Name Richard Perkins | ||
Richard Perkins is the former Speaker of the Nevada Assembly. Born in Boulder City, Nevada, on November 15, 1961, he graduated with honors from Basic High School in Henderson, Nevada. Later he received bachelor's degrees in political science and criminal justice from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Starting in 1984, he became a police officer, eventually rising to become the Chief of Police in Henderson. He retired from that post in September 2008.
He was first elected to the Nevada Assembly as a Democrat in 1992, and was first elected to the Speaker's position in 2001. Perkins briefly entertained the idea of giving up his seat in the Nevada Assembly to run for Governor in 2006. On September 22, 2005, he withdrew his name from consideration for that race and did not seek re-election to his Assembly seat.
Perkins was a member of the Nevada Assembly for 14 years, from November 1992 through November 2006. In January 2001, Perkins was elected by members of the Nevada Assembly to serve as Speaker of that body. He served as Speaker of the Assembly from that date until his retirement from legislative service in November 2006. Perkins was Speaker for nine legislative sessions (three regular and six special sessions), which is the greatest number of sessions as Assembly Speaker in Nevada history (tied with former Speaker Joe Dini).
During his years of legislative service, Perkins was the primary sponsor and author of several bills that became law. These include: Assembly Bill 220 (Chapter 513) of the 1999 regular session, which led to the establishment the Nevada State College in Henderson; Assembly Bill 27 (Chapter 385) of the 2001 regular session, which prohibited the placement of juveniles performing community service along a highway or at another dangerous location; Assembly Bill 250 (Chapter 470) and Assembly Bill 441(Chapter 402), both of the 2003 regular session, which created Nevada's homeland security laws governing acts of terrorism and related emergencies; and Assembly Bill 322 (Chapter 41) of the 2003 regular session, which created a statewide alert system for the safe return of abducted children.