Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons amended his proclamation for the Legislature’s special session to include sweeping reforms to collective bargaining, education, water law — and said lawmakers should be quick about their businesses to plug a $900 million budget hole.
The first-term Republican governor called legislators into special session Feb. 23 to address Nevada’s fiscal crisis, exacerbated by a global recession that has hit the state’s tourism-dependent economy particularly hard.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in both the Assembly and Senate rejected Gibbons’ proposal for a Michigan company to set up highway cameras to nab uninsured motorists and expired registrations, an idea Gibbons said would have guaranteed the state $30 million but some lawmakers described as “wacky.”
No other state has implemented the system, and the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles has been upgrading its own procedures to be more efficient.
The Senate and Assembly, meeting as committees of the whole, voted not to pursue bill drafts on the proposal.
After the Assembly vote, Gibbons issued a statement that said was “incredible that the Assembly would prefer to consider even more tax increases over accepting a $30 million guaranteed revenue stream for simply enforcing an existing law.”
Lawmakers also questioned the legality of Gibbons’ proposal to “sweep” up to 50 agency reserve accounts into the general fund, and legislative leaders said bills addressing those accounts were to be introduced by Feb. 25.
In his amended proclamation, Gibbons said the special session will end by 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28.
Democratic Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said the governor can’t tell lawmakers when to adjourn. “It is my hope that we will finish before then,” she added.
She wouldn’t remark on whether a possible legal showdown was looming between lawmakers the executive branch over .
“I am not going to speculate on what happens in the event of failure,” she said. “I’m going to focus on successes.”
The special legislative session cost taxpayers $100,000 the first day, and $50,000 each day after that. The first day was spent hearing testimony from administration officials and agency heads on the governor’s proposed cuts. Lawmakers have been negotiating behind closed doors with representatives of mining, casino and other business groups on new fees to try to spare deep cuts to public schools and higher education, but no bills have yet emerged.
In his revised proclamation, Gibbons also included amending a state law that currently prohibits Nevada from competing for race to the top grants, a new federal program designed to spur education innovation. A provision that prohibits student test scores from being used in teacher evaluations makes Nevada ineligible to apply for up to $175 million.
The governor also wants to make collective bargaining sessions subject to Nevada’s Open Meeting law and require that union contracts involving state general funds be approved by the state Board of Examiners, chaired by the governor. The state attorney general and secretary of state also serve on the board that approves state contracts.
Another measure would clarify state water law following a state Supreme Court ruling in January that threw into doubt the validity of thousands of water rights issued between 1947 and 2002.
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