A vision for Nevada

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley may as well have titled her community meetings on the state's financial structure "Nevada 2010."

Instead, the Democratic leader -- who will host a series of town hall meetings designed to find solutions to the state's "boom-bust" financial structure -- calls it "Nevada 2020" because she chooses to view Nevada in terms of what can be.

But for now, Buckley's town hall meetings and general strategy seem much more designed to drum up support for 2009 policy in Carson City, and with any luck, her own statewide bid the following year.

"In our state, I think we're also lacking vision and leadership," Buckley said. "I'm convinced the economy is going to rebound -- that it's a matter of when -- and if we haven't plotted the right course, we'll have missed an opportunity."

Usually it's a governor that initiates this kind of discussion.

Kenny Guinn gave us a series of meetings on tax policy, for example. But Buckley sees no point in working with the current governor. During the special session Jim Gibbons skirted her house completely, meeting only with allies in the Republican Senate.

She hasn't invited Gibbons to her discussion for the same reason Gibbons wasn't invited to Harry Reid's recent green confab. He's just not part of the solution on anything.

One thing no legislative Democrat is ignoring, however, is the governor's absolute veto threat for any new taxes or fees.

Buckley joined the no new taxes refrain Monday when announcing her community discussions. "I am not proposing new taxes," she said.

Her counterpart in the Senate, Steven Horsford, has also said new taxes will not be part of the mix in Carson City next session.

So how will Buckley's community discussions get Nevada off the boom-bust cycle?

Buckley floated several ideas Monday, including a look at spending and re-examining current tax abatements and exemptions. An old study, frequently discussed in legislative budget hearings over the years, estimated the state had roughly $1 billion in exemptions.

Buckley is still working to establish a current number. Economic development exemptions alone total $132.1 million over the past 10 years.

Better schools and meaningful higher education degrees would go further than some of those exemptions in luring business to Nevada, she suggested. But she said some exemptions might still make sense.

Buckley said that looking at such exemptions would have to be considered one of the state's priorities. She listed others as funding education, health and human services and public safety.

Buckley said she doesn't know if Gibbons will support revoking certain tax abatements. She also said she's confident she'll pick up one to three seats this election, giving her a veto-proof majority in the lower house.

"This is about examining the fairness of your revenue system, and if your exemptions don't match your priorities, it doesn't make much sense," she said.

Buckley also said she thinks the state could generate revenue by cracking down on sales tax collections ($100 million estimate) and by working with Sen. Harry Reid's office to get the federal government to give up more land in Nevada.

Several years ago, Buckley worked to turn former BLM land into a housing project for senior citizens. The project was feasible only because the state had acquired the land.

Buckley envisions getting BLM parcels to lease to the private sector for construction of renewable energy projects. Those projects would create good green jobs and the state would get royalties, she said.

Buckley also wants to revamp the state's rainy-day fund to make it a "forced savings account." During the recent downturn, that stabilization fund was quickly drained. In other states, payments are automatically made to stabilization funds up to a certain level. "In that way when you have bad times you don't have to destroy what you created in good times," Buckley said.

Lastly, she said she wouldn't move forward stabilizing the financial structure without some real accountability in the education system. The business community and parents both demand it. No empty talk from her when she said, "We all have a stake in the public school system." Her son is in a fourth-grade class of 40.

Buckley's series of town hall meetings -- the first is Sept. 29 at 5:30 p.m. at Spring Valley High School -- is designed to plot a course for the next five or 10 years.

Buckley demurred when asked about whether this is a strategy for running for governor in 2010. "The state is facing a crisis," Buckley said. "This is about the future. I am speaker for the state, not just Southern Nevada."

She's gotten a number of discussion leaders lined up from the education and business community, including Thom Reilly of Harrah's, Steve Hill of the Chamber of Commerce, former United Way officer Deborah Campbell and former UNLV law school dean Dick Morgan.

Buckley, thankfully, has stepped up.

It's up to Nevadans to finally start the conversation on the state's most pressing issue. At least they know someone in Carson City will listen.

Contact Erin Neff at (702) 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.