Big issues must wait, so they take on tiny ones

By J. Patrick Coolican, Cy Ryan

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 | 2 a.m.

There’s a sense of stasis here at the Legislature, as everyone waits with anguish and dread for May 1, when the state’s official forecaster, the Economic Forum, tells lawmakers how much money they’ll have for the next two years.

So while legislators wait, how about some nice pomp on the floor of the Assembly to salute some totally uncontroversial good causes?

The Assembly saluted the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth. Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, who’s a founding board member, said when he arrived in Las Vegas in 1998, there were no services for homeless kids, but now that’s changed, as the partnership offers street outreach and 24-hour crisis intervention services, a full-time drop-in center and an independent living program, according to the Web site.

Next up, equal pay for equal work. For the average woman to earn the same as the average man in 2008, she’d have to work all of last year, plus all of 2009 up to Tuesday. So the Assembly raised up as one and said, “Not fair.”

By one estimate though, four of five layoffs in this recession are men, so women may begin to close the pay gap, as they’ll have more bargaining power than unemployed men. Not exactly how feminists and labor advocates envisioned winning equal pay, however.

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Because of the uncertainty surrounding the state budget, the Senate unanimously approved Tuesday and Gov. Jim Gibbons signed legislation allowing school districts to delay for two weeks notifying employees whether they will be retained for the upcoming school year.

The law requires districts to notify employees by May 1 if they are going to have a contract for the next school year. The bill pushes the deadline to May 15.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said 800 staff members in Clark County await a decision on whether they will have a job. Rural counties could lose valuable employees if the present deadline is kept in place, he said.

“This gives us time as we work through this difficult budget,” Horsford said.

The money committees in the Legislature have not decided on funding levels for schools.

The governor also signed Assembly Bill 533, which provides a $323.8 million supplemental appropriation for school districts for unexpected shortfalls in their budgets for this fiscal year.

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A legislative budget subcommittee decided Tuesday against a partial closure of 11 state parks during the winter months. Because of budget restraints, Gibbons had recommended a full or partial closure of 14 of the 25 state parks and recreational areas.

The budget approved by the subcommittee will close only the Elgin School House in Eastern Nevada — because of a washed out road — and the Walker Lake Park near Hawthorne — because a boat ramp is out.

Gibbons’ budget called for the Old Mormon Fort in Las Vegas to be open only five days a week, but the subcommittee restored enough money — $53,949 for the next two years — to keep it open the full seven days.

The subcommittee also voted to request a bill to allow commercial weddings in the Valley of Fire State Park in Southern Nevada. The 2007 Legislature expressed support for it along with a fee increase for such weddings to $150.

Gibbons refused to include it in his budget because it was a fee increase.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, urged the committee to request a bill to make the wedding program available.