CARSON CITY (AP) - U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei promised earlier this week to fight for the transfer of Nevada's public lands from federal control, telling lawmakers that the state faces unique challenges because the federal government owns 86 percent of the land within its borders.
Amodei, a former assemblyman and state senator, spoke during an address to a joint session of the Nevada Legislature.
He applauded state lawmakers for not skipping his speech _ like he routinely did when other members of Congress spoke while Amodei was in the Legislature.
"One of the reasons I skipped these is because I don't really need somebody from the federal delegation coming in here and telling me what to do," Amodei said.
He said now that he is on the federal side of government he appreciates the state government process more, and that he focuses part of his effort on ensuring locals from the states are heard by national leaders.
"The depth that is brought to bear in the Nevada Legislature on the north and south ends of this building is much more depth than I experience at another place about 2,500 miles from here," Amodei said.
The Carson City Republican was first elected to Congress in 2011 to fill the seat left vacant when Dean Heller was appointed to the Senate. Amodei then cruised to a victory in the 2012 general election.
The most direct way he has attempted to champion concerns of Nevadans in the nation's capital has been through policy dealing with public lands in the state.
His work aims to "return jurisdiction over planning, zoning and our urban and city areas to the people who were elected in Nevada to deal with those issues," he said.
The joint session interrupted his sentence with applause.[[In-content Ad]]
