Glossary — NV HOV Removal

Money + finance metrics

HHI (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index): A concentration metric. Sum of (donor share)² across all donors. Higher = more concentrated funding (small number of donors dominate). DOJ uses HHI > 0.25 (2,500 in basis-point form) as the antitrust 'highly concentrated' threshold; we apply the same threshold to campaign-finance donor bases.
Top-1 donor share: Percentage of a politician's total raised that came from their single largest donor. > 30% suggests narrow funding base.
Donor-to-recipient ratio: Number of unique donors divided by total contributions. Low ratios (~1.0) mean each donor gave once; high ratios mean repeat giving.
Lobbyist payments: Direct payments from a politician's campaign account to NV-registered lobbyists (e.g. consulting fees, media buys via lobbying-firm-owned agencies). Tracked under NRS 218H quarterly disclosure.
Benford's Law deviation: A statistical test for natural-vs-fabricated number distributions. Real-world dollar amounts follow Benford (digit 1 is most common). Strong deviations from the NV-baseline distribution can hint at structured contributions; we report the chi-square statistic.

Recusal-failure finding: When a politician voted on a bill where a campaign-contributing client testified, AND the vote aligned with the client's stated position. Frames as a research lead under NRS 281A.420 conflict-of-interest disclosure rules — not a legal violation, but a pattern worth investigating.
Quid-pro-quo chain: A 4-step money flow pattern: (1) politician's campaign pays lobbyist L, (2) L represents client C, (3) C contributes to politician, (4) politician sponsors or votes Yea on a bill C supported. Each chain has a severity score based on dollar size + outcome alignment.
PERS revolving-door: Politician whose name matches the Nevada Public Employees Retirement System database while in (or after) public office. Indicates the politician earned PERS benefits during prior public service. Per NRS 286, public employees vest after 5 years.
Donor concentration flag: DOJ HHI threshold (>0.25) applied to a candidate's donor base. Means the candidate's funding came from a few large donors — a structural risk signal, not an allegation.
State-contractor donor: A vendor receiving payments from Nevada state agencies who also donated to a politician. Tracked under NRS 333 (state purchasing) + NRS 218H (lobbying disclosure) as a research lead for pay-to-play patterns.

Roll-call vote: An individual recorded vote on a bill (Yea / Nay / Abstain / Excused / Absent), as captured in NELIS records. Differs from voice votes where individual positions aren't recorded.
Party-agreement %: Percentage of a legislator's roll-call votes that match the majority of their same-party peers. High (>95%) = strong party-line voter; low (<85%) = maverick. Computed only on Yea/Nay votes.
Vote-agreement matrix: Pairwise comparison of how often two legislators voted the same way on bills where both cast a Yea or Nay. Reveals coalitions + ideological clusters within a chamber.
Sponsored bill: A bill where a legislator is listed as primary or co-sponsor in NELIS. Sponsorship doesn't guarantee passage — many bills die in committee.

Statewide constitutional officer: Any of: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Controller. Elected statewide every 4 years on the gubernatorial cycle (2026, 2030, 2034).
State legislature 83rd Session: The Nevada Legislature's regular session that meets every 2 years for 120 days starting in February of odd-numbered years. The 83rd Session ran February-June 2025 + interim through 2026.
NSHE Regents: 13 elected members of the Board of Regents governing the Nevada System of Higher Education (UNLV, UNR, NSC, CSN, GBC, TMCC, WNC, NSU, DRI). Nonpartisan elections, staggered 6-year terms.
State Board of Education: 10 members (4 elected districts + 6 appointed). Sets K-12 policy for Nevada schools. Nonpartisan.
Statement of Financial Disclosure: Annual filing required of state officeholders under NRS 281.561. Discloses income sources, business interests, gifts, and household members' financial ties. Filed with the Nevada Commission on Ethics.

NRS 218H (Lobbying disclosure): Registration of lobbyists, expenditure reports, and the prohibition on contingent-fee lobbying. Quarterly filing required.
NRS 239 (Public Records Act): Agencies must produce public records within 5 business days of a request (NRS 239.0107). Exemptions must be specifically cited. See our records-request templates.
NRS 241 (Open Meeting Law): Public bodies must give 3 working days' notice + allow public attendance + record meetings. Violations enforceable by AG.
NRS 281A (Code of Ethical Standards): Disclosure, conflict-of-interest, and gift-acceptance rules for public officers. Includes the 'Pecuniary Interest Disclosure' duty under NRS 281A.420.
NRS 286 (PERS): Establishes the Public Employees Retirement System fund + reporting requirements. Covers vesting (5 years), benefit calculation, and post-employment disclosure.
NRS 294A (Campaign Practices): Contribution limits, reporting, and disclosure for candidates and PACs. Quarterly + 5-day-pre-election filings.
NRS 333 (State Purchasing): Competitive-bid requirements for state contracts. Vendors over thresholds must register with the Purchasing Division.