Sandoval caves, spending too high

After driving 499.75 miles in the Indianapolis 500 last month, rookie driver J.R. Hildebrand crashed and burned on the final turn with the finish line and a huge victory in sight. What a metaphor for the final week of rookie GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval's first legislative session.

Indeed, right up until the Nevada Supreme Court decision telling the governor his general fund budget couldn't siphon $62 million that had been earmarked for a never-built wastewater treatment facility, Sandoval was positioned to take the checkered flag.

Then he hit the wall and the wheels came off.

In the end, the governor, tax-happy Democrats and some Gumby Republicans voted to raise taxes by some $600 million for 2011-13 via an extension of the "temporary" taxes that were hiked in 2009 and were scheduled to "sunset" this month.

But it wasn't just the tax hike that torqued fiscal conservatives; it was the spending hike that the tax hike enabled. Indeed, on the campaign trail, Gov. Sandoval said the bad economic times demanded we shrink the budget back to the level of 2007. Instead, it appears spending for 2011-13 is going to be more than a billion dollars over what was spent in the 2007-09 biennium.

Compared to that last-minute wreck on Turn 4, everything else that happened in the 2011 session pales by comparison for conservatives, but a few legislative nuggets deserve comment.

Once the economic recovery hits, there will be a tremendous, pent-up desire by the left to once again grow government by spending every last dime that comes in ... as well as to take even more dimes. In fact, look for "progressives" to once again try to stick it to mining, corporate Nevada and hair dressers, in addition to making the twice-"temporary" tax hikes permanent.

Too bad no bill passed this session to limit future spending to the rate of population growth plus inflation.

Property rights did win a big one over the mommy-knows-best health nannies. The Legislature wisely decided that if you're an adult and don't like smoke, then don't patronize or work at a bar or tavern that allows smoking. You have no "right" to a smoke-free bar. If you don't like smoke, don't work at or go into a bar that allows smoking. How hard is that?

On the other hand, the busybodies of government control slapped on new licensing, regulation and fees for businesses ranging from hair braiding to music therapy. But at least they killed perhaps the most ridiculous of nanny-state bills introduced this session: a requirement that all auto repair shops check your tire pressure under penalty of law.

Education reform advocates lost big. Sure, there were some rearrange-the-deck-chairs-on-the-Titanic reforms approved, but not one of them helps low- to moderate-income families in disadvantaged neighborhoods escape the Failure Factory public schools their children are presently imprisoned in. In fact, the voucher bill Gov. Sandoval introduced never even got a hearing, let alone a vote.

At least one of the dumbest bills of the session, which would have dumbed down the requirements for obtaining a high school diploma, was vetoed by the governor. So a bad situation didn't get worse.

Gun rights advocates got a mixed bag.

On one hand, a good omnibus gun bill was finally passed after Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, was forced to put a cap on the fees charged for concealed weapon permits. On the other hand, a bill that would have allowed women with concealed weapon permits to carry their weapons on college campuses to help protect them from being raped and murdered was killed in the Assembly, not by vote, but by Judiciary Chairman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, who unilaterally decided to simply not bring it up for a vote.

The next time a young woman is raped in the parking garage at UNR, you'll know who to blame.

And as for process, the Legislature usually does most of its damage during the last 48 hours of a session, when bills are rushed from house to house and voted on with substantial changes even though no one's had a chance to review them. Well, a bill requiring that all future bills be posted on the Internet 48 hours before being voted on would fix that problem. Alas, that bill was killed even before the final 48 hours.

Better luck next season, conservatives. And watch that final turn.

Conservative political activist and consultant Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach.