State safety net has alarming fissures

Nevada legislators traversed the most dire budget tempest in our history and managed, barely, to keep the state afloat. Gov. Brian Sandoval, who had previously proposed brutal cuts to education and human services, had the fortitude to abandon his "no new taxes" sound bite after a state Supreme Court decision revealed an even bigger breach in Nevada's worst-in-the-nation budget gap.

Nevada's traditionally austere state budget has now been further reduced five times since 2007. Nevada's safety net has alarming fissures, ranking 51st in Medicaid expenditures and 53rd in both reduced/free school lunch and breakfast programs. The lives of the people who are the survivors of these shameful statistics will see no reprieve from the new state budget, passed with $700 million in cuts from two years ago. Public employees, K-12 and higher education have all experienced continued and dramatic reductions in state support.

In spite of these brutal reductions, Nevada will face another large budget deficit in the 2013 session. Our governor, insisting on spending reform only, refused to tackle the most important reform: revenue reform. The supermajority requirement to pass any tax structure changes and the Legislature's inability to thoughtfully discuss our regressive system has made long-needed reform impossible. A tax structure that is narrow and inflexible, and was designed when the state's monopoly on legalized gaming offered some protection from external economic factors, is now bankrupting our state, morally and financially. Our last option is to take a comprehensive revenue reform initiative directly to the voters, over the heads of the corporate mercenaries whose sole aim is to increase their clients' profits over the public interest.

A few bright spots should be noted, however. Due to the exceptional leadership of Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, and Senate Revenue Committee Chairwoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, the Nevada mining industry faced its most significant reforms in state history. It was a textbook case of how the will of the people overcame the power and money of 30 mining lobbyists.

No longer can mining corporations threaten to take private property using eminent domain. Mining lost antiquated tax loopholes and now will pay $48 million in new taxes to counties and the state. Legislators overwhelmingly voted to establish a commission to oversee state agencies that have responsibility for the taxation, operation, safety and environmental regulation of mines. Finally, Nevadans will have an historic opportunity to vote on the most significant mining reform: a ballot question to begin the process of removing mining's special-interest protections from the Nevada Constitution, so that this industry will pay taxes equivalent to other large Nevada corporations.

Nevadans interested in advancing social equity would be hard-pressed to point to a more successful session. A bill simplifying and improving Nevada's voting rights restoration laws for individuals with past criminal convictions passed. Many anti-immigrant bills were introduced but defeated. The crowning achievement: Bills extending rights to transgender Nevadans in housing, employment and public accommodations passed and was signed into law by the governor.

Highly encouraging emergent forces in the 2011 session include the unprecedented participation of the Latino community and transgender Nevadans and advocates, the creation of the new Latino caucus, and the uprising of students and youth in the largest protests in Nevada legislative history.

The most egregious special interest arm-twisting came from lobbyists for tavern owners and the gaming/development/utility cabal, who had been advocating in hushed voices all session. Minutes before adjournment, the Assembly passed a bill to partially overturn the voter-approved ban on smoking in food establishments. Another bill opened the door to even higher electric rates. And in probably the most short-sighted and rash environmental vote in Nevada history, lawmakers threatened to end four decades of successful collaboration to protect the environment of Lake Tahoe for future generations.

The governor chose to place big insurance company profits over Nevada's struggling families when he vetoed AB309. This bill would have allowed a consumer advocate to intervene and represent the public interest before insurance companies could unilaterally hike health care premiums, as they have done in the past.

On a more optimistic note, Nevada now has the distinction of being the only state with a Republican governor to pass Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act implementation legislation.

We are indeed a state of contrast and compromise. Certainly, the reactionary and moneyed interests demonstrate an unseemly and overbearing influence on public governance. But the 2011 session demonstrates that Nevada is also a place where the power and persistence of ordinary people working together can sometimes make an immense impact on state policy and our quality of life.

Bob Fulkerson is state director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.