Lawmakers pass budget bills, water-rights deal

CARSON CITY - Rushing to wrap up by the scheduled end of the 1999 session, Nevada lawmakers voted Saturday for a $14.5 billion state budget for the next two years.

The bills were finalized as lawmakers worked through the Memorial Day weekend in an effort to adjourn by Monday's voter-mandated deadline.

The budget includes $3.2 billion in state funds. The rest of the funding comes from federal and other sources. The plan doesn't rely on any general tax hikes.

More than half the overall budget is earmarked for K-12 and higher education, while a fourth is for various social service programs. About 12 percent goes for public safety, mainly prisons.

Legislators also gave final approval to a bill that could resolve more than 2,500 lawsuits pending over use of Truckee water that flows by ditch to the Fallon area.

AB380, by Assemblywoman Marcia de Braga, D-Fallon, establishes the Newlands Project Water Right Fund, which is to be used to buy disputed water rights on 6,500 acres. The federal government is expected to contribute $7 million, Sierra Pacific $2.5 million and the state $4 million over five years.

Under the plan, the funding will enable the Paiutes to buy up Fallon-area water rights. The Indians benefit because Truckee water not diverted by a canal to Fallon eventually flows into their Pyramid Lake, 30 miles north of Reno.

In other legislative action:

-The Assembly approved funding for class-size reduction in grades K-12. AB700 will provide $168 million to ensure the student-teacher ratio remains at 16-to-1. The Assembly also approved AB699, the capital improvement plan for state projects for the next two years. That bill amounts to $239 million in general obligation bonds, donations and federal funds.

-A bill creating a study of the need for a four-year college in Henderson and providing $500,000 for the effort has been approved by the Senate and the Assembly.

AB220, by Assemblyman Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, was amended to have the study done by a five-member panel composed of representatives of Gov. Kenny Guinn, lawmakers and university regents.

If the study shows a need for the school, then Perkins will seek money in the 2001 session for construction of campus buildings. He said Henderson is interested in donating a site for what would be the first four-year college in Nevada. About 200 acres would be required.

-Legislators could get financial assistance for living expenses under a bill approved by the Senate. AB170, by Assemblyman Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, would allow lawmakers who live at least 50 miles from Carson City and had to maintain two households could tap into their $6,800 travel allowance to help pay for renting a one-bedroom apartment. The rate they could collect would be set at the federal housing level for reimbursement.

The lawmakers would have to apply for the money in order to receive the benefit. Nolan said the measure is not a pay raise.

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