Editorial: Legislators allured by pork's call

State legislators in Carson City must be salivating over the prospect that Nevada's surging economy may yield an additional $40 million a year in tax revenues for them to spend over the next two years. The exact amount won't be known until April 29 when the state Economic Forum meets and makes the final revenue projections that the Legislature must use in setting its forecast.

But the estimate by the Legislature's staff that $40 million a year could be available already has set off a round of speculation among special interests as to how they might get their piece of the extra funds. Legislators should pause, though, before they start thinking of ways to use these funds on pork-barrel projects that satisfy special interests.

Legislators should heed the caution urged by the heads of the two money committees, Senate Finance Chairman Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Assembly Ways and Means Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas. "I don't want anybody to get money-happy," Arberry said. "That's not a lot of money when you're filling a $150 million hole," Raggio said. The $150 million hole Raggio was referring to were the cuts that Gov. Kenny Guinn had to make to balance the $3.1 billion, two-year budget he submitted to the Legislature in January.

Foremost on legislators' minds should be restoration of funding for programs that were cut by Guinn and are in need of being made whole again. In addition, the Legislature should consider funding agencies or programs desperately requiring an infusion of money. Whether it is forgiving a $2.5 million loan made to the financially struggling White Pine County School District or ensuring that UNLV gets the funding it needs to handle its exploding student enrollments, legislators should act on behalf of the public interest, not a special interest group to which they believe they owe a favor.

What isn't needed is what happened when the Legislature last met two years ago. As the Legislature neared adjournment, a spending spree on pork-barrel projects ensued. Some examples of the pork madness included: $1 million for a bridge on a planned industrial complex in Storey County sought by Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, $100,000 for the California-Nevada Super Speed Ground Transportation Commission, and $650,000 for moving a University of Nevada, Reno fire-protection training facility to Carlin.

Legislators have done an admirable job so far, especially considering that this is the first time they've met under the crunch of a voter-imposed 120-day limit, which has significantly shaved off the number of days they meet. But if they end this legislative session by resorting to past errors and cave in to the reflex to gratify special interests with pork-barrel projects, legislators will instead leave a bitter taste in the mouths of Nevadans.

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