Gibbons’ energy bill still on the table

By David McGrath Schwartz

Friday, April 10, 2009 | 12:22 p.m.

Gov. Jim Gibbons' green energy bill, which his staff has advertised as his key policy agenda, is still alive.

The Senate Energy, Infrastructure and Transportation Committee referred Senate Bill 395 to the Finance Committee, where bills can still be heard. Today is the deadline for bills to make it out of committees, or else they die.

Bills can be referred to one of the money committees -- Assembly Ways and Means or Senate Finance -- to keep a piece of Legislation alive, but that doesn't mean it's going to pass. Those committees are sometimes referred to as "black holes" for legislation around deadlines.

Gibbons testified in front of the Senate committee that his bill to extend tax abatements and create tougher environmental standards would have made Nevada "energy independent" by the year 2020.

The Assembly has sweeping energy legislation that would extend tax abatements set to expire this year. But it would also add a tax on renewable energy production, a proposal that solar developers strongly oppose.

The Senate is likely to introduce their energy proposal next week, through an amendment, proving once again that deadlines are only sometimes deadlines.