Legislator warns you get what you pay for

Forgive state Sen. Tick Segerblom. He means well.

That’s one of his problems.

Segerblom is one of those progressive legislators who reads a lot — maybe too much for his own good.

The Las Vegas Democrat actually believes Nevada’s lawmaking process can be dragged out of the late 1800s and into a new century. Although he probably would settle for the 20th, he dreams of the 21st.

The guy’s crazy, right?

Segerblom has the temerity to think Nevada, nearly 150 years after statehood, needs to update its legislative process. You know, to accommodate a state approaching 3 million in population with a world of challenges our original citizen legislators couldn’t have envisioned. I suspect Segerblom is kidding himself, but I have always been a fan of dreamers who tilt at windmills.

Right now many Nevadans are grumbling, “Didn’t we give those legislators indoor plumbing and electric lights in Carson City just a few generations ago? Talk about ungrateful.”

After lengthy meetings and much study — done while the Legislature wasn’t in session — Segerblom stepped up this week and proposed an amendment to the Nevada Constitution that would improve the legislators’ lot. Were Senate Joint Resolution 8 to become reality, lawmakers would receive $2,000 a month whether or not the lights were on at the Legislature, and the lawmaking body would meet for 90 days on odd-numbered years and 30 more days on even-numbered years.

Legislators currently receive $8,777 and $152 per diem for their 120-day session, which meets in odd-numbered years.

In addition, the Legislature would be able to convene outside Carson City — say, in Southern Nevada, where more than 70 percent of the population and most of the lawmakers live.

If approved by the Legislature this year and in 2015, the constitutional question would be put to the state’s voters in 2016. Where, if history is taking bets, it probably will go down in flames.

But that doesn’t keep Segerblom from reading and dreaming of a Nevada where studious legislators are known more for their thoughtful independence than their headline-grabbing eccentricities.

He notes that in Oregon, which some Nevadans suspect is a socialist satellite state, lawmakers are paid about $2,000 a month to pay attention to the ebb and flow of issues, statutes, and bill drafts. And Arizona, a conservative state by almost anyone’s measure, compensates its legislators at $2,000 a month. Neither state has a full-time legislature — just higher expectations.

Not so in Nevada, where legislators learn the phrase “better luck next time” before they can locate the restrooms.

During the session, the “Carson Sink” isn’t just a geographical location; it’s the place where most good ideas are last seen going down the legislative drain.

“The reality is, we’re ombudsmen,” Segerblom says. “Members of the Assembly each represent 65,000 residents, and members of the Senate represent 130,000. A lot of people come to us with issues, and we work for them. … My personal opinion is you get what you pay for.”

Although constitutionally clear, in practice the legislative process is easily marginalized by special interests. When legislators aren’t schooled in the issues, they rely even more heavily on the advice of lobbyists and political party mechanics. They’re more susceptible to deadline pressure.

“That’s the history of Nevada,” Segerblom says.

The plan is no cure-all, but it might one day improve the breed in Carson City, where moneyed special interests rarely go away empty-handed from Nevada government’s biennial garage sale.

The long-term odds are against it. The issue is easy to demagogue. And you needn’t go back far in Nevada history to remember the headaches legislators encountered when they voted for a “300 percent” increase in their paltry pensions.

But I think an abbreviated version might move forward — and at least lead to the creation of another study committee.

That committee, of course, probably would meet on its own time and at its own expense.

This isn’t Arizona, you know.

John L. Smith’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Email him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Smith