Nevada lawmakers face heavy agenda as session opens

CARSON CITY — Lawmakers plan to waste no time when the 78th session begins Monday, and with a huge agenda from taxes to education funding and reform, they will need every minute of the 120 days they have to get the job done.

Adopting a budget and passing legislation is always a challenge in the limited sessions, but Gov. Brian Sandoval upped the ante in his State of the State address on Jan. 15, identifying numerous issues he wants lawmakers to tackle this year.

Not only has he proposed $430 million in public education funding on multiple programs to improve student achievement, but Sandoval has also unveiled a plan for a new business license fee to pay for it all.

Then there are the school choice proposals, education reform measures such as pay for performance, collective bargaining reforms, and other changes he wants to pursue.

GOP lawmakers have their own policy proposals as well, from construction defect and prevailing wage changes to Second Amendment measures to some more lighthearted proposals such as designating the square dance as the official dance of the state.

Sandoval said he doesn’t believe that his ambitious agenda is too much for lawmakers to handle when asked last week at an event at Carson City’s Empire Elementary School.

“Most of what I am proposing will affect schools like this,” he said. “I think it would be problematic to go the other way and not to be proposing things that may be important to kids in schools throughout the state of Nevada.

“I’m up for it, the Legislature is up for it, I’ve met with leadership, so I think there is going to be a great discussion in the session,” Sandoval said.

DEMOCRATS’ PRIORITIES

Democrats, who will be crucial to Sandoval’s plan to raise or maintain about $1.1 billion in state tax revenue to help pay for it all, have their priorities as well. Any vote to raise revenue will require a two-thirds vote in both houses of the Legislature. Republicans control both houses but not by a two-thirds margin.

So Democrats have some leverage and they will work to take advantage of it.

Tops among those priorities is funding for school construction. Senate Democrats are pushing for a bipartisan bill expanding rollover bond authority for local school districts to be the first piece of legislation sent to the governor’s desk.

Sandoval has endorsed the proposal as well.

Senate Minority Leader Aaron Ford, D-Las Vegas, said expanding all-day kindergarten, funding a medical school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and getting guns out of the hands of convicted domestic abusers as proposed by Sen. Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, are just a few of their top priorities.

Many of Sandoval’s priorities have been Democratic priorities for years, such as his recent support for a school breakfast program, he said.

“We are entirely delighted that he has adopted these Democratic ideas,” Ford said.

“You will continue to see Democrats talk about our agenda, including making sure all Nevadans have a fair shot at success in this state,” he said. “Just because the political power has changed does not mean Democratic priorities have changed.”

Democrats will also play defense on some issues, such as any efforts to change collective bargaining rules. They are expected to outline their agenda for the session later this week.

FIRST WEEK PLANS

Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson, R-Henderson, who is also chairman of the Revenue and Economic Development Committee, said he plans to move forward with hearings on Tuesday starting with economic development.

By Friday, the panel will be hearing from Assemblywoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick on her proposed changes to the state’s live entertainment tax, he said.

In subsequent weeks the committee will hear testimony on property taxes, sales taxes and by the end of February, on business tax proposals, Roberson said. The committee will be meeting Friday afternoons and into the evening hours if necessary.

“I don’t think you are going to see a lot of downtime in the Senate this year,” he said. “I think you are going to see the hardest working Senate you’ve seen in a long time.”

Assembly Majority Leader Paul Anderson, R-Las Vegas, said the house will be busy as well in the first week. Anderson, who also serves as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said lawmakers will dive into the budget on Tuesday

“Starting Wednesday every committee has hearings,” he said. “Taxation has a whole long list of tax policy. Their first three to five weeks will be a discussion of tax policy across the board

“While we may have been a little behind in our organization, we have wasted no time over the last few weeks working with staff to make sure we start heavy with reforms,” Anderson said.

Anderson was alluding to the leadership fight in the 25-member Assembly GOP caucus, where more moderate members are at odds with those who are adamantly opposed to Sandoval’s proposed tax and revenue plans.

For now, the moderates, led by Speaker designate John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, are in control of the caucus.

There might be a bit of drama on Monday when the 42-member Assembly votes on whether to officially make Hambrick speaker for the session.

Anderson said Hambrick will be elected speaker.

“Whether there is drama or not, we will be organized and ready to go to work,” he said.

Other than the Hambrick vote, the first day of session will be mostly festive, with new lawmakers sworn in and lots of picture-taking with family and friends.

TAXES, EDUCATION TO DOMINATE

The issue of taxes and education will likely dominate the session thereafter, however.

Sandoval provided some details last week on his proposed business license fee, which would raise $438 million to fund his education agenda, from expanding all-day kindergarten to all schools at a cost of $150 million to providing $10.3 million for gifted and talented students.

Reaction to the plan has been mostly muted so far. Business groups want to see the details in legislation before committing one way or the other.

But the Retail Association of Nevada said the plan mirrors previous gross receipts tax proposals it has historically opposed.

The Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce welcomed the details released Thursday, but said in a statement that its members will have to see the details in legislation before drawing any conclusions about the proposal.

“The Metro Chamber agrees that significant changes are needed to stabilize Nevada’s tax structure for the long-term economic health of Nevada,” chamber officials said in a statement.

But any revenue proposal needs to achieve the four principles of tax reform cited in a Tax Foundation report generated for the chamber, which are stability, transparency, simplicity and neutrality, the statement said.

Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, said Sandoval has proposed a lot of groundbreaking ideas to improve education.

“If we want to fund those programs, we’re going to have to come up with the money,” he said. “You can’t support one and not the other.”

Sandoval’s plan will now be vetted in the legislative process, along with many other revenue proposals, from broadening the sales tax to implementing a corporate income tax.

Sandoval said his plan, based on gross receipts, encompasses all businesses, is as simple as possible and is fair.

“Everyone is going to find a problem with all the proposals,” Sandoval said. “But what is important to me is that we improve education in this state.”

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801.