gabby, what are you working on?

I know you are busy.

Things are changing all the time.

I am trying to just talk to as many people as I can about the vice president.

she was the attorney general of California at the same time, our senator in Nevada, Catherine Cortez Masto, was attorney general.

They served in the Senate together.

and so I'm trying to she has a number of people who worked on her 2020 campaign who are, in Nevada, who were on her staff today sort of trying to understand how she thinks about the state, what her what her, plan is and how she if she's, you know, a fan of Vegas as many people are.

Gabby Birenbaum of the Nevada Independent.

Thank you for joining Nevada Week.

Thank you.

Now, in addition to voting for the next president of the United States, president of the United States, Nevada voters in November will also be asked whether the state's Sales and Use Tax Act of 1955 should be amended to remove the sales tax on child and adult diapers.

One of the measures main supporters is Kelly Maxwell, CEO and executive director of Babies Bounty.

We spoke with her at the nonprofit's newest headquarters, the Babies Bounty Center for families near Tropicana and Decatur.

Kelly, let's first talk about your new headquarters.

9000ft compared to 2500.

I think you told me it is facility.

What was the need for this much space?

Well, our programing has grown around 3,000% since Covid, right?

So in the last four years.

So it really, we needed we needed a lot more space.

I had folks working in diaper storage rooms.

we didn't have nearly enough warehousing space, office space all around.

We needed a lot more of it.

And we also needed to build a classroom to expand our educational offerings.

So this this new space allowed us to do that.

And how quickly did you know we needed to do that?

You mentioned the database.

Yes.

And so was that the catalyst?

yes.

When we were just this program you see behind us, this baby bundle program.

we were okay in 20 500ft.

Once we launched the diaper banks and then also our diapers for the clothes program, we quickly realized that we were outgrowing our space.

We had storage units in Henderson, in North Las Vegas, in northern Nevada, but we really needed to expand our headquarters.

Diapers take up a lot of space.

They sure do.

They.

While we are on it, though, the bundle that you're talking about, what goes into it, who gets it?

Yes.

So this was our flagship program.

it's about 16 years old, this program.

it's basically a baby shower in a bag for clients living in poverty.

so we are producing now, over 100 of these a month.

So, in excess of 1200 baby bundles a year to our clients living in poverty.

so clients are referred to us by partner agencies, and we, distribute these to them.

They have a required safe sleep and baby basics course, and they receive all of the items needed to care for their newborn for the first six months of life.

I think you told me it's about $500.

And it is.

It is.

And critical items that you cannot leave the hospital without a car seat.

So there's an infant regulation car seat, brand new portable crib.

So for safe sleeping environment, 25 items of clothing, bibs, rattles, baby books, all of the items needed to care for these newborns.

These families in poverty don't have these items.

And there are children's lives on the other on the other side of that.

Right?

So children are dying from unsafe sleep environments.

So we we're providing those and also the education so that they know how to properly sleep.

Going back to the diaper paint program, something you launched back in May of 2020, in response to Covid?

Yes.

Four years later, what is the need now compared to the new them?

Well, you know, I saw when you were coming here, I thought, the last time we spoke, I had really high hopes that I would solve diaper need in the state of Nevada by 2025. and what we did not count on was inflation.

and the dramatic impact it had on families and what's affordable for them.

so the poorest Americans spent 14% of their take home pay on diapers, right?

So the math just simply doesn't work.

diapers, one of 185% in Covid.

and that number is not going down.

It's not waning at all.

So where we used to see 4 or 500, people attend each of our large diaper banks.

now we're seeing in excess of 800.

So as our population increases and as, the inflationary impact is really compounded, those, stressors for Nevada families, we have seen nothing but week over week increases in her diaper bank attendees.

How do you explain to potential donors, for example, the impact that free diapers can have on low income families?

Sure.

Well, first and foremost, they're preventative medical supplies, right?

So without an adequate supply of diapers and wipes, children, infants are at risk of a whole host of, medical problems.

Right.

So, from severe diaper rash to viral meningitis.

These children then are going to our emergency rooms and seeking medical care, right?

So what?

We're talking about is preventing, additional statewide medical costs.

So when diaper banks are properly funded in the state, you see a $3.2 million decrease in statewide medical costs, right, because we're preventing these illnesses, right?

But beyond that, diapers are a critical component of our economy.

So without an adequate supply of diapers, these families cannot access daycare.

They cannot access school or home, go back to work.

So if we are expecting families to be self-sufficient, but inflation and these exorbitant diaper costs have, really impacted that, if we can help in the seemingly small way to get them back on your feet, then they can get back into the workforce.

I'm not sure how many people know, but it is a requirement for many daycares that you provide the diapers for your child.

It is.

Even the free and subsidized daycares require that you, they will have some diapers on hand.

Really?

Emergency supplies.

But what you need is 8 to 10 diapers per day to take your child to daycare.

That is cost prohibitive for a lot of families.

And 1 in 5 families who rely on daycare have, have called in sick in the last week because they didn't have enough diapers to send their children to daycare.

This November, voters in Nevada will get to vote on ballot question five, which asks whether a sales tax should be removed from child and adult diapers.

The state's fiscal analysis division estimates that it will result in a sales tax revenue loss of about $9.3 million, 2.4 million of which would have gone to the state's general fund.

Had this been implemented in 2023, 2.9 million of which would go to the local schools or tax.

So there is the argument.

This removal of the sales tax would take money away from education.

How would you respond to that?

Well, I would say first and foremost, we worked really hard to pass this diaper tax bill, which 16 other states have already done.

because diaper should have never been taxed in the first place.

They are preventative, health care supplies.

We don't tax other health care items like Band-Aids or Tylenol.

Right?

so so the idea behind this is that, should have never been taxed as a luxury item in the first place.

So we're just getting back to to really what?

Common sense.

but more than that, attaching a fiscal note to something presumes that the savings from the diaper tax will then not be used to purchase other taxable items.

So, sales tax is not a zero sum game.

many of these families will use that savings to purchase other items, let's say a car seat, some infant clothes, some baby bottles.

Those things are taxed.

Right.

So, I think those, those numbers, may be, a little aggressive.

I will say.

Yeah.

that would be as if someone took the money they were saving from this sales tax.

Right?

Put it away and inspect it.

Right.

And we know that that's not how, Nevada families are able to operate right now, particularly in inflation.

And you did mention you had to go through the legislative process to get this even on the ballot.

Nobody voted in opposition to it.

There was very little opposition except for one woman, I believe, who called in.

She said in part, quote, people need to revisit policy and reusing.

If people can't afford the basics for their children, maybe they need to utilize the birth control that we're paying for.

If you have your way this session and how would you respond to that?

Well, I also I want to acknowledge that, yes, we we had six votes in the Nevada State Legislature and not one legislator on either side of the aisle voted no against this tax, because I think really, no matter.

No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, you can see the benefit to, not taxing, health care supplies.

I was present for this caller's testimony.

And, you know, I think, we all, feel strongly about personal responsibility.

but I think there's some misunderstandings about, the way that families are working now.

First of all, cloth diapers are not a possibility for a lot of our families.

Number one, there's only one daycare in the state of Nevada that will accept your child with with, cloth diapers on that, on the campus of, you know, and there's a 200 person waiting list for that daycare.

So if you expect then that self-sufficiency aspect, you can't go back to work if you have cloth diapers.

The other thing is families living in poverty don't often have their own washers and dryers.

You cannot wash cluster diapers, a laundromat.

and if you have 3 or 4 children, cloth diapers are just, you know, really, that's not it's just they're not they're not affordable.

they're not practical.

And again, you cannot send your child to daycare.

so, we investigated that as an option as a pilot program here.

none of our clients were able to, to facilitate it, so.

And then the other aspect of our argument, which I imagine you face sometimes is the attitude that if you can't afford supplies for a baby, then you shouldn't be having children.

How your confront that.

You know, I think we've we've come up against this for decades, right.

so a few things.

we're diapering children who are already here, right?

These are infants.

So whatever poor decisions you think the parents made or didn't make?

first of all, I will acknowledge that maybe they only had four decisions to make, right?

But, and they chose, you know, was the best possible option.

What do you mean by that?

I mean, you know, there are women who cannot say no right there in situations where they don't have that opportunity.

there are young girls who found themselves in situations that, where they didn't have a choice.

Right?

or they, perhaps they even made an irresponsible choice.

Right.

But, their babies on the other side.

And so what we're going to do here at the founding is, is drop the judgment, and we're going to take care of the infants who are already here.

I think I interrupted you before we were talking about that attitude.

And you're taking care of the babies that are already here for ten, right?

I don't necessarily think it's productive to go backwards and judged choices that were already made right, that these children are already here.

in terms of people making sound financial decisions, it's much more difficult to do that with inflation, right?

Those choices were easier to make 40 or 50 years ago, when expenses weren't what they were.

Right.

so today we're talking about exorbitant costs to raise a family.

We're talking earlier about, 30% of take home pay can go to daycare.

so glad you brought that.

Yeah, because there's a new report tax from KPMG said that the cost of childcare in the US is rising at nearly double the pace of overall inflation.

Right.

This is an issue that you are working on with Congressman Steven Horsford he met recently.

Are there any new ideas that we haven't heard of in terms of addressing the affordability crisis of childcare?

Is that up?

Yes.

So we're putting together some solutions for a childcare solution summit coming at the end of the summer.

so ahead of that, we met with Deputy Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally on them.

And just even more to really talk about some innovative ideas that are working around the country.

so Access Capital is a local organization working to fund, home based childcare, opportunities.

And it involves homeownership opportunities and working with highways to loosen some of the restrictions.

there's also you know, so what we need in Nevada is not just the big box childcare solution option.

We need movement in a lot of different areas.

So in the, in the home based childcare that works best for for some folks it's also more affordable.

Right.

And so and then those large units kind of the name brand childcare facilities, we also need those.

And we need tax care credits to, to pay for those.

as I said before, if capitalism could have solved the childcare issue, it would have been solved already.

The math doesn't work between the number of, of children in childcare that you need to actually turn a profit in some of these facilities.

So we do need the federal government to come in with some subsidies.

And lastly, I want to talk about diapers for diplomas.

And another one of your ideas.

How did it come about and what have been the results?

this is my baby is truly my my favorite program.

If I can have one, more than the diaper that was yours too.

Yes.

I love it so much.

I really love what this program is doing to, improve not only the lives of the students directly, but also generations and lifting families out of generational poverty.

So how the program works.

So first of all, it came out of, conversations with our diaper bank clients.

So our diaper bank clients would often call and say, you know, I can't come during the diaper bank hours.

I'm in school, I'm in nursing school, I'm in high school, I'm in college.

I'm in hair school.

could I come after?

And and I said, yeah, of course.

Absolutely.

We would make these exceptions over and over again.

and I started talking to some friends of my in higher education, and, I really wasn't familiar with that space.

And I had this idea.

What if we offered a different kind of opportunity, more so than just come to our diaper bank and we'll give you a week's supply of diapers?

What if we really need in, to help these parenting college students?

so we started with some research and really studied how many students in in Nevada, in higher ed are, parents, and it's 24%.

Right.

Wow.

So we generate we're educating an older population here in Nevada, predominantly female.

So a lot of them are parents.

so, started with conversations with initially Nevada State University.

and then I was able to get, another four institutions on board.

So now we have, you know, the UNR, Truckee Meadows Community College, cSUN, and Nevada State University, and we recently added the Desert Research Institute as well.

so what we do is we offer, diaper scholarships to parenting college students.

and it's a savings of about $1,200 a year per, registered child.

And we will diaper three children per household.

This started in 2023.

What have you found the results to be?

I know it's not a lot of time.

Yes.

Yet metrics from but yes yes, yes, we started with 200 diapers scholarships.

All 200 were claimed the first year.

and yeah, the metrics are amazing.

Not only the the anecdotes coming out of the program, but the overall metrics.

94% of the students, say that this is helping them to graduate.

24% of these students are studying nursing and 16% will be teachers.

So to a total 40% in the two most needed fields in Nevada, and anecdotally, what we're hearing is these students can, cut down on work because parenting students are working, going to school and parenting, right, so they can cut down on work because they have this, diaper relief, right?

additionally, they, can use those added, the savings to take additional credit hours or for other school related expenses.

Kelly Maxwell, Executive Director and CEO of the.

You to thank you for joining the back.

Thank you And thank you for watching.

For any of the resources discussed, go to Vegas PBS.org slash Nevada Week and I'll see you next week on Nevada Week.