Gov. Sandoval signs major tax bill, vetoes 3 other measures

Wednesday, June 10, 2015 | 5:45 p.m.

CARSON CITY — Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has signed a major bill that's the cornerstone of his plan to raise or extend $1.1 billion in taxes over two years, mostly to fund sweeping K-12 education initiatives focused on at-risk students.

Sandoval acted Tuesday to approve SB483, which extends expiring taxes, raises the cigarette tax and imposes a business tax based on gross revenue. Passing the bill through the Republican-controlled Assembly was arguably the heaviest political lift of the legislative session that ended last week, and was key to implementing his $7.4 billion two-year budget.

Counting Tuesday's batch, the Republican governor has signed more than 500 bills into law and vetoed four.

Sandoval's three latest vetoes included SB296, which capped the amount of punitive damages a plaintiff can seek in a defective product case, and SB161, which would have limited product defect lawsuits to manufacturers and would have largely absolved sellers of liability. Both were sponsored by Republican Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson and elicited split votes and passionate floor speeches in the Legislature.

"Senate Bill 161 limits important legal remedies for Nevada consumers who have been harmed by entities that sell defective products," Sandoval wrote, adding that the bill "does not promote the interests of all Nevada consumers."

He also rejected SB183, which would have loosened rules at the Nevada Transportation Authority and allowed more taxi and limo companies to enter the market. It would have removed language that requires the agency to determine that the market can support a new company — a provision that bill proponents argue protects existing cab and limo companies at the expense of new competition.

Sandoval cited public safety in his veto.

"The Nevada Transportation Authority's ability to consider the economic viability of a motor carrier operator is an important factor in evaluating whether that operator has the necessary resources to transport members of the public safely and can maintain industry safety standards," he wrote in a veto message.

The governor signed a total of 71 bills Tuesday. They included:

• AB278, which requires state education officials to keep a closer eye on the more than $300 million Nevada will be spending in the next two years to reduce class sizes. The bill requires the Nevada Department of Education to help districts develop plans to reduce class sizes, and the state must monitor the plans and quarterly reports about class size. The bill comes after an audit found little accountability with class size reduction funds, and that 84 percent of schools have waivers that allow them to exceed the class size ratios set in law.

• SB406, which slightly reduces the amount that the Nevada Public Employees Retirement System will pay out to recipients who join on July 1, 2015, or later, and prevents public workers from collecting benefits after certain felony convictions. Roberson, the bill's sponsor, estimates the bill will save $1 billion over 10 years.

• SB491, which creates the Charter Harbor Master program aimed at attracting high-quality charter school management organizations to Nevada to serve children in poverty. A budget committee approved $10 million over two years to fund the program, which would match funding provided by the organization itself.

• SB168, which allows local governments to renegotiate union contracts during fiscal emergencies.