Governor’s budget looms over Nevada Legislature’s first day

CARSON CITY – The 83rd Legislature commenced Monday with ceremonial swearing-ins, family photos and politicking in the newly renovated legislative building, with some southern Nevada lawmakers beating severe winds to arrive in Nevada’s capital.

But looming over the festivities is Governor Joe Lombardo’s executive budget proposal. Following some lawmakers’ concerns over a structural deficit in the first draft submitted to lawmakers in mid-January, Republican legislators say a heavily amended budget will be presented later this week.

The governor has completed 48 budget amendments, according to Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus, and there is an ongoing effort to ensure the budget is balanced.

“Our job is really to pass a balanced budget,” the Wellington Republican said Monday. “Let’s work together and fix this.”

Multiple Medicaid budget amendments were submitted Jan. 24, and additional budget amendments were submitted by the Jan. 29 deadline, according to Elizabeth Ray, Lombardo’s spokesperson.

Following the latest amendments, the governor’s proposed budget is balanced and is above the 5 percent ending fund balance, she said in a statement.

Those amendments will be presented Wednesday at the Assembly Ways and Means and the Senate Finance committees, according to Ray.

Concerns with a deficit

Lombardo’s staff presented his recommended budget to the Legislative Commission’s Budget Subcommittee on Jan. 21. The Legislative Counsel Bureau’s financial analysis division said Lombardo’s original recommended budget contained a structural deficit of about $335 million due in part to counting as repeating what was supposed to be one-time appropriations. During the meeting, staff said they were working on amendments to close that gap by the end of the month.

Nevada’s constitution requires the Legislature to pass a balanced budget. Though the session began on Monday, lawmakers met in multiple joint panels beginning Jan. 21 to hear budget proposals from state agencies.

Democrats at the January meeting said they were concerned with the governor’s plans, calling it unprecedented and saying it made the following days of budgetary hearings difficult because they knew to expect changes.

Titus rejected the idea that issues with a budget are a distraction for the start of the session.

“We’re still going to be hearing these budget hearings,” she said. “We’re going to be still asking these questions. We still have to pass a balanced budget.”

Democrats remain concerned that using one-time funding to balance the budget would create structural deficits and issues for future biennia, Senate Democratic caucus official said Monday.

Shelbie Swartz, executive director of Battle Born Progress, called the potential budget deficit “deeply concerning.”

“If the Lombardo Administration can’t clear the low, low bar of adding up a balanced budget, then what are we to make of the rest of his agenda?” Swartz said in a statement. “Will every Lombardo proposal need to be patched back together after the fact?”

Tax raise ‘not an option’

While the proposed budget had a $335 million deficit, legislators aren’t considering resorting to a tax raise.

“I think there might be some belt tightening, but raising taxes is not the option because we don’t need to do it,” Titus said.

The state has always had enough money, Titus said; it just wasn’t in the right column of the budget.

Some programs will need to be examined, and the state will need to hold other agencies accountable for money that it owes, the senator said. In the last audit subcommittee, $32 million was found to be owed to Nevada for efforts in firefighting, Titus said.

Every session, the legislature passes unprecedented funding for education, but it hasn’t meant better solutions, Titus said. One key factor this session will be holding districts accountable and learning what exactly they’re spending the money on, she said.

Titus also pointed to the state’s Rainy-Day fund, which is at its fullest.

“Why would we raise taxes on folks when we have a rainy day fund balance that is at its peak?” she said.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com and Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com Follow @jess_hillyeah and @mckenna_ross_ on X.