Lawmakers, Gibbons aim to finalize budget deal Saturday after talks break off tonight

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Jim Gibbons and Nevada lawmakers said they hoped to reach a budget agreement quickly, but after two meetings remained divided on how to raise revenue to fill an $887 million budget gap. The leaders put off late night talks until Saturday morning with a goal of finalizing the deal then.

"Republicans and Democrats need to work together and we need to put the state's needs first," Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley said after a third meeting with Gibbons and lawmakers was cancelled late Friday to give staffers time to go over proposed budget figures.

The mining industry has agreed to a Democratic request to add $100 million in revenue to the state general fund, but it's not clear whether Gibbons will agree to raise $40 million of that with higher fees on mining claims and a $20 million pre-payment of taxes. He said he wanted to make sure big and small mining companies were on board.

Meantime, Democrats don't like the Gibbons-backed proposal from minority Republicans in the Assembly to raise $91 million by letting private investors tap into the state's unclaimed property funds.

The Republican governor and lawmakers from both political parties have agreed, however, not to cut state spending in K-12 and higher education by 10 percent as originally proposed by Gibbons.

Democrats want to reduce education spending by as little as 5 percent, but have said they're willing to compromise to reach a deal. Some Republicans have put the possible final cut at 7.5 percent.

"There's still some hang-ups, but we're working our way through it," Gibbons said after emerging from a three-hour meeting Friday evening with Democratic and Republican leaders. The group also met for two hours earlier in the day in Speaker Barbara Buckley's office.

"They took the monetization plan off the table and I put it back on," Gibbons said, referring to Democrats and the unclaimed property funds idea. "They put the mining tax on the table and I took it off."

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, the first lawmaker to emerge from the second set of talks with Gibbons, sounded optimistic about reaching a budget deal despite the largely partisan roadblocks.

"We made a lot of progress between the governor and Republicans and the Democrats," Horsford said on what was Day 4 of the special session called by Gibbons to fill the budget gap.

Horsford, D-Las Vegas, didn't offer any details of the developing deal but said lawmakers were still considering asking the gaming industry to pay higher fees -- something Gibbons doesn't like.

Even if a budget deal is reached Saturday, the special session isn't expected to adjourn until Sunday because staff lawyers would need time to put agreements in bill form for passage.

Contact reporter Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.