Special Session looking to get messy

As state lawmakers scramble to fill a nearly one billion dollar hole in the state budget, political warfare has escalated between Governor Gibbons and the Legislature. Even with Republican members of the Legislature like Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio. Gibbons accuses Raggio of not attending many meetings aimed at solving the budget crisis. Raggio fired back that it was Gibbons who was AWOL.
Back at the Legislature, pieces of an overall gap-filling strategy appears to be taking shape. The Assembly and the Senate have approved a bill that will make Nevada eligible to receive federal “Race to the Top” funding amounting to $175 million. The bill directly couples teachers’ classroom performance ratings with the academic test scores of their students. Although the bill was demanded by Governor, he now says he’ll veto it because he “didn’t like the language in the bill.” In the meantime, Gibbons continues to demand passage of his so-called education reform package that allows school class-sizes to swell, kills all day kindergarten, offers something like a school voucher to families wanting to put their children in private schools, eliminates teachers’ use of collective bargaining, disbands the State School bBard and makes the State Superintendent of Public Instruction report directly to the governor. The response from democratic leaders in the Assembly was “no way, there’s no time for something that complex.”
On the money end of things, the legislature appears poised to approve half the education budget cuts requested by Gibbons. Instead of a 10% budget cut for K-12 schools, lawmakers put them at just 5%. Assembly Minority Leader Assm. Heidi Gansert, R-Reno, said, “we can do better than laying off thousands of teachers.” Lawmakers also seem close to approving a four day work week for many state workers, including university and college employees. Also, a one day a month unpaid day off. It would not apply to K-12 school employees.
On the income side, all eyes are turned to mining and gaming, which are two industries that have money, especially mining. Lawmakers say they are looking for up to $100 million in new revenues from mining, an additional $64 million from gaming. Lawmakers have also estimated that an additional $200 million is available by “sweeping” every reserve fund in state government into the state’s general fund.
With all that going on, another legal battle is emerging between Gibbons and the Legislature. Gibbons claims he has the constitutional power to shut down the Legislature by Sunday. Majority Leader of the Senate, Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, says the Governor does not have that power. If lawmakers can’t agree on a budget rescue package by Sunday, and the Legislature refuses to go home, the State Supreme Court would have to step in and settle the argument. In the first great showdown over approving new taxes, a 2/3 majority vote requirement was pushed aside by the high court mandating that education be funded first before the 2/3 vote applied. In their 2003 decision, the Court ruled that a provision of the state constitution requiring approval of an education budget first ahead of other funding items prevailed over a more recent provision for a 2/3 majority vote required for higher taxes. At that point, the legislature logjam was broken as Republican Assemblyman John Marvel of Battle Mountain changed his “no” vote to “yes,” thereby providing the 2/3 vote majority to approve higher taxes, and therein fully funding education.
The pivotal figures in all this are republican state senators Sen. Bill Raggio and Sen. Randolph Townsend. Both appear to be acting as consummate power brokers, in that they likely will provide the two republican votes necessary to override any veto threat by Governor Gibbons. Gibbons’ mantra of “no new taxes” threatens any solution to the state budget mess that doesn’t meet his definition of “no new taxes.” Lawmakers have pointed out that Gibbons has asked for fee increases that contradict his promise of no new taxes. But Gibbons fired back that fees are not taxes and besides those fees won’t take effect unless those paying the higher fees agree to them. At that point one democratic lawmaker asked rhetorically, “how about the governor raising fees on Nevada Checkup, a program aimed at providing medical care to low income families. Did they say OK to higher medical costs?”
And so it goes.
Observers say Governor Gibbons’ combative behavior appears to be coming from a script he’ll use in his upcoming campaign to seek a second term. Lawmakers say while he’s doing that, they will be trying to save the State of Nevada from fiscal bankruptcy. And, if Gibbons doesn’t cooperate, they will simply do what they did last during the last legislative session. They’ll override his vetoes.