Sandoval photo op, sick lawmakers and ‘day of the living dead’ at Legislature

The clock ticking toward a Tuesday, 1 a.m., deadline, the Nevada Legislature was all business this weekend -- well, mostly.

On Sunday, Gov. Brian Sandoval slipped into the Legislative Buidling to chat with Republican lawmakers. The half-hour conversation was called "casual." But the GOP leader was visiting to make sure he gets enough Republicans to vote for a $6.2 billion budget deal he agreed to with Democratic leaders. It includes a $620 million tax extension for two years, something half a dozen Senate Republicans and half a dozen GOP Assembly members oppose. He has enough for the two-thirds margin he needs in the 21-member Senate and 42-member Assembly.

While the governor managed to avoid the press corps, Sen. Ben Kieckhefer's 5-year-old daughter caught him for an introduction and a photo op.

"You're my daddy's friend, the governor," Aspen Kieckhefer said, shaking Sandoval's hand, according to her mother, April Kieckhefer.

"Yes, I'm the governor, Brian Sandoval," he answered and added he had a daughter, Marisa, who's just a little bit older.

April Kieckhefer said her little girl was "awestruck. She was in love."

Sen. Kieckhefer is among the four Republicans in the Senate who plan to vote for the budget deal, but he had made up his mind before the weekend.

The halls were crowded with lobbyists, media and lawmakers, but some appeared a little worse for wear.

Assemblywoman Lucy Flores, D-Las Vegas, barely made it to the floor for votes. She thought she had food poisoning, but discovered several other lawmakers who had worked every day for the past two weeks were feeling ill, too.

"We think there's a flu going around," Flores said, adding she had to drag herself out of bed. "I'm doing okay now, but I can't wait until we're done."

An end of the session flu often strikes Carson City as fatigued lawmakers work late into the night to finish business on time, or within 120 days.

Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, seemed in a buoyant mood. Her "school works" bill that had been vetoed earlier in the session had come back to life. It was attached to SB506, a sort of Christmas tree measure that serves as a lifeboat for measures that had earlier failed to get passed. The measure would allow school bonds to be used for repairing schools.

"Bill feels like day of the living dead," Smith tweeted. "Hopefully it has a 2nd life."

If Smith's bill gets to Sandoval's desk, he would likely sign it since his objectsion to it have gone away. Previously, the governor's budget had used school bond money for the general fund budget, but a Nevada Supreme Court ruling raised questions about whether he could do that, so the budget deal leaves the bond reserves alone.

Gov. Sandoval and Sen. Ben Kieckhfer's daughter, Aspen, age 5