Sandoval has power to kill bill that slithered into passage

Gov. Brian Sandoval, who so far hasn't been reluctant to use his veto power, now must consider whether his loyalty is to transparency and the public pocketbook or whether he approves of late-night, legislative slamming and jamming by two of his closest friends and advisers, Pete Ernaut and Greg Ferraro.

Ernaut and Ferraro were among the legion of NV Energy lobbyists pushing desperately in the last hour of the Legislature to get a bill passed that would allow the power company to potentially shift costs estimated at as much at $1 billion to Nevada ratepayers.

What might we be paying for? The cost of transmission lines from rural Nevada to sell power to customers in California. But without any review or oversight by the Public Utilities Commission.

Oh yeah, that's a good thing. In their dreams.

The bill's language slithered though the Legislature. First it was in Senate Bill 488. Looking back to read what surely was a lengthy discussion in the Senate Commerce Committee, I saw that a NV Energy official explained the bill in nine sentences.

Dan Jacobsen of the state's Bureau of Consumer Protection spoke all of four sentences to explain his concerns.

"We understand the need to expand transmission capacity," he said in part. "But in this time of uncertainty about growth in demand and whether other states really want to buy our power, the PUC should conduct a review of the prudency of the investment before ratepayers are forced to bear the lines' cost."

End of discussion.

At the next hearing, the company's director of government affairs, Judy Stokey, said simply, "The bill was proposed for NV Energy by the Senate majority leader. Did the committee have any questions?"

Nary a one.

Senate Commerce Chairman Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, closed the hearing, the state Senate unanimously passed the bill, and it was sent to the Assembly on April 22, where it was never voted on.

But in the last hour of the Legislature, between midnight and 1 a.m., Schneider pulled out a 25-page amendment to Assembly Bill 416, primarily a solar energy bill, giving NV Energy the legal right to shift costs to ratepayers without any oversight.

The amended bill passed the state Senate, 16-5, and went back to the Assembly, where members approved it without realizing what it included.

State Sen. Greg Brower, R-Reno, said his no vote "had a lot to do with the process at the end."

"At the time we had to vote, I didn't feel I knew enough about it," he said Wednesday. "I tried not to vote on bills I don't fully understand."

Brower said this wasn't the only time that bills were presented quickly with merely the information that either state Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford or Assembly Speaker John Oceguera wanted the bills, end of story.

Right now, Brower is not for or against the bill. He believes the potential for taxpayers being on the hook for up to $1 billion is unlikely but admits he really doesn't know.

Brower is putting his trust in Sandoval: "He has the time to take a hard look at it and decide whether it's a good bill on its merits."

What is Sandoval likely to do? He is a big advocate of transparency in government, but from 1995 through 1999, he represented Utility Shareholders of Nevada, the stockholders for the state's power companies, the folks who want those companies to make money.

Is it ever smart to tell a monopoly it doesn't need any kind of government oversight when it wants to pass on costs to customers?

The way this bill got through the Legislature stinks. Let's watch what Sandoval does with it -- sign it, veto it, or take the coward's way out and let it become law without his signature.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 702- 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.