Merle A. Berman | |
---|---|
Member of the Nevada Assembly | |
In office 1997–2001 | |
Member of the Nevada Commission on Ethics | |
Personal details | |
Born | 1946 Philadelphia,Pennsylvania |
Political party | Republican |
Residence | Las Vegas,Nevada |
Merle A. Berman (born 1946) is a former member of the Nevada Legislature. A member of the Republican Party,she was initially elected in 1996,and represented District 2 in the Nevada Assembly from 1997 to 2001. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Upon completion of her Assembly term,she was appointed to the Nevada Commission on Ethics. [6]
Born in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania in 1946,Berman earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Pennsylvania State University. [7] [8]
She has worked in real estate and development. [9] [10] [11]
She has one son,Ryan Hoffman. [12] [13] Her sister,Constance E. (Berman) Brooks,died from cancer in Pennsylvania on August 24,1997. [14]
A member of the Republican Party,Berman represented District 2 in the Nevada Assembly,and was initially elected to her seat in 1996. [15] [16] She served in three regular sessions. [17]
In 1999,she was a member of the following Assembly committees:Commerce and Labor,Government Affairs,and Health and Human Services. [18] [19] [20]
On February 14 and April 12,2001,she participated in the Field Hearing Before the Committee on Environment and Public Works,which was held by the U.S. Senate in Fallon,Nevada to investigate childhood leukemia clusters in that community. According to the minutes of that hearing,Berman pressed for answers to ascertain why certain individuals,but not others were selected for the panel of experts chosen to investigate the leukemia clusters and “why the Federal Government was not involved in the testing.”And on April 12,2001: [21]
“Berman cited an upcoming bill dealing with the comprehensive cancer plan in Nevada. She specifically inquired whether her bill should be amended to address the need for expeditious identification and response to cancer clusters. [Dr. Randall Todd,state epidemiologist,Nevada State Health Division] replied that this would require additional thought and that his written response would follow after consultation with his colleagues.”
Berman also succeeded in obtaining this testimony from one of the medical experts in attendance: [22]
“[Dr. Thomas Sinks,the associate director for science at the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control] clarified that nobody ever developed cancer because of chances. There was always a cause,and the challenge in Fallon would be to discover the common denominator among the 11 children. The unifying cause was not yet known,but eventually science would identify the commonality. The probability of the Fallon cluster being a chance event was described by Dr. Sinks as being unlikely.”
Berman then spoke on a different matter at a Nevada Legislature meeting later that same month. Stating that a number of groups claiming to be charitable organizations were misleading potential donors because they were actually for-profit businesses engaged in the exploitation of young children,she urged members of the Nevada Senate to support passage of Assembly Bill 74 during an April 25,2001 meeting of the Nevada Senate Committee on Labor and Commerce. The proposed bill was designed to prohibit the employment of children under the age of sixteen in door-to-door sales of magazines,candy,and other products. As the debate continued,Berman noted that section 2,subsection 2,paragraph (d) of the proposed legislation would exempt farm workers from restrictions imposed by A.B. 74. [23]
In 2003,she served on the Nevada Assembly’s Legislative Committee on Health Care,as well as on the non-legislative Advisory Council for Community Notification. Upon completion of her Assembly term,she was appointed to the Nevada Commission on Ethics. [24]
In 2005,she announced that she would run for the office of secretary of state in Nevada in the 2006 election. [25]
Berman has also been involved with the following civic or social organizations: [26] [27]
Fallon is a city in Churchill County in the U.S. state of Nevada. The population was 9,327 at time of the 2020 census. Fallon is the county seat of Churchill County and is located in the Lahontan Valley. Fallon is known for being home to Naval Air Station Fallon,located southeast of town.
The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature,the state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada,the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members,elected to two-year terms from single-member districts. Each district contained approximately 64,299 people as of the 2010 United States Census. Term limits,limiting assembly members to six 2-year terms,took effect in 2010. Twelve members of the Nevada Assembly were termed out with the 2010 election serving their last legislative session in 2011.
The Nevada Legislature is a bicameral body,consisting of the lower house,the Assembly,with 42 members,and the upper house,the Senate,with 21. With a total of 63 seats,the Legislature is the third-smallest bicameral state legislature in the United States,after Alaska's and Delaware's (62). The Nevada State Legislature as of 2019 is the first majority female State Legislature in the history of the United States. As of 2022,the Democratic Party controls both houses of the Nevada State Legislature. In the 2022 Nevada elections,which were a part of the midterm elections for that year,the Democratic Party obtained a supermajority in the lower house of the state legislature. As for the upper house of the state legislature,the elections provided the Democratic Party with thirteen of the twenty-one seats—amounting to a partisan composition of 61.9 percent.
The Nevada Senate is the upper house of the Nevada Legislature,the state legislature of U.S. state of Nevada,the lower house being the Nevada Assembly. It currently (2012–2021) consists of 21 members from single-member districts. In the previous redistricting (2002–2011) there were 19 districts,two of which were multimember. Since 2012,there have been 21 districts,each formed by combining two neighboring state assembly districts. Each state senator represented approximately 128,598 as of the 2010 United States census. Article Four of the Constitution of Nevada sets that state senators serve staggered four-year terms.
Sue Ellen Wagner is an American politician. She was the 30th lieutenant governor of Nevada,serving from 1991 to 1995,the first woman to be elected to the position. A moderate who was liberal on social issues,she was a member of the Republican Party until her exit in January 2014 due to the party's shift towards the Tea Party movement.
Sheila Leslie is an American politician. She served as a Democratic member of the Nevada Assembly from 1998 to 2010 representing District 27,as well as in the Nevada Senate representing District 13 from 2010 to 2012. Leslie served as Assistant Whip in the Assembly from 2001 to 2007,as Majority Whip in the Assembly from 2007 to 2011,and as Assistant Whip in the Senate from 2011 to 2012.
Dawn Snelling Gibbons is an American politician. She was a member of the Nevada Assembly,as well as the First Lady of Nevada from 2007 to 2010,until her divorce from Governor Jim Gibbons on July 21,2010.
The Nevada general election,2014 was held on Tuesday,November 4,2014,throughout Nevada.
Lucy Flores is an American lawyer and former politician. A member of the Democratic Party,she was a member of the Nevada State Assembly representing the 28th district in the eastern Las Vegas Valley from 2010 to 2014. She unsuccessfully ran for Lieutenant Governor of Nevada in 2014,losing to Republican nominee Mark Hutchison.
Jason Frierson is an American lawyer and politician from Nevada who has served as the United States attorney for the District of Nevada since 2022. He was a member of the Nevada Assembly from 2011 to 2014 and again from 2016 to 2022 and serving as speaker 2017 to 2022.
Lauren Alex Scott is an American politician,civil rights activist and entrepreneur. In the June 2014 primary election,she won the Republican nomination for the Nevada Assembly's 30th District,earning 58% of the vote. Scott received 46% of the vote in the November 2014 general election and lost the election to incumbent Democrat Michael Sprinkle.
Heidi K. Seevers Gansert is an American politician,businessperson,and engineer from the state of Nevada serving in the Nevada Senate,representing the 15th district since 2016. She served in the Nevada Assembly from 2004 through 2010,including as Republican leader,and as chief of staff to Governor Brian Sandoval from 2011 through 2012. She is a Republican.
Nevada's 3rd Senate district is one of 21 districts in the Nevada Senate. It has been represented by Democrat Rochelle Nguyen since 2022,when she was appointed to succeed fellow Democrat Chris Brooks.
Nevada's 4th Senate district is one of 21 districts in the Nevada Senate. It has been represented by Democrat Dina Neal since 2020,succeeding appointed fellow Democrat Marcia Washington.
Nevada's 8th Senate district is one of 21 districts in the Nevada Senate. It has been represented by Democrat Marilyn Dondero Loop since 2018,succeeding Republican-turned-independent Patricia Farley.
Luella Kirkbride Drumm was a 20th-century American politician and Democrat who was elected to the Nevada State Legislature in 1939. The representative for Churchill County,she was the only woman to serve in the Nevada Assembly that year. During her tenure,she chaired the Agriculture,Engrossment,Federal Relations,and Fish and Game committees,and advocated for legislation that improved the rights of women.
Mary Daisy White was a 20th-century American politician and business owner. One of the first women ever elected to the Nevada State Legislature,she represented rural Churchill County from November 1924 to November 1926. In 1953,she was declared to be the oldest Churchill County native still living in the county.
Flora Turchinsky Dungan was an American activist and politician from Las Vegas,Nevada.
Bernard "Bernie" Anderson was a teacher from Sparks,Nevada who spent eighteen years as a member of the Nevada Assembly.
The Nevada Legislative Council Bureau is a Nevada state agency that provides legislative service,such as legal advice,fiscal information,and background research,for other Nevada state agencies or other U.S. governmental organizations. The agency is headed by an executive director,and the position is currently occupied by Brenda Erdoes. The Nevada Legislative Council Bureau is headquartered in Carson City,Nevada,and maintains an additional presence in Las Vegas,Nevada.