Taking care of a baby while at work... Nicole Cannizzaro did it during the legislative session, and I try doing it now in an interview with Nevada Senate Majority Leader this week on Nevada Week.

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

-Welcome to Nevada Week.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon joined by my seven-month-old son, Otto.

And the inspiration for having him here is sitting right next to me.

With less than a month left in Nevada's legislative session, she gave birth to her son Cole and just five days later returned to the Senate floor with him in tow, just as he is now.

Nevada Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, thank you for joining Nevada Week.

(Nicole Cannizzaro) Thank you for having me, Amber.

It's really a pleasure to be here with you and with baby Otto.

-And with Cole.

Welcome, Cole.

And thank you for taking part in this.

-Of course.

-I thought it could make for good TV.

But more importantly, it'll show how difficult what you did was.

I don't know how Otto is going to behave.

Cole at least has some experience.

I most recently saw him with you at a Clark County Education Association protest, which we're going to talk about that topic ahead.

But first, why return to the legislature just five days after giving birth?

-Yeah, that's a great question and one that I got quite frequently at the legislature.

You know, we are in Nevada, very lucky to have a state where we have a citizen legislature.

And with that comes 120 days that constitutionally, we are allowed to meet in Carson City to do the business of the state for a two-year biennium.

And so, you know, in that timeframe, when Cole decided to make his debut, we were in the middle of getting ready to pass our budget bills to fund the rest of the state for the next two years.

And so the day that I returned was actually the day that the education budget came up for a vote, and it was the first of our five budget bills to come to the floor of the Senate.

And I felt as though, you know, my constituents elected me to be there.

I needed to take that very important vote to make sure that we were funding education here in the state.

And there was still a lot of work to be done in those waning days of the legislative session, and you don't get another chance to put it off and come back, because we're up against that 120-day constitutional deadline.

And, you know, I was elected to come and do a job.

So I felt like it was my duty to come back and do that job as best as I could manage with a new baby.

-Well, and why do it with a baby?

Why bring Cole who's now how old?

-He is four months now and growing like a weed.

But for me it was that I had a brand new baby who needed his mom.

I was feeding him, and I didn't have a place to kind of bring him as a brand new baby.

We have an older son who is just now two and at the time was almost two.

And he was in daycare, but I didn't have, like so many parents have, a lot of options with a brand new baby to put him in daycare or to find some alternative care for him.

And I felt as though-- and I think a lot of mothers would agree --those, those first days, weeks, months with your brand new baby are an important bonding time.

And like I said, I was also feeding him.

And so it was important for us to be, you know, with each other.

And so I strapped him on in a little wrap and brought him to the state legislature so that we could finish up.

-You bring up so many important topics there.

Daycare.

-Yeah.

-So many Nevadans don't have access to childcare.

There's a governor's report that came out in February; 74% of children under the age of five in Nevada don't have access to a licensed childcare facility.

What are your ideas to fix that, and how has it impacted you?

-You know, we had to look for a daycare place when we moved up to Carson City.

We, like a lot of other families, are trying to find ways to make it work with a new baby.

And so we were pretty lucky that between trying to schedule around two working parents' ongoing and very busy schedules, we have family who is close by.

And my mom who has been just a wonderful resource and is so willing and gracious to be able to, we feel really lucky that she's able to kind of step in and was helping with Case before we moved to Carson City.

But moving to Carson City meant that she wouldn't be around.

So we had to find a place.

And it was, it was a struggle.

We called a lot of places.

There were not openings available.

There were not places that we could put Case, just because they have a shortage of providers and they have a shortage of slots.

And so a lot of places that we were calling did not have a spot open for Case.

We finally were lucky enough to find like the one available slot in a really great place there right in Carson City with fantastic staff.

And I remember when we went in to kind of do the tour, they were talking to me about how it is, it is difficult to get people to come and work in daycares, and it is difficult to maintain operations.

And even with some of the help the state has been able to provide-- for example, during the COVID crisis --and still, we have ongoing programs.

I want to say we put about 47 million this last legislative session into grants for childcare facilities that are part of and qualify for those grants through the state to help with recruiting and retaining professionals to work in that field.

And so it has become a topic that I have been heavily interested in just because of my own experience and, and those of my constituents as well.

And I have tried to work on thinking of ways that we can improve that access, because I do think it is not only an affordability question, because for a lot of families, it's very expensive to find childcare.

-Like the price of college tuition, according to that report.

-Oh, it's very expensive.

Even for some places that aren't maybe that high, it's still a huge chunk of what families have to spend every month just so that they can continue to go to work and provide for their kids.

And so I think there's an affordability question there and that, What can we be doing to help with that gap, especially for lower income families?

And, frankly, even for middle-income families it can be very expensive.

The other piece of that is how do you deal with what we encountered when looking for daycare options in Carson City, which is just a lack of open spots?

-Right.

-So accessibility is a huge issue as well.

What can we be doing better as a state to help encourage and to promote childcare centers to have more options for parents?

Those are huge issues that I'm sure we'll talk a little more about.

But I think those are really two key pieces we as a state need to work on.

We're doing some work in that space, like I mentioned with the grants, but I think that there's still room to improve.

-Is there one idea you have as to how to improve that area?

-I was really lucky and fortunate this summer to take place in a President's roundtable in Washington, D.C., with legislators from across the country.

And we were able to meet with the First Lady to talk about childcare access and what that looks like for different states.

Many states were sharing some of the things that they have done.

I think there were a lot of good ideas that were exchanged as part of that.

This is not a problem that we see just in Nevada, but it is something that we as Nevadans have to focus on and, as policymakers, is something that's important for our families.

I think that there really is some opportunity to look into ways to allowing the State to invest in supporting childcare facilities.

You know, there were a few states that talked about how they had put money into sort of a fund that was able to then start generating dollars that became sustainable over time.

And I think something like that, if we could figure out a way to structure a fund in Nevada, would be super helpful for those facilities.

I think the other part of that is we have to recognize the important work that our providers are doing in that space and treat them as professionals because they really are providing such a critical need for families, not just in that somebody is watching your child and they're safe, but they're learning at the same time, right?

These babies, even as we're sitting here now, are learning just by hearing voices and seeing lights and colors and things like that.

And so the people who are taking care of them in that daycare space or childcare facilities are really helping to shape young minds.

And that is something that we should treat not just as a job to fill but as a profession and something that is important for our families.

And I think the more that we can help to put value on that and professionalize that for people who choose to enter into this field, we could really make a huge difference.

-Back to your experience at the legislature.

What was it like for you, physically and mentally, in those first few days?

I mean, to be blunt, physically five days after giving birth, I was wearing a diaper and it hurt to walk.

-Yeah.

It was hard.

I, I struggled with the thought of, of going back into the legislative building, because you sit for a long period of time.

Physically your body in having a baby, in making that baby for nine months, and then going through the birth experience is-- and every birth is different, and every person who gives birth has a different experience.

But no matter how you get to that point, it is tiring because you have a new baby.

They're still trying to adapt to the world.

They're up all the time.

They are eating.

They are trying to, you know, get normalized to life outside of the womb.

And as someone who just gave birth, the thought of sort of walking into the building was very daunting.

And I'm not going to sit here and say that it was easy or that I think women should be back in the workplace five days after having a child.

-That's interesting you say that, because I wondered what kind of feedback you got.

And maybe if anybody-- I don't know if anybody would have said this to your face.

But by you doing that, are you setting such a high bar that other women may say, If she does that, am I going to be expected to do that too?

-And I 100% want to be very clear in that I felt as though I was in a very unique circumstance, being in the position of the Senate Leader.

And again, because we have this constitutional duty to do our business and to pass this budget in that 120-day period, it is a very unique situation.

I also think that I was afforded accommodations that made it possible for someone in my position to be there.

But it is not what I would recommend, nor do I think or hope that that is the message that was received.

Certainly moms, parents everywhere, no matter what, are doing phenomenal and amazing things every single day that make me think like, How do you do it?

How do you do it?

I think that, you know, as we're sitting here, you and I, like how do you prepare for hosting a show and being so put together and you have this beautiful baby?

And how do you do it every single day, I think, is something that, you know, you find a way.

You find a way to make it.

And I was just in a very unique circumstance to have to be in a position and make a decision about constituents who had put their faith in me to be there for the legislature and to do the business of this state, which we only get to do every other year for 120 days.

I certainly hope that I am not by, you know, being in that sort of a position saying that women should be back in the workplace five days after giving birth.

It was extremely daunting.

It was physically difficult.

For anybody who was watching, I, you know, I had to take breaks out of committee to go and tend to my own physical well being.

And I really hope that the message that is received is that in the state legislature, in places of power where decisions are being made, that women and parents belong, that just because you have a young child doesn't mean that you shouldn't be there.

I hope that the end result is that people see someone who is trying to do their job and take care of their family and that we should be making space for both of those things to be true.

-Did you have to get permission to bring him?

-I didn't really ask for permission.

I don't know if I sort of am afforded a little bit of a, of a privilege there in sort of being in a, in a leadership role.

There were instances throughout the session, even with Case where, you know, daycare fell through or we didn't have a nighttime option because things were happening in the evening.

And so, you know, there were times where I had to sort of tote him along and ask like, Is it okay if he comes to this meeting?

I was lucky there was a lot of graciousness given in that.

So for some, you know, later in the evening meetings to discuss, you know, budgets and bills and things like that, my colleagues at the legislature allowed me to bring a rambunctious one-and-a-half-year-old who was very busy.

And-- You're all right.

He might be a little bit hungry.

-It seems like it.

-And so I was really lucky that they let me bring him, but there were times where it was like, Well, you know, we don't really allow for kids in this particular space.

And, you know, I hope that we can, especially in a place of governance where we are doing the work of so many working families, that we can make this space for working families to be part of the conversation.

-Should people be allowed to bring their babies to work, similar to the program that State Treasurer Zach Conine is piloting, where he's allowing his employees to bring their babies up to six months old into the office?

-I mean, look, I think we have to be thinking about options for flexibility with parents, recognizing that it is difficult to raise a child, and they get sick or daycare falls through or childcare falls through.

I really believe that we should be focusing on policies that give parents, especially with new babies, the time to bond and to take care of them and to spend that time getting to, getting to raise them, especially in those first, in those first few months.

And I certainly don't know that bringing a newborn baby to work is sort of the best solution in that kind of a space.

But I do think that we have to be thinking about ways that we can be flexible so that people can have families and still have their careers and their jobs.

-How big of a deal is it that this session the state passed paid family leave for state workers, eight weeks in certain circumstances, including the birth of a child and the adoption?

-Yeah.

So anytime you welcome a child into a family, whatever the circumstances are around that-- if it's the birth of a child, if it's paternity leave, if it is the adoption of a child, or bringing in a, you know, for foster care a child --I think that having the ability to spend time and to grow as a family and that bonding time is exceedingly important.

So I was really proud to see legislation pass that will allow for, you know, state workers who have worked for a year, who have a particular need specifically-- we mentioned, and I know you just, you just mentioned --the birth of a child or bringing in a child from adoption.

There's also some family provisions.

It mirrors the FMLA provisions that people are familiar with that allows for 50% of the salary to be paid to that employee.

-Right.

-I think that's critically important for retaining and recruiting state personnel who help the state function.

And they really are the cornerstone and the touch point for so many constituents in how they deal with state government and providing very necessary services, everything from health and human services to public safety here in the state.

And so anything that we can be doing to help them, again, keep that job and that career and also be able to tend to their family in an appropriate way, and the way that makes financial sense for them is something that we should be doing.

-It's interesting you bring up the recruitment and the retention of employees, because there was another bill dealing with paid family leave.

Initially, the governor vetoed it.

But then it got through with the A's stadium bill, and that is for companies with 50 or more employees.

If they want certain tax abatements, they have to provide 12 weeks of paid family leave, I think 55% of regular wages.

But his reasoning for originally vetoing it was that he thinks it will make Nevada less competitive with other states in attracting businesses that will provide good jobs for Nevadans.

What do you think of that?

-I think that when we're talking about providing good jobs for Nevadans, there has to be a conversation around how it is that we are supporting a place where someone can, and I always say this-- I'm born and raised here, so I like to say this because it is, it is how I feel that Nevada is the best place to live, work, and raise a family.

We should be doing that.

And if that means that a business who is looking for, by the way, an incentive from the state, which means that state taxpayer dollars are going to go to support a business to give them an economic boost to come to the state of Nevada-- and I think we're really lucky in Nevada to enjoy a state where we are very business friendly.

We have lower tax rates for businesses.

We have a lot of opportunity for growth.

And if we are talking about bringing good paying jobs that are going to provide for Nevada families, that should also provide for some provisions when and if an employee needs time for their family.

And I think that that paid provision is sort of, you know, a benefit of getting the business here in the state of Nevada and benefiting from, you know, incentives, things like tax credits or abatements.

Our pluses for that business to come into the state?

We want businesses to come here.

Nevada is a great place to do business.

I think you're seeing that in the economic growth that we have seen over, you know, a number of years and the growing diversity of, of businesses and industries coming to Nevada.

We continue to be a great place to do business.

And I think if we want to continue to be not only a good place to do business, but a place where employees want to come and want to live and raise their families, we have to be giving them, again, some of that flexibility and support.

-So let's talk about the big bill that you got passed.

Five days after giving birth, you returned to the legislature.

About five days after that, you're in the governor's office, Republican Governor Joe Lombardo, and he's signing SB 131, which protects women seeking abortions in the state of Nevada from being prosecuted if it's illegal back in their home state.

Having just had a baby of your own, yet getting this legislation protecting abortion rights, what was that moment like for you?

-You know, I think, if anything, the journey-- and it's different for everybody.

And I think there are difficulties no matter what.

The journey to have a child is one that is exceedingly personal and really should be, and I just fundamentally believe, should be a decision at every touch point between a patient and their doctor.

There are enormous difficulties that come with even trying to have a child in the first place.

I think that those decisions have to be made by the person who's trying to carry that baby and whoever their medical providers are.

And I've said as much in passing SB 131.

And 131 really was a codification of an executive order that was put out in the wake of the Dobbs decision by Governor Sisolak.

That order said that because in Nevada we have a statutory provision that says that you may receive reproductive care, including abortion care up to 24 weeks that is legal here in Nevada.

We have providers here in Nevada, very few, and they are operating here.

It is legal here.

There are women coming to Nevada, there are women who live in Nevada, who are seeking reproductive care and including abortion care for any number of reasons, none of which are our business.

And we have providers who are trying to provide the best medically accurate care for their patients.

-How likely is that scenario, though, that someone comes here and then is going to be prosecuted back home for getting an abortion in another state?

-That's a great question and one that we faced in passing the bill.

And we saw that happen in other states.

We saw other states seeking to criminalize actions that had been taken in a state where it was legal.

And I have always said, like this would be akin to someone coming to Nevada where gambling is very legal in a casino, playing a slot machine, and going back home and being prosecuted for having done something that is illegal in another state.

We cannot subscribe to that.

We cannot allow for other states to dictate what we support or don't support here in Nevada.

And so if a woman is coming here and seeking reproductive care, having abortion care by a provider who is acting within the scope of their practice and not providing, you know, illegitimate care, not doing something that would not be within the standard of care for their practice, but just providing reproductive care, including abortion care, they go back to their home state or a provider who is practicing here, then is sought to be extradited to another state for prosecution for providing something that is completely legal here in Nevada, we should not stand for that.

We cannot stand for that.

-We only have a couple more minutes left.

How well did you work with Governor Lombardo this session?

Did it surprise you that he signed your reproductive rights bill?

-You know, he said that he was going to, and we made very clear we were going to bring the bill.

It was going to be a simple and straightforward codification of the executive order, and I'm pleased that he followed through on his word to sign that because I think that there was a lot of misinformation about what that bill was seeking to do or how it would change the law in the state of Nevada.

And it doesn't change what is currently legal here.

It doesn't change what is currently and has been, you know, for since, gosh, since the 1990s when that referendum was passed.

Our providers and patients seeking care deserve to have the ability to seek legal care without facing repercussions from another state who's trying to extend into our borders.

And I am just grateful that the governor saw fit to follow through in that.

-I want to get this in.

So Clark County Education Association in arbitration with the school district, you approved matching funds, $250 million for teacher raises this past session.

Clark County School District says it's one-time money.

How are they going to fund permanent raises without knowing if they're getting money in two years again?

Your response to that?

You have about 30 seconds.

-Let me be very clear here: We budget for a two-year cycle for every dollar that goes into education, period.

That is true of the funds contained in SB 231.

It is also true of every dollar that flows from the state to the local school districts.

This is not like-- this is not unlike every single dollar that is used across the board for education.

And not just for education, for any other service that is funded by the state.

We budget in two-year increments because that's when the legislature meets.

So this money should and was designed to be used for raises.

Teachers deserve raises.

Kids deserve to have a qualified teacher and all the support staff to support their education in the classroom.

-State Senator, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, Cole, Otto, thank you all for joining Nevada Week.

Yes, I love you.

And thank you for watching.

For any of the resources discussed on this show, go to our website, vegaspbs.org/nevadaweek.

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