Gibbons to accept federal funds

After weeks of harsh rhetoric about the supposed risk to the state in accepting federal funds for expanded unemployment benefits, Gov. Jim Gibbons announced Wednesday he wants the state to take the money after all.

Previously, Gibbons "was reluctant to accept" the $77 million from the federal economic stimulus legislation because he believed it would put the state on the hook for more spending in the future, according to a press release from his office. But he changed his mind based on assurances that such spending wouldn't be required.

"The federal government has recently assured states that the expanded coverage base can be retracted in the future, before funding for such coverage becomes a permanent state obligation," the release stated.

Gibbons said in better times he might not have supported the statutory changes Nevada is required to make to get the funds.

"As our economic crisis deepens, Nevadans are suffering because of layoffs, business closings and other cutbacks," Gibbons said in the release. "We have the responsibility to do everything we can to help our unemployed workers get through these difficult times, even if that means passing legislation that we would not necessarily approve during prosperous times."

Gibbons, who has been criticized for trying to have it both ways on issues, never quite said he would reject the funds, just that he was considering it. In a statement earlier this month, he blasted as "foolish" the "cavalier attitude that Nevada should bow down to the federal government and give up its own state sovereignty in a mad grab to claim every last penny of stimulus dollars."

In a letter certifying that the state would accept other stimulus funds, Gibbons had warned President Barack Obama that he might reject the unemployment benefits expansion.

Meanwhile, the Legislature was in the process of making sure the state would get the funds regardless of where Gibbons landed on the issue.

A resolution to accept the funds and a bill to make the required statutory changes passed an Assembly committee Monday and is scheduled for a final vote Friday, after which it must go to the Senate.

The governor's announcement has no impact on that legislation, which will proceed as scheduled, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley said Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, has "indicated it is on a very fast track," and it could go to the Senate floor as soon as next week, Buckley said.

Experts and the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation testified before the Assembly this week that changes Nevada would have to make to get the funds -- slightly altering the time period used as the base for calculating unemployment, and allowing a federally funded seven additional weeks of benefits for 13,500 people whose benefits otherwise would run out before July -- would cost the state less than half a million dollars and might save money in the long run by preventing the state's unemployment fund from running dry.

The changes also would not have to be permanent, since a future Legislature could repeal the new law.

"I'm glad that he (Gibbons) finally came around and decided to provide assistance to the thousands of Nevadans who are out of work who will benefit from this measure," Buckley said Wednesday.

With Gibbons fulminating against the funds, yet insisting he hadn't decided to oppose them, it has been hard to understand where he stands, Buckley said.

"His rhetoric just has been rather incoherent. The bottom line is, with our latest unemployment figures, we have so many Nevadans in need of this assistance. This not only helps them, it helps the Nevada economy in general. This money will be used to pay rent, to pay mortgages, to buy food, to buy clothes. The last thing you want in an economic downturn is to stop money from going into people's pockets."

Nevada's unemployment rate rose to 10.1 percent in February, the Employment Department said Friday, up 0.7 percent from the previous month and inching toward the 1982 record of 10.7 percent.

The national unemployment rate is 8.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.