Chuck Short

Please share briefly what inspired you to run for this office and why you feel you’re qualified for the position.

Throughout my career first as a Clark County Financial Analyst, then as the CEO for Clark County's District and Las Vegas Justice Courts, subsequently as a private business owner providing justice system best practice and planning expertise, I have served the public in some capacity. Seeking an elected office position to work for the citizens of Nevada is an opportunity to further serve the public in the furtherance of a better quality of life for each Nevadan.

Would you support allocating more state funds to help DACA recipients to help with higher education?

I would consider allocating more state funds for DACA recipients, but will want to understand how any support for them would differ in value from the Millennium Scholarship as well as the distinction in grade threshold to qualify. As a legislator, I do not want to solve one problem and create another in the process.

How will the state fight the growing issue of homelessness that is increasing in our communities and use funds to expand on shelters for these community members?

Homelessness is a complex issue that the rapid escalation of home purchase prices and rent has exacerbated in recent years. First, we need a deeper understanding of the causes of homelessness. For many it is economic, others mental health and a few prefer the "off-the-grid" lifestyle. Whatever government policy is designed to reduce the cost of housing, we need to recognize the private sector, non-profits and other community groups have a voice in this public policy effort. Examples of potential legislative action include: 1.) in consultation with the business community, minimum wage laws can be reexamined. 2.)we must also look to the private sector for ways to lower land costs via an increased supply of BLM land sales tied to using that land for home construction within a year or two of purchase., 3.) Homeless shelters have a role as transition housing and others ideas such as understanding what community based non-profits can offer needs to be understood. The bottom line is that no single solution can address the issue of homelessness in Nevada. What Nevada needs is the creation of incentives that leverage the efficiency of our market economy with smart government policy.

Nevada has historically protected the right to abortion, including protecting the right in statute 30 years ago by a vote of the people. However, there remain barriers to access in the state. Do you support not only the right to abortion but policies that improve equitable access to abortion care?

I am Pro-Life; but do not believe that I have the right to tell a woman what to do when she carries a child. However, unless there are complicating life-threatening factors, once a child reaches viability, the child's right to life supersedes the mother's rights.

The state of Nevada is facing an unprecedented shortage of health care providers – a problem that impacts every area of medicine, including the provision of sexual and reproductive care. Do you support removing the physician-only requirement and allowing advanced practice clinicians (APCs) to provide this vital care to patients with training and certification?

Yes - as long as the APCs have passed both educational and intern like clinical/hospital care curriculums, I would consider this as an option for expanding heath care capacity in Nevada. In the process of considering such legislation, I believe that it is important to have medical professionals testify on how government policy can support them in creating such flexibility.

It is well documented that patients of color face greater obstacles to obtaining sexual and reproductive health care than non-Hispanic white Americans – a pattern that results in worse health outcomes overall for BIPOC patients. Do you not only acknowledge systemic racism’s role in public health disparities but will you pursue policies that seek to rectify the historical harm of systemic racism and advance equitable access to health care?

Any public policy that I would support for Nevadans must foundationally embrace the equitable access to health care.

Knowing that the death penalty is exorbitantly expensive, racially discriminatory, and does not promote true healing for victims family members, do you support its abolition and do you think ending the death penalty is a crucial part of criminal justice reform?

As perspective, my wife and I were victims of the Route 91 Harvest Festival mass shooting. Death penalty criminal cases are exorbitantly expensive and should viewed as an element of criminal justice reform. But in my prior experience as a Court Executive, they represented perhaps 1 tenth of a percent of the criminal cases filed in District Court. The other 99.9% of criminal cases represent the core of the racial injustice issue we face as a society. From my experience police practices, prosecutorial policies and public defender experience will have a more significant impact on criminal justice reform than abolishing the death penalty.

True Colors United, a national organization that implements innovative solutions to youth homelessness that focus on the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ young people continues to rate Nevada as critically low, for its State Index on Youth Homelessness (in collaboration with the National Homelessness Law Center) that ranks and scores laws and policies related to preventing and addressing youth homelessness in the United States. Are you willing to support legislation that helps to fund and provide oversight regulations to youth homelessness services?

Some oversight authority authority exists and to the extent more legislation can be effectively and efficiently administered, I would serious consider supporting such bills.

Anti-transgender bills are being introduced across the United States that attempt to prevent trans people from having access to health care, gender reassignment surgery, and access to sports in schools. Do you support transgender equality and access to healthcare and an athletic school experience?

I do not support discriminatory legislation. With respect to transgender equality, I would need to understand if existing statutory language is the reason for inequality or the lack of enforcement of laws currently in place to address such inequality.

We have seen rental rates increasing at a very alarming rate, in some instances upwards of 30%. How do you see the Nevada Legislature taking action to keep Nevadans in their homes and not being priced out?

See my answer to the question of homelessness. These issue of housing affordability whether someone pays a mortgage or rent stems from a similar problem; the imbalance of housing/rental unit supply versus the demand for the same. This is complicated by the inability to proportionally increase household income across all income groups which could offset increased costs of housing.

Nevada has one of the largest shares of federal public land of any state in the country, providing important wildlife habitat, places to hunt, camp, fish and hike, and acting as the foundation of a billion dollar outdoor industry. Even so, some lawmakers have promoted policies that seek wholesale transfer of federal ownership of our national lands to states. A) Would you support or oppose these land transfer policies? B) Would should the State of Nevada’s role be in the management and ownership of federal land?

Candidate declined to answer.

State investments in conservation provide resources for a wide range of public benefit, like the management of wildlife and state land, and the creation and maintenance of trails and other recreational facilities. In 2019, the Legislature approved $217 million of bonding authority for conservation purposes, including for the acquisition of land for new state parks. A) Do you support or oppose state investment in conservation? B) Has Nevada’s investment in land conservation been too little, too much, or about right, and how would you change it?

In general, I support our state's invest in conservation. To give you an informed response, I would need to understand in more detail how the State plans to spend or use the $217 million in conservation bonding authority. Essentially, we need to know what

Would you support addressing public health disparities in Nevada’s diverse Spanish speaking population by funding a “Promotores de Salud” program through the Nevada Office of New Americans that provides year round, culturally competent education and community engagement in Spanish on public health issues?

Very likely this situation exists and I would question the need to create a separate educational system/program for one language. It seems like a better path would be for Nevada to explore the use of existing bi-lingual education resources and augment tho

What are you doing to center communities of color and low-income communities in your work, and how do you ensure that equity is part of every decision you make?

Working in support of court/justice agencies every suggestion and/or recommendation I make is centered on equal access to justice for people of all ethnicities, creeds, sexual orientation, faiths, incomes and disabilities. Court associated self-help centers are an example of this thinking. During my tenure with Clark County District Court, we created a Family-Law Resource Center and later a Civil Law Resource Center for those who could not afford or choose to represent themselves.

The APIA community faces the largest unmet financial needs when it comes to higher education. Nevada has the highest student loan default rate in the country. In Nevada, there are 333,100 student loan borrowers, $11.5 Billion in student loan debt, and $34,700 in average debt per borrower. What policies can we implement to ensure students and families are protected from predatory lenders and undue financial burdens?

This is an issue I would need to research in more depth to better respond to the question. Federal legislation has addressed some of the public policy issues create by student loans and their subsequent default.

Latinx communities are extremely concerned about the drought and ongoing water shortages. What would you do to ensure our families have a sustainable water supply, not just now but also future generations?

For Nevada, the local water district have led the way in conserving our water resources and I support their approaches to water conservation. Continued use of financial incentives to replace grass with desert landscaping, convert septic systems to water sanitation systems where the water can be "reused" and the pumping of excess surface water run-off into aquifers all represent policies/programs I support and would ensure legislation does the same.

One out of seven people in Clark County are food insecure. What policies would you propose to ensure people are not residing in food deserts and have access to healthy food and water sources?

While this is a national public policy issue, as a state legislator I would support legislation that enables private sector and non-profit agency programs that offer non-cost food to those who can not afford to feed themselves or their families.