CARSON CITY – Thanks to term limits and decisions by some lawmakers not to seek re-election, at least 17 members of the Nevada Legislature will not be returning in 2011, and the number could end up being even higher after Election Day in November.

Seventeen lawmakers are termed out of office in the 2010 election cycle, but three so far have filed for different legislative offices and could return to the Legislature for the 2011 session.

Five members of the Assembly not facing term limits, which take effect in this election cycle for the first time, are running for open state Senate seats where long-time lawmakers are being forced from office. Several face opponents in their races, some in primaries and some in the general election.

Two lawmakers, Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, R-Reno, and Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell, D-Carson City, are not seeking reelection for personal reasons. Sen. Stan Olsen, R-Las Vegas, who was appointed to serve in the special session in place of Sen. Warren Hardy, who resigned from the Legislature last year, has no plans to seek election to the seat.

State Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, has also filed for a seat on the Clark County Commission. If he wins that race, he would have to resign from the Senate in mid-term. The Clark County Commission would have to select a replacement from the same party to serve in the 2011 session.

And a former member of the Assembly, Pat Hickey, could return if he wins the Washoe Assembly 25 seat being vacated by the retiring Gansert. Hickey served in the 1997 legislative session.

Candidate filing does not end until Friday, so the election season program remains in flux until then.

But one fact is clear: the Legislature will have many new faces when it has to tackle a budget shortfall estimated at as much as $3 billion just 11 short months from now.

Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association, said the influx of new faces presents more questions than answers as to the effect on the 2011 session.

The loss of institutional memory on the Senate and Assembly tax and money committees could present problems, especially given the constitutional limit of a 120-day session, she said.

“Because they will be dealing with technical issues requiring some institutional memory of how we got to where we are,” she said. “It will be a steep learning curve.”

The Legislative Counsel Bureau already provides training sessions for new lawmakers, but that process might be expanded to give them a jump start on the revenue and expenditure situation, Vilardo said.

The potential for several seasoned members of the Assembly to move into the Senate may provide some stability to the process, but it is a question of whether they will be able to serve on the same committees they served on in the Assembly, she said. Seniority plays a major role in committee assignments.

“I’m not even going to attempt to guess what it will do,” Vilardo said of the influx of new faces.

Three of the seven members of the Senate Finance Committee are termed out and won’t return in 2011. Another eight of the 14 members of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee won’t be returning to the money panel, although some are vying for other legislative offices.

The taxation committees will also see significant turnover.

The other question is whether Republicans have a chance to take back either or both of the two Legislative houses this year.

Assemblyman Ty Cobb, R-Reno, who is running for the state Senate seat being vacated by term-limited Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, is not so sure about the Senate, where Democrats hold a 12-9 advantage.

“I’m not sure there are enough Senate races in play,” he said. “We don’t even have a candidate yet in Senate 1 in Washoe.”

The Washoe 1 seat is being vacated by Sen. Bernice Mathews, D-Reno, due to term limits. Term limited Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, is running for the seat, as is a Libertarian candidate.

A takeover in the Assembly would be much tougher as Democrats now have a 28-14 advantage.

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Dan Burns, communications director for Gibbons, said via email that the governor will sign Senate Bill 2 to give Nevada the chance to compete for as much as $175 million in one-time federal funds to improve student achievement.

The signing will take place in Las Vegas. The bill was passed by the Legislature in the special session that ended March 1.

The bill eliminates a provision in Nevada law that says student achievement data cannot be used to evaluate teachers. The provision has barred Nevada from competing for the funds. An application seeking a share of the funds is due from the state by June.

The measure became embroiled in controversy, however, because some new language was added saying that student achievement data could not be the only criterion for evaluating teachers. The bill passed the Senate on a 16-5 vote, with some Republicans expressing concern about whether the new language might hamper the state’s ability to compete for the funds. The bill passed the Assembly on a unanimous vote.

There was some suggestion that Gibbons might veto the bill, sending it back to the Legislature for a potential override of the veto during the special session. But as a source inside Gibbons’ office told the Nevada News Bureau on February 26, that did not occur.

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But even as the Gov. Guinn Millennium Scholarship program faces an uncertain future, Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, rejects the idea of a means test to limit the program only to those in financial need.

Former Gov. Kenny Guinn, for whom the scholarship is named, also rejects such an idea, saying the Legislature in 2011 instead should consider restoring the funding taken this year which he acknowledged was necessary to help fill a more than $800 million budget hole.

Dan Burns, a spokesman for Gov. Jim Gibbons, said means testing as a way to extend the life of the scholarship has been a topic of discussion.

Regent Mark Alden said he would prefer to continue to see the scholarship made available to all eligible students, regardless of income. But when times are tough, means testing should be considered as a way to ensure the program remains viable, he said.

Assemblyman Ty Cobb, R-Reno, proposed a bill in the 2009 session that would have limited the scholarship to students or families with an adjusted gross income of less than $100,000 a year. The measure also would have required proof of legal residence to receive the scholarship. Nevada law now does not prohibit an illegal resident from receiving the scholarship. The bill did not get a hearing.

University officials testified in 2007 that fewer than 100 Millennium scholars were illegal residents.

Coffin, who will not be returning as a lawmaker in 2011 to address the scholarship shortfall, or the anticipated $3 billion hole in the next budget, said the purpose of the financial assistance was to keep academically talented Nevada high school graduates in the state.

The scholarship, which ranges from $40 to $80 per college credit hour depending on the college attended, is available only to students attending one of the campuses of the Nevada System of Higher Education. The scholarship limit is $10,000.

Students must qualify by earning a high enough grade point average in high school. Students must also maintain a minimum GPA while in college to continue receiving the scholarship.

Coffin said testimony of the effect of the transfer differed at the close of the session, with estimates putting the life of the program in jeopardy by as early as 2011 or as late as 2014.

“The scholarship is supposed to be based on academic achievement and potential,” he said. “I don’t think means testing is a good idea. We want to keep high quality people here in Nevada.”

Coffin said his daughter will graduate high school in 2012, and that he was counting on the scholarship as a partial assist to the family for college expenses.

“Unless we do something she will never get a dime,” he said.

Even so, Coffin was not sure what other alternatives should be considered to continue the program.

Guinn, who proposed the scholarship in his first term as governor using money from a state settlement with tobacco companies, said he too does not believe means testing is the answer. The scholarship is too important, and the Legislature next year should consider restoring the fund while tackling what could be a $3 billion funding shortfall, he said.

Means testing would only pit one Nevada family against another, Guinn said.

While the transfer was necessary because of the tough economic conditions and the need for all programs to assist with the shortfall, the scholarship is too important to let fail, he said.

“It is so important for economic development and providing an educated workforce,” Guinn said.

Burns said there is no need for a quick resolution to the scholarship shortfall because the program is good through 2014. But the idea of limiting it to those in financial need only as a way to extend its life has been a topic of conversation in the administration, he said.

Regent Mark Alden said he would be amenable to means testing if it could save the scholarship.

“I have no problem with that at all,” he said. “When we’re short on money, we have to be more careful.”

It is a better option than losing the program completely, Alden said.

The scholarship is costing about $25 million a year but is getting only about $18 million a year from the tobacco fund. As a result, the Legislature has transferred money from the state’s unclaimed property fund to keep the program financially sound.

According to the state Treasurer’s Office, which oversees the program, about 59,000 Nevada high school graduates have taken advantage of the program since it began in 2000, with about 20,000 earning degrees.

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“I’ve never talked to him about that,” she said. “It had nothing to do with my decision. I thought it was a good time for me to step aside.”

Asked if she would consider such an appointment should Raggio resign with more than two years left on his term, Gansert said: “That is not on my radar. I have not had that discussion. I have no answer for you. I have not considered it.”

“You know, Senator Raggio has been my senator nearly all my life,” Gansert added.  “I’m nearly 47 and he’s been my senator for 37 years.”

Gansert said she made her decision to not seek re-election “a while ago” but kept it quiet because of the impending special session. The Assembly GOP caucus needed to focus on the huge budget gap and not have any distractions, she said.

The session ended Monday with bipartisan agreement on a budget balancing plan.

Gansert said she believes Assembly Republicans played a pivotal role in the special session even though they were outnumbered by their Democrat counterparts by a margin of 28-14. Fee increases were kept to a minimum in balancing the budget.

“We influenced the outcome,” she said.

Asked if she might return to political life someday, Gansert said she would consider that at some point in the future.

“I may,” she said. “I’m taking it one step at a time.”

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Nevada State GOP Chairman Chris Comfort said he does not believe his party’s opportunities to win races in the November general election will be affected by the presence of conservative minor party candidates.

“I don’t envision that being an issue at all,” he said. “When you look at the (Independent American Party) numbers versus our numbers, they only have 44,487 (active) registered voters.”

But IAP Party Chairman John Wagner said Republicans still blame the minor party for losing the Assembly District 40 seat in the 2008 general election. A victory there would have given Republicans 15 seats, the margin needed to block a two-thirds vote to raise taxes. The 2009 Legislature did vote to raise taxes.

The IAP may also have also played a role in the Clark County Senate 5 race where incumbent GOP Sen. Joe Heck lost to Democrat Shirley Breeden. IAP candidate Tony Blanque took 2,843 votes, while Breeden beat Heck by only 765 votes.

Secretary of State Ross Miller yesterday released the voter registration numbers as of the end of February. It shows the GOP closing on Democrats, with 392,920 active Republican voters versus 456,532 Democrat voters. There are also 163,153 active nonpartisan voters.

Democrats had just over a 100,000 vote advantage leading into the November general election in 2008, so the gap has narrowed considerably.

Comfort said he believes the party will be in a statistical dead heat with Democrats by October.

“We are speaking to our independent friends,” he said. “We are resonating well. Our party has a fire in the belly that we haven’t seen in a long time.”

Republican victories nationally, including the U.S. Senate win in Massachusetts in January, are evidence the momentum has shifted, Comfort said.

But while the gap between Republican and Democrat active voters has narrowed, it isn’t because of new registration activity by either party. Both parties have fewer active voters than in November 2008 due to the move of some registered voters to inactive status. Republicans narrowed the gap because more Democrats than GOP voters were moved to inactive status.

In Clark County the move to inactive status is done every two years. About 70,000 Clark County voters were moved to inactive status, said Pam duPré, public information officer for the secretary of state’s office. Voters on inactive status can still vote.

Wagner, who was the “spoiler” candidate in the Assembly District 40 race in Carson City in 2008, said he believes his party has a real shot at winning some races this year.

“People are fed up with the Democrats and the Republicans,” he said. “So I think people are looking for change. All we’ve been so far is shortchanged. I think we will do fairly well this year.”

Wagner, who spent many years as a Republican, is again a candidate for Assembly 40. He disagrees that his votes in that race in 2008 cost Republicans, because not all of the 1,067 votes he received would have gone to GOP challenger Cheryl Lau. Lau lost to Democrat incumbent Bonnie Parnell by 563 votes.

Wagner said if he decides to remain a candidate for the seat, he will run to win, viewing the major party candidates as too liberal. Parnell is not seeking re-election.

Jon Kamerath, who is the IAP nominee for the Clark County Assembly District 2 seat now held by Republican John Hambrick, said he too believes the party could win some seats come November. Kamerath has not yet filed for the seat but intends to do so unless the party decides he could better serve as a candidate in another elective office.

Kamerath ran for the Assembly 2 seat in 2008, getting only 601 votes compared to 11,781 for Hambrick.

While Hambrick is one of the better members of the Assembly based on his voting record, Kamerath said he is loyal to the IAP and believes the Legislature should reduce spending and lower taxes.

“I would like to cut government even more,” he said. “I want to cut property taxes and sales taxes. I will take the race very seriously.”

Kamerath said he believes the IAP has a chance in 2010 because of voter disaffection with the major parties. Nevada has seen its largest tax increases in history in recent years while Republicans served in the executive branch and with complicity from some Republicans in the legislative branch, he said.

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With the Legislature reaching a deal to close the $800 million shortfall late Sunday, party leaders referred to the intimidating difficulties they will face in next year’s session when legislators will have to deal with a projected $3 billion shortfall in the next biennium.

On the table, most legislators predict, will be an extension of the tax hikes created in Senate Bill 429, which are scheduled to sunset on June 30, 2011.  The taxes, which include higher sales taxes and payroll taxes, currently bring in about $800 million each biennium.

“If they’re allowed to [expire], the deficit gets bigger.  The question becomes, is it wise to let them sunset and have a bigger hole to fill, or to revise or extend the taxes?” asked Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas.

When asked about the possibility of extending the tax, Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, answered, “I’m not going to predict anything for next session, but the answer’s fairly obvious.  You are looking at a potential $3 billion-plus shortfall next session, so anything that contributes to the shortfall will have to be under discussion.”

Many Democratic legislators hope they will be able to restructure Nevada’s tax system instead of simply renewing the tax hikes. They hope that the study by the Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group to review the state’s revenue structure will find a more stable source of revenue than the current tax system, which many Democrats consider regressive. The study is due to be completed on July 1 of this year.

“I didn’t really like voting for that sales tax last session, because it is a regressive tax,” said Assemblyman James Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas.  “It hurts poor people more than wealthy people.  I think we need to look at some of the other industries that can afford to contribute a little bit more.”

Assemblyman Joseph Hogan, D-Las Vegas, called the current fixes to the budget a “complicated patchwork” and said that the budget issues Nevada faces will not go away unless a different approach is taken.

“I think that, in order to cope with the much larger problem, we will have to take a whole new look at the entire revenue situation. I see the possibility of a complete overhaul,” he said.

One suggestion mentioned by many Democrats is the introduction of a broad-based business tax, which would take acquire more revenue from Nevada businesses.

Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Schneider, D-Las Vegas, says the lack of a broad-based business tax has not benefited Nevada in any way, as the low taxes haven’t successfully attracted high-quality, high-income businesses to the state. Schneider also added that despite states such as California and Utah having broad-based business taxes, goods and services there are roughly the same price as in Nevada.

“[Businesses] are willing to pay down there to support the schools, the roads, and the social fabric of California, or the social fabric of Arizona or Utah,” Schneider said. “They’re not supporting the social fabric of Nevada.”

But Republicans are wary of increasing business taxes during the recession, saying that Nevada businesses don’t need more tax burdens in these economic conditions.

“Every business pays the same amount of taxes — property taxes, employment taxes.  A broad-based business tax would just be another thing that business would have to deal with.” said Senator Mike McGinness, R-Fallon.  “I think it would stress them further, and probably lead to higher unemployment.”

A common theme among Republican legislators’ opinions on the next budget was the suggestion of further cuts to government spending, with many saying tax increases will not permanently fix the state’s continuous budget problems

Assemblyman Don Gustavson, R-Sparks, said the best way to deal with the state’s budget issues would be to look at the 2001 state budget and determine how much taxes would have raised according to inflation, had legislators put a cap on spending at that time.  Any programs that were expanded or created in following sessions, Gustavson said, should be cut.

“I think government’s gotten totally out of hand.  We need to control the size of government back down to reasonable, necessary services,” said Gustavson. “It appears that all Democrats ever want to do when they get down here is look for ways to increase taxes and revenue.  They’re never happy.  With every growth in taxes we receive, they always want more.”

Not all Republicans felt that enough could be cut from the budget to make up for the projected shortfall, however.

“If you look at the level of services we have, which has been about $7 billion – we could probably get down to a $5 billion service level.  We’ll still need another billion,” said Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City.  “Even if we got down to a $5 billion budget, we’ll still have to come up with some revenue to make up for the $3 billion that we don’t have right now.”

However, Hardy said that he did not think that restructuring the tax system would solve the budget issues.  He pointed to California, which also struggles from budget issues, despite much higher taxes.

Hardy said that he hoped an economic recovery would help make up for the funding gap, and allow Nevada to create a savings account for its assets to prevent similarly dismal budget issues in the future.

Assemblyman Richard McArthur, R- Las Vegas, also believes that tax increases won’t solve the budget issues that the state is facing.

“I would rather keep cutting now and do the right thing and solve the problem, rather than leave us this monster hole that we’ll have next time.  But unfortunately I think that this body won’t do that,” he said. “We aren’t solving the problem. We’re putting a band-aid approach on it, and we’re going to be in such a big hole, I don’t know what we can do.”

None of the six Republican legislators interviewed spoke in favor of extending the tax hikes, though five (Raggio, Hardy, McGinness, Nolan and McArthur) did not entirely dismiss the idea of extending some of them. Hardy said that he did not like the tax on businesses tax, though he thought the sales tax was “more fair.” Nolan expressed hope that at least some of the tax hikes would be allowed to sunset, if possible. Gustavson firmly opposed extending the tax hikes.

Of nine Democratic legislators, six (Munford, Schneider, Conklin, Hogan, Orenschall and Kihuen) said they would consider extending the taxes but preferred a restructuring of Nevada’s tax system. Two (Denis and Pierce) wanted to focus entirely on restructuring the system. Atkins said that he believed that the taxes would need to stay on the books, though he needed to take a closer look at the taxes before he could be certain.

The next legislative begins in on February 7, 2011.

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Gov. Jim Gibbons had proposed to close the aging facility as part of his budget cuts, but the move was opposed by many lawmakers because it would mean the layoff of 136 state employees and cause further economic problems for the capital city. Public safety was also cited as a concern.

“In the end it was somewhat of a trade for Nevada State Prison to tell you the truth,” Gansert said on the television program Nevada NewsMakers. “Nevada State Prison has been in limbo for quite some time. We can’t seem to figure out whether to close it or not.”

Closing the prison would also have resulted in maximum capacities at other Nevada correctional facilities as inmates were relocated, potentially creating the need to build a new expensive prison to handle inmate population growth, she said.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, proposed the new banking fee that ultimately was part of the budget agreement. The new fee will create a foreclosure mediation program for small businesses. The fee was originally proposed at $500 per notice of default, but ended up at $200. It will raise about $13.8 million.

The savings from closing the prison was about the same amount of money: $13 million, so the bank fee was included as an offset, Gansert said.

“It’s a tough choice; it’s not something that any of us supported,” she said of the bank fee. “But in the end we felt that we needed to relive some of the uncertainty and give us some more time on the state prison.”

Ultimately six of the 14 GOP Assembly members, including Gansert, voted for the bill to balance the state budget, including the new bank fee. The bill passed both houses of the Legislature and is expected to be signed by Gibbons, who helped craft the budget agreement.

Gansert called the new fees in the bill “a pittance” compared to the budget cuts and other maneuvers, such as sweeping various agency bank accounts, used to balance the budget and erase an $800 million-plus shortfall.

In the interview, Gansert also expressed concerns about a last-minute measure approved by the Legislature to create road construction jobs. Senate Bill 6 passed both houses of the Legislature in the final hours of the six-day session. It will use existing taxes, including a one-eighth of a cent sales tax in Clark County, to finance a bonding program for road construction.

“That bill was a very last-minute bill,” she said. “I know we had a mixed vote out of the Assembly. My concern was there was no check on it. It became an evergreen for a sales tax and an evergreen for some other taxes.”

Gibbons amended the special session proclamation to allow for consideration of the proposal, which was crafted by Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas.

Gansert and four other Assembly Republicans opposed the measure. It received unanimous support in the Senate.

Gansert called the proposal “very unusual” in that no other approvals were required to go forward with issuing the bonds.

“Typically with anything related to bonding, you either have a time frame or a cap — and both of those were gone,” she said.

Gansert said another objection was to a provision giving the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles the authority to raise its own agency fees. The Legislature has not previously given the agency the ability to change its fees through regulation, she said.

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CARSON CITY – As a deal to close an $805 million budget gap was announced today, bringing a close to a sometimes rancorous six-day special session, Republican lawmakers say they helped shape the debate that led to a minimal use of taxes and fees to balance the spending plan.

And in another more modest victory, Republicans in the Legislature won bipartisan support for a resolution asking the 2011 Legislature to consider opening up to public view the collective bargaining process used by local governments and employee unions to negotiate salaries and benefits.

Gov. Jim Gibbons asked for consideration of the collective bargaining proposal in his proclamation adding issues to the special session, and Assembly Republicans had made it a key point in their acceptance of any budget-balancing plan.

The proposal, along with a collection of education reform measures sought by Gibbons, including a voucher school proposal, did not get hearings, however.

Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, R-Reno, called it a win for her 14-member caucus, which is in a difficult bargaining position because of its minority status. Democrats in the Assembly outnumber Republicans 28 to 14, enough votes to approve new fees without support from the GOP members.

“Our caucus is very concerned about transparency,” she said. “We recognize that billions of taxpayer dollars are spent through collective bargaining process and we believe the taxpayers deserve to know where that money is spent.”

Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, also welcomed the decision to seek transparency in the labor negotiation process.

Legislative leaders of both parties also praised Gibbons, who is facing a tough primary election battle against former federal judge Brian Sandoval, for working with them to craft an acceptable plan.

Gibbons spent long hours with lawmakers in closed-door meetings with legislative leadership over the past few days to come to an agreement.

The praise from Raggio was particularly noteworthy, given that he and Gibbons had exchanged some pointed criticisms in the days leading up to the session and during the session itself. Raggio has said in public comments he believes Sandoval is the only Republican candidate with a chance of defeating Democrat Rory Reid in the governor’s race.

Gansert has endorsed Sandoval in the primary race.

In announcing the agreement, Gibbons said everyone had to give something up to get bipartisan support and he credited Democrats and Republicans for working together.

“It took a lot of give and a lot of take and a lot of debate, some of it heated at times,” he said.

Raggio said the cuts to be implemented by the Legislature will be severe.

“There is going to be some pain out there,” he said. “Hopefully some of this will be an impetus for us to take a long hard look at how we fund state government, not to mention what goes on in local governments,” he said.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said she was pleased to be able to reduce the cuts to public and higher education. The agreement reduces public education cuts to $117 million instead of $211 million. Higher education is cut b y $46 million instead of $76 million.

Some of the “worst of the worst” cuts to Health and Human Resources programs were also restored, she said.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, also highlighted the ability to reduce the cuts first proposed by Gibbons.

“There are certain parts of the plan that each one of us don’t like,” he said.

But reducing the education cuts from 10 percent to 6.9 percent was a big victory, Horsford said.

Gansert said the language encouraging the 2011 Legislature to subject the collective bargaining process to the state open meeting law was added to Senate Concurrent Resolution 1, which passed the Senate earlier this week urging local governments and employee groups to mutually address the budget shortfall. Gansert said the language is as strong as allowed, since current lawmakers cannot bind future Legislatures to a particular course of action.

The vote on the budget bill in the Assembly was 34-8, with all eight “no” votes coming from the GOP caucus. The vote in the Senate was 20-1. Only Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, voted no.

While voting against the budget plan because of the mining and banking fee increases it contains, Assemblyman Ty Cobb, R-Reno, said Republicans clearly influenced the dialogue over how to balance the budget.

When Assembly Republicans proposed their own plan that balanced the budget without new taxes or fees not contributed directly by users, it pushed Democrats to move away from those revenue sources, he said.

“Us showing a united front, with a solution, absolutely drove the Democrats to a resolution that is less reliant on more spending, more taxes and more fees, and back to being more fiscally responsible,” he said.

Gansert, who voted for the bill, said the Republican influence can be seen in that only about $52 million of the total shortfall is being addressed with new fees. Most is coming from $26 million in a mining claim fee increase that was modified to exempt small operators and $13.8 million from an increased fee on banks when filing notices of default.

That is just a fraction of the overall shortfall, she said.

The caucus did also agree to restore some cuts Gibbons had proposed in public and higher education, Gansert said.

“We absolutely don’t like all of it,” she said. “It was a struggle to add anything back to tell you the truth.”

Gansert predicted that some, but not all, of her caucus would vote for the plan and her prediction held true.

Assemblyman James Settelmeyer, R-Gardnerville, opposed the budget bill because of the banking and mining fees.

“There are some difficult pills in there to swallow,” he said.

Settelmeyer said he would have liked to see progress in the special session on the collective bargaining proposal as well.

“Our caucus stood up as a group and said it was important to us,” he said.

Assemblyman John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, voted for the agreement once he received assurances that the mining claim fee will not affect the small operators.

He praised Gibbons and the leadership for working out an agreement.

As to the failure of the Legislature to consider Gibbons’ other issues, Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, said the proper focus of the special session was balancing the budget.

“These other policy concerns are best brought up in a regular session when the public can have full access and deliberations can be held. I don’t think it is appropriate to take up major policy reforms in a special session,” she said.

Related posts:

1. Lawmakers, Governor at Odds Over Budget Plan
2. Gibbons Comments from Today’s Nevada Newsmakers
3. Taxes, Fees, Revenue Enhancement: Friday Special Session Review, Friday Night Re-Cap with Horsford, Saturday Preview

Olsen, who was chosen by the Clark County Commission to replace Senator Warren Hardy after he resigned in June 2009, says he’s not against the Race to the Top program and that “in many ways, not all, it’s much better than No Child Left Behind.”

However, Olsen said he voted against the measure because the amended language states that the bill applies to “an individual teacher, paraprofessional or other employee.” Olsen believes this language is vague enough that it may apply to employees who don’t have any direct relationship to the school’s curriculum, such as landscapers, nurses, cooks and custodians.

“I don’t have any problem with them having job protection, but they have no business being in that bill.  And that’s the way I feel,” he said, adding that such vague language “creates a problem for someone who is trying to look at the law and see if they are following the law.”

When Olsen, a lobbyist and ex-police officer, was first approached with the proposition of filling the seat left vacant by the resignation of Hardy, his response was, “No. Are you out of your mind?”

But Olsen, who was raised in Nevada and whose children and grandchildren are all still in-state, eventually decided that he should take the position as a way of “paying back the state” that he grew up in.

“I just felt like, ‘yeah, I’m going to do it,’ even though it’s going to be the most difficult thing I’d ever put myself through. Voluntarily, too,” he said.

Laughing, he described how he made a toastmasters speech about his appointment entitled “How to Get Job That Nobody Wants for No Pay and No Matter What You Do, Everybody’s Going to Be Mad at You.”

Based on Olsen’s conservative position on numerous issues facing legislators during this week’s special session, it looks like Nevada taxpayers can count on Olsen to vote “nay” at least a time or two more as new taxes and other revenue enhancing measures come to the Senate floor.

Olsen says he believes the best way for the state government to deal with the budget gap is to “tighten the belt” and decrease spending, even though some of the results will be painful.

“We’re all in this together. All of us — everyone who lives in this state, no matter what we do,” he said.  “As a result, we all have to do our part. And I am of the opinion that we have to do some belt-tightening.”

The Governor’s plan to introduce a statewide voucher program bothers Olsen, and while he hesitated to say he was outright against the idea, he admitted that he had some “concerns.”

“Do I think that public education has some issues and problems? Absolutely.  If somebody wants to go to a private school, they’re more than welcome to do it,” he said.  “I don’t know that it’s fair.  I don’t want to say that I don’t think it’s fair; I just don’t know that it’s fair that a taxpayer should fund somebody’s decision to go to a private school.”

Olsen says that depending on what they are, he may be willing to accept closing the budget gap via some fee increases that only apply to those who use specific government services. However, he’s against raising taxes, specifically those that would affect already struggling businesses.

“To put a tax on these businesses when they’re barely making it now is not wise,” he said.

Olsen also opposes the idea of taxing gaming, saying that the lower tax is what allowed Nevada to become the entertainment capital of the world, as opposed to places such as Atlantic City, which he says “is like the difference between New York City and a rural community. They have small pockets of gaming. We have a large, world-renowned system.”

He is also critical of the idea of dipping into city and county funds, saying, “It’s not just the state that’s in financial difficulty.  The city of Reno is, Washoe County is, Carson City, Clark County, Henderson — they really are also.  To me, it makes no sense to basically take their money, steal their money to offset the state’s issues when they’re in the same boat.”

Olsen’s term will end this coming November, and he has no plans to run for re-election.  This was part of the reason he was considered for office in the first place, he says, since two Republicans were planning to run for the seat in November and the County Commission didn’t want to give anyone an incumbent edge.

Despite all the difficulties that Olsen has to face during the special session, he says that he’s honored to be able to put in his two cents’ worth as a state senator.

“Some people aren’t going to like what I do, and some people will,” he said.  “But I’m going to do what my heart tells me to do.”

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A Gibbons spokesperson told the Las Vegas Review Journal yesterday that he intended to veto the bill because some language in it would prevent the state from securing a $175 million federal grant that would help Nevada schools.

The Assembly voted 42-0 and the Senate voted 16-5 to change a state law that so far has prevented Nevada from applying for the grant. Five of the nine Senate Republicans voted against the bill on grounds that language in it might lead the federal Department of Education to reject the state application for a grant.

The governor’s legal team still believes the language in the bill may cause it to be rejected, said the source, but Gibbons has decided to sign the bill with the intention of trying to work with the DOE for grant approval and to show his commitment to putting education first both in this special session and the state.

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Currently, the legislature is considering a 7.5 percent cut in state funding for the Nevada System of Higher Education, down from the governor’s proposal of 10 percent but higher that the Democrats’ preference of five percent.

A search of University of Nevada Las Vegas payrolls, which are posted online, reveals how much of the university’s funding is spent on salaries.  The payroll records show that 551 staff members earn a six figure salary, excluding benefits. Six figure plus salaries make up $72.9 million of the university’s $220.5 million total payroll.

While many of the high-paid staff are professors, deans and department chairs, 27 six figure earners are from the department of Intercollegiate Athletics, including 11 assistant football coaches who combined earn over $1.2 million.

Out of all university departments, Intercollegiate Athletics has the third-highest number of staff members who earn at least $100,000 each — just under the School of Law with 34 six-figure staff members and the School of Dental Medicine with 49.

Assemblywoman Shelia Leslie, D-Reno, says that paying that much for the athletic department is unnecessary.

“I have felt for a long time that the salaries paid to athletic personnel are completely out of whack. I have felt that way since I was a teaching graduate student at UNR,” Leslie said.  “The way it’s always been justified to me is they bring in revenue through the athletic programs, and they’re worth that amount of money.  But I think they’re highly overpaid.”

The online payroll also lists 67 associate and assistant professors who earn six figures annually, for a total of $7.9 million.

Leslie says that these kinds of salaries are needed to attract research professors that bring in grants for the university.

“You have to pay that much to attract those kind of quality professors. If you want a great faculty, you have to pay for it,” she said.

Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, says that at a time when many Nevadans are taking hits to their income, university staff should be expected to have similar reductions in pay.

“Times are tough, and we all have to tighten our belts and have shared sacrifice,” he said.  “And when I say shared sacrifice, I mean up to and including the faculty members of Nevada’s system of higher education.”

Leslie agrees, saying that university employees should take the same pay cuts as state workers, though she pointed out that the state Legislature has no control over university salaries which are decided on the local level.  Still, she said she thinks that higher education could use more funding than the current cuts being considered would allow.

“I’m more concerned about whether students can get the classes they need, whether we’re maintaining a quality higher-education system. And we need to support them in that endeavor,” she said.

Goedhart disagreed with the idea that higher education needs more funding, saying he preferred the ten percent cuts originally proposed in the governor’s plan.

“If you look at the last 10 or 20 years, the only cost that’s gone up faster than government spending and health care costs is the cost of higher education,” he said.

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CARSON CITY – Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley said “probably not” when asked this morning if the Legislature will have the time to consider education reform and the other measures included in Gov. Jim Gibbons proclamation for the special session now entering its fourth day.

Gibbons on Wednesday amended the proclamation to include a number of issues he had previously asked the Legislature to consider at the special session, including amendments to the state’s collective bargaining law, a school voucher, or scholarship, program and elimination of the state mandates for smaller class sizes in the lower elementary grades of the public schools.

Gibbons spokesman Dan Burns said the governor would be disappointed if the Legislature did not make an effort to take up at least some of the proposals included in the proclamation.

“The governor would like to see some effort by the Legislature to consider all of the education reform measures,” Burns said. “But he would like to see at least some effort to consider some of the proposals he has made, to have the Legislature show they have some level of interest in modernizing the system of public education in this state.”

Burns acknowledged that Gibbons has called on the Legislature to finish its work by the end of the day Sunday. But the pace of the Legislature up to now, described by some as “glacial,” already has afforded some time to consider education reform, he said.

“We’re in the fourth day,” Burns said. “How many bills have come to the governor’s office?”

Gibbons still has not received the bill to change Nevada law to allow the state to compete for federal Race to the Top funds, passed by the Legislature on Wednesday, he said.

While pleased that lawmakers are now picking up the pace, and that lawmakers are actively working on solutions to the $900 million budget shortfall, Gibbons will be surprised and disappointed if the Legislature can’t take the time to consider one single idea to improve education, Burns said.

“All we’re asking for is a fair shake,” he said. “The governor has said he will bring the issue up again.”

While hearings on education reform do not appear likely, the Assembly today did introduce a bill to allow for the temporary increase in class sizes in the next school year to deal with the impending public school budget cuts.

Assembly Bill 4 would allow school districts to add two students to class sizes in grades 1, 2 and 3. Those classes are now limited to 16 students per teacher in grades 1 and 2 and 19 students in grade 3.

Joyce Haldeman, representing the Clark County School District, supported the bill, saying the addition of two pupils to the classes in these three grades would save the district $30 million next school year.

Gibbons wanted the class-size mandate permanently repealed.

Assemblyman John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, said he believes the measures should be given some attention, even though lawmakers are under pressure to balance the budget and adjourn as soon as possible.

“We owe any governor the courtesy to at least look at these,” he said.

The two houses could divide the proposals to speed the process up, Hambrick said.

“Give him a chance in the batter’s box,” he said.

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If the Legislature adjourns the special session and Gibbons vetoes one or more bills, the measures could not be considered for an override by lawmakers until the 2011 regular session. A two-thirds vote in both houses is required to override a veto.

Gibbons has already announced his intentions to veto the Race to the Top measure giving Nevada the ability to compete for up to $175 million in federal funds to improve student achievement. The measure, Senate Bill 2, contains language Gibbons opposes.

Gibbons has also said he will veto bills that do not meet his standards for new fees the Legislature may impose to balance the budget. Gibbons has said he will veto such measures unless they meet with the approval of those who must pay the new revenues.

Lawmakers are looking at increased gaming fees, among other proposals.

Gibbons vetoed a record number of bills in the 2009 session. Many were overridden by the Legislature but others were sustained.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said all potential contingencies have been explored to ensure some key piece of legislation needed to balance the budget does not end up vetoed, leaving a hole in the spending plan that Gibbons might then deal with on his own after lawmakers have left town.

“We’re not going to adjourn,” Horsford said with a laugh when asked. “We’ve discussed all of our options. We’re here to get the job done, and we have thought through what all of the potential problems may be.”

Rather than adjourn the session “sine die” and allow the potential veto scenario to arise, Horsford said the Senate, in agreement with the Assembly, can adjourn for a set number of days and then return to the capital to override any vetoed bills if need be.

Gibbons has five days to veto a bill, not counting the day the bill was transmitted to his office, and not counting Sundays. So if the Legislature finishes its special session on Sunday, Gibbons would have until Friday to veto a measure.

Horsford said the Legislature continues to try to work with Gibbons to avoid such a scenario.

“We’re always working towards that goal; whether he sees the value in working with us is another story,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said he is not aware of any such strategy discussions.

“I’m more concerned about doing what we need to do than political strategy,” he said.

“The governor has as much stake as the Legislature in dealing with this shortfall,” Raggio said. “I wouldn’t think anybody would want to put obstacles to meet the constitutional requirement to balancing a budget.”

Lorne Malkiewich, director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, said the Legislature has used such an adjournment process before. In the 21^st special session, when the impeachment of the late Controller Kathy Augustine was under way, the session began in November. The Legislature then adjourned until December to give Augustine a chance to prepare a defense to the charges.

Malkiewich, who is an attorney, said he also disagrees with the position of Gibbons that the governor has the authority to set a time to end a special session. That authority rests with the Legislature, he said.

Gibbons spokesman Dan Burns said the governor “knows” he has the right to set an ending time for the session, and he has directed lawmakers to finish by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday. Any bills that are passed after that time would not even be considered valid bills, he said.

There is an existing attorney general opinion supporting his position, Burns said.

Rather than worry about end strategies, the Legislature should just move quickly to balance the budget and address the pressing issues, he said.

“Every day they meet is another laid off state worker,” Burns said.

The session is costing $50,000 a day.

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After President Obama announced his plan to eliminate funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and move to have the Department of Energy withdraw the project’s pending license application, questions have arisen regarding the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, a state agency that has fought the Yucca Mountain proposal for over two decades.

“Now that the agency responsible for pushing the licensing of Yucca is moving to withdraw its own license, it’s absolutely ludicrous for us to keep that office around when we’re cutting everything else in government,” said Washoe County Assemblyman Ty Cobb.

Bruce Breslow, the executive director for the agency, contends that even with the plans in progress to withdraw the license, there is still much that his agency can do with respect to Yucca Mountain.  For instance, South Carolina, one of the states that would send waste from its nuclear power plants to Nevada, will file a motion this Friday to become an intervening party in the license application hearing.

“There may be other interested parties that might follow South Carolina’s Lead, in which case Nevada may decide how we plan on responding,” Breslow said.

In addition, the State of South Carolina, along with Aiken County, SC have filed a lawsuit saying that the withdrawal of the license is in violation of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which names Yucca Mountain as the site for the national repository for nuclear waste.  There is also the chance that congress could override the move to withdraw the license.

“You can clearly see we have a lot of work still to do,” said Breslow. “It’s not just about the license for Yucca Mountain.”

Breslow also explained that the agency has already made cutbacks in response to the governor’s requests, ending contracts with experts and scientists who were paid with state funding.

The disagreement led to a tense moment on the Assembly floor, when Cobb openly questioned the need for the existence of the agency and Breslow’s qualifications while Breslow testified in front of the Assembly.

“So you’ve reduced the amounts to, essentially, your position. You’ve kept yourself there.  Are you a DOE lawyer?” Cobb asked.

“Am I a DOE lawyer?  No,” Breslow said.

“Are you a DOE scientist?”

“No.”

“But you think that you need to help the Department of Energy withdraw it’s own application?” Cobb asked.

“We’ve been asked to,” answered Breslow.

“So you think the state of Nevada should fund you, a non-scientist, non-lawyer, to help the Department withdraw its own application?” asked Cobb.

“Assemblyman Cobb, I’m an administrator. I’m a strategist.  I oversee scientists, attorneys, private attorneys, the attorney general’s office, in creating a strategy to keep Nevada safe in regard to the Yucca Mountain project.  When the President agreed to withdraw the license and directed the Department of Energy to do so, that was something that we had been asking for. So in this rare opportunity to support a motion to withdraw, yes, we will be working and have been working and communicating with the Department of Energy to protect the citizens of the state as best we can,” responded Breslow.

Later, Cobb expressed his frustration with the situation.

“The idea that this guy who has absolutely no expertise, no connection whatsoever to the Department of Energy, is needed to help them withdraw their own license is ridiculous,” he said.

Randi Thompson, the executive director for the Alliance for Nevada’s Economic Prosperity, says that although there’s little the nuclear projects agency can do during the lawsuits, that doesn’t mean it’s unneeded.

“If [Yucca Mountain]’s really dead, we don’t need the office.  But it’s not really dead,” Thompson said

Thompson does not believe that stopping the storage facility is in Nevada’s best interest.  Rather, she thinks that the facility could be used to help Nevada economically.

“We should be cutting a deal,” she said.  “It’s already done. Built. It cost $10 billion.”

Cobb agreed that the Yucca Mountain facility could help Nevada.

“Right now, it would be best to change the project from the old version, which was just a waste dump, to a reprocessing center,” he said.  “It would be interim storage, and we could re-process the waste and re-use it.”

“There’s just a tremendous opportunity for that project for high-paying jobs for highly skilled workers – to attract people like that to Nevada from around the United States,” he said.

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Senate Republicans, who are in the minority themselves in the upper house for the first time since 1991, nevertheless have some leverage in the budget debate.

The GOP caucus in the Assembly stands at 14 members, one shy of the number needed to block a two-thirds vote on fee or tax increases. Fee increases are very much a part of the discussion of how to balance the budget.

Senate Democrats, however, have only 12 of the 14 votes they need to approve such measures. So Republican support is essential if a tax or fee increase is to be part of the budget solution.

A two-thirds vote is also required to override a veto. Gov. Jim Gibbons has threatened to use his veto authority if a measure comes to him that does not fit in with his views on such revenue enhancements. Gibbons had indicated he will only support such increases if the affected industries agree to the levy.

A new wrinkle for the 23 GOP lawmakers in the two houses, however, as the special session moves through its second day, is a subset of Republicans who want to bring their own plan forward on how to balance the budget, a plan that would not rely on fees or taxes but cuts.

The effort is a work in progress.

Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, R-Reno, said her caucus recognizes the number disadvantage and the need to work with Senate Republicans to gain leverage.

“Pete Goichoechea, (R-Eureka) and I attend quite a few leadership meetings to make sure our voices are heard,” she said. “We’re very focused on cuts right now. There are a lot of pieces that seem to be coming together. We’re really trying to figure out what the whole package is.

“We have not come to any consensus, particularly on the new fee and revenue items in the budget,” Gansert said.

Gansert said the caucus is interested in taking a look at Nevada’s collective bargaining law to see if it can at least be altered to require public employee contract negotiations to be subjected to the state Open Meeting Law. The process involves taxpayer money and the public should be involved in the process, she said.

Gibbons, who saw a couple of his budget-balancing proposals fall by the wayside today, amended the proclamation calling the Legislature into special session to consider Nevada’s collective bargaining law, among several other items.

Gibbons’ proposal to raise $50 million by revising the mining tax deduction, and a plan to use traffic cameras to catch uninsured motorists that reportedly would have raised $30 million, were both rejected by lawmakers.

Both these issues were problematic for some in the GOP caucus, so seeing them taken off the table simplifies the ideological concerns, at least for the time being. Their elimination also creates an $80 million gap in the budget plan, however.

Gansert said she retains strong support in the caucus for her service as minority leader, despite a comment by Assemblyman John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, that Gansert is too willing to compromise with Democrats. Hambrick’s comment was reported in the Reno Gazette-Journal on Tuesday.

Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, said his caucus is benefiting from a national shift to the right in the political climate.

“So the pendulum swings, and just because you are low today doesn’t mean you won’t be high tomorrow,” he said.

The last time Republicans had a strong presence in the lower house was in 1995, when there was a 21-21 split requiring a power-sharing arrangement. Lynn Hettrick, now a deputy chief of staff to Gibbons, was GOP co-speaker in that session.

In a twist of political irony, Hettrick’s present-day successor, Gansert, has contributed to a rift in GOP leadership by joining Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio in endorsing Brian Sandoval over Governor Gibbons in the GOP gubernatorial primary.

A source on the Gibbons’ campaign team acknowledged that Gansert and Raggio’s support of the governor’s opponent along with Raggio’s recent support of Sandoval’s proposal to sell and lease back state buildings in order to generate revenue – a plan the Governor strongly opposes – has infuriated Gibbons and contributed to the recent war of words between the governor’s office and Raggio as budget talks have progressed.

Despite the contentious tone between the governor’s office and Republican legislative leadership and the numbers disadvantage, Assembly Republicans are trying to remain involved, Hardy said. “We still get to ask questions. We still have a voice.”

Hardy said the Senate GOP caucus has been willing to listen to Assembly Republicans, but he acknowledges there are no easy answers to the current fiscal crisis.

“It’s not so much good ideas right now (but) which is the least of the worst ideas,” he said.

Hardy praised Gansert’s leadership, calling her performance “excellent.”

While there is a view by many Republicans that the current budget problems should not be solved through the imposition of new fees and taxes, Hardy said his own position is to accept such solutions if they are acceptable to the affected industries or interest groups.

Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, said the Assembly caucus has been encouraged to participate in the leadership discussions on how to solve the budget gap.

Senate Republicans, because of the two-thirds vote requirement for tax and fee measures, retains some level of power in the discussion, he said. The Assembly has not had that luxury.

“I told them just because you don’t have the numbers doesn’t mean you can’t be part of the solution,” Townsend said. “But just saying “no” is not being part of the solution. Saying “yes” to everything is not being part of the process either. Jump in and explain the things that are important to you. You may win a few.”

Assemblyman Don Gustavson, R-Sparks, a fiscal conservative who would like to see Nevada adhere to a state spending cap, said balancing the budget with new taxes and fees is not the answer.

The state should use 2001 as the base year and then allow for growth based only on inflation and population growth, he said.

“We’re not going to do that in the special session, but that is what my goal will be,” Gustavson said.

“We are working with Senate Republicans on the budget,” he said. “We met with them last night and had a long discussion. They have a little more pull than we do, obviously.”

Every agency, including public education, will have to take a cut to get the state out of the current crisis, Gustavson said.

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