Kirkpatrick has respect in both parties as legislative session nears

Every parent and school kid knows people like Marilyn Kirkpatrick.

They are the guys and gals who volunteer for Girl Scouts, the PTA and other programs. They show up at every school event, sell cookies, yearbooks and T-shirts, set up and put away the chairs and tables and work the food booths at sporting and school events.

They are people who somehow have the time to spend doing all the little things for children we wish we could do ourselves.

But unlike her fellow volunteers who are helping out in school gyms this month during the annual holiday concerts, Kirkpatrick is preparing her agenda for the 2013 legislative session.

Last month her fellow Assembly Democrats named Assemblywoman Kirkpatrick, a 45-year-old North Las Vegas mother of two and stepmother of four, as their speaker. Kirkpatrick is the second woman in Nevada history to serve as speaker. Barbara Buckley, the speaker in 2007 and 2009, was the first.

That's the highest ranking position in the Assembly and one that entitles her to name committee chairs, hold or pass bills and work with fellow PTA volunteer, Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, in developing the Democratic agenda for the session that begins Feb. 4.

"It's all due to Girl Scouts," quipped Kirkpatrick about her success since first being elected to the Assembly in 2004.

"Everyone should try the PTA," she said. "That's how you get to know folks and the issues that are important to them. You get to know a broad spectrum of people and what life is really like out there. Grandparents are raising young kids. You get to know young couples just starting out and older families who are now having kids later in life."

GETS ALONG WITH REPUBLICANS

This background clearly has helped Kirkpatrick's rise in the Legislature. Even Assembly Republicans like her.

In fact, there was talk last summer that the Republicans might band together and support Kirkpatrick for speaker if the Democrats had chosen another candidate.

"We are pleased with the new tone being set by Speaker Kirkpatrick," said Assembly Minority Leader Pat Hickey, R-Reno. "We have a great deal of regard and respect for Marilyn. She has a reputation for fairness as opposed to partisan politics."

As an example, Hickey said Kirkpatrick called each of the 15 Republican Assembly members in November and told them their committee assignments for the coming session.

She also expanded the membership of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee so that Republican Paul Anderson, a freshman, could be a member. Hickey wanted Anderson, a business owner, to serve on that committee which handles state agency spending.

As far as her own politics, Kirkpatrick generally votes with the Democratic majority.

In 2009, the Legislature overrode Gov. Jim Gibbons' veto and passed about $1 billion in tax increases largely on party-line votes. Kirkpatrick voted with the Democrats to pass the taxes.

She was elected the best Assembly member at the 2011 session in a Review-Journal poll of legislators, reporters and lobbyists.

The Nevada Press Association also named her its First Amendment champion that year for her support of the news media and open government.

She attributes her success to "listening to people."

"This session is going to be unique. There are more people willing to work together than any other session. We have a lot to be excited about. We have a lot of people willing to put Nevada first. A lot of good is going to come out of this session."

TAX OVERHAUL ON HER AGENDA

Taxes, once again in 2013, will be the predominate concern of legislators and the public.

Kirkpatrick was the Assembly Taxation Committee chairwoman in 2011 and presided over endless hearings on whether the state should adopt a 2 percent business margin tax. A bill never was voted out of her committee.

During the first week of the coming session, Kirkpatrick vows to begin the overhaul of the state tax system.

Within the first seven weeks of the session, she wants to pass a "C tax" bill that would more fairly distribute state taxes to cities and counties.

As it stands now, some cities and counties across the state receive proportionally much more than others, including those of similar size.

Passage is being sought quickly since local governments must prepare their new budgets in April.

At this point any changes in state taxes would be revenue-neutral, she said, but noted that the Assembly will consider adopting a version of a business margins tax.

Legislators might have no choice.

The Nevada State Education Association this fall gathered 107,000 valid signatures from people who want to put a 2 percent business margins tax before the Legislature in February.

If the state Supreme Court upholds the language used in the union's Education Initiative, then lawmakers by law must consider adopting this tax in the first 40 days of the session.

Kirkpatrick said there are "technical problems" with the union initiative, and legislators could approve a better version.

If lawmakers pass their own version, then it also would appear on the statewide ballot in 2014. Voters would decide between the legislative-approved tax and the union initiative.

"We need to take it seriously," Kirkpatrick said. "At the end of the day, it is the Legislature's job, and we should man up and do what we are elected to do."

Hickey said Republicans are willing to consider changing the tax system, but they also expect Democrats to consider changing construction defects law and the collective bargaining law that he maintains prevents prevent true school reforms.

But if the tax changes adopted by Democrats in 2013 are not revenue neutral, Hickey warns that they won't pass. Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval has made a similar vow.

Democrats would need to win at least one Assembly Republican vote and three Senate Republican votes to override the governor's veto of any new tax increases.

KIRKPATRICK'S PATH TO LEADERSHIP

Kirkpatrick, who attended Krolak Business School after graduating from Western High School in Las Vegas, is the first non-college graduate to head the Assembly since Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, in 1969.

"What makes someone with a degree better than others?" she asked. "I have a business background, and I have listened and learned."

In her private life, she works as a sales representative for Chef's Warehouse and sells exotic foods to gaming hotels and restaurants across Clark County. The company sells imported and about 6,000 other special products.

Often Kirkpatrick does research for her customers on new products available from European countries. Her beat includes all of Laughlin and many of the Strip and downtown hotels.

"I love doing it," she said. "It is a lot of hours. My job starts early and I do legislative work at night."

Fortunately, Kirkpatrick does not need a lot of sleep. Saturday mornings are reserved for sleeping in, and Monday evenings are reserved for her husband, Mike, a retired plumber, and their blended family. Besides the six children, ages 20 to 40, they have six grandchildren.

Kirkpatrick first visited the Legislature in the 1990s with her Girl Scouts.

"We brought the girls up to see how the process works," she said. "I was intrigued by what I saw."

Kirkpatrick was urged to run for the Assembly in 2004 by then Assemblyman Tom Collins, D-North Las Vegas. Collins had decided to give up the Legislature to run for the Clark County Commission.

She beat Republican Ed Gobel by 2,030 votes. In November, she won re-election to a fifth term without drawing an opponent.

Since the term-limits constitutional amendment allows Assembly members to serve six terms, Kirkpatrick also could be speaker in the 2015 session.

Her ascension to the speaker position in part was due to the unexpected defeat of Assembly Majority Leader Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, in November.

Kirkpatrick said she is preparing for the participation of Girl Scouts when she formally becomes speaker on the opening day of the legislative session. A color guard of Girl Scouts will open the ceremony.

"I love the Girl Scouts," Kirkpatrick said. "They bring a lot of good stuff to kids. You have to learn things you don't normally learn. One is how to change oil on cars. It's constant learning for the girls."

And yes, Kirkpatrick says, she can change oil "and tires."

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.