Tuesday, June 3, 2003 | 11:14 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn today planned to call the Nevada Legislature into its third special session in as many years after lawmakers adjourned early this morning without bringing a tax bill for a vote.
When six lawmakers of both houses and parties walked to Guinn's Capitol office at 1:15 this morning to report the Legislature's adjournment, the governor told them to stay in town and be ready to return to work soon. A special session is expected this week.
Daylong efforts to win two-thirds support for an $869 million tax package broke down about 11:30 p.m., just after the Senate Finance Committee introduced the tax bill wrapped around the bill that funds K-12 education.
The tax bill, school funding and a class-size reduction measure are the major bills that did not pass before the Legislature adjourned at 1 a.m. The Legislature is constitutionally mandated to adjourn at midnight Pacific Standard Time, but due to daylight-savings, lawmakers got an extra hour.
At 12:50 a.m., the state Senate approved Assembly Bill 553 -- the appropriations bill funding all of state government. Three conservative Clark County Republicans, Barbara Cegavske, Ann O'Connell and Sandra Tiffany, voted against the bill.
The strain of the 120-day session dominated by budget and tax talks was evident in the Assembly, where the same bill had passed 24-18 just minutes earlier. Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, had led opposition to the key element in the tax plan -- a tax on business gross receipts -- and said he looked forward to the special session.
"We have an opportunity to come back here and finish the work," Hettrick said. "I hope we will be moving the pile from where we are now and be flexible enough to move on."
Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, was disappointed that efforts to build two-thirds support had broken down after a tax deal reached late Sunday seemed to have the needed votes for passage.
"This is one of the most difficult issues the state has had in years," Buckley said. "No one likes a special session."
At roughly 12:45 a.m., Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, decided not to bring the hastily processed tax bill, Senate Bill 509, for a vote.
"We have had a long session, a lot of discussion, a lot of travail," Raggio said. "I am not going to stand here and allow the Senate to vote on a tax bill.
"It is unfair to the senators here and to the public as well."
Just 30 minutes earlier, Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, remained hopeful the Senate would act on the tax bill and send it to his house, whose members were sitting idly waiting for work.
"Time just ran out," said Perkins, who had previously hoped the Legislature would adjourn two days early and save the state $100,000. Instead, budget talks that were not resolved until late last week and a tax plan that was still being re-configured Monday afternoon, will force more tax dollars to be spent on the legislative process.
Legislative Counsel Bureau Director Lorne Malkiewich estimates the cost of a special session that simply carries over business from the existing session would be $8,000 to $10,000 a day. The price climbs as the session continues, with a daily cost of $50,000 to $60,000 attributable to staff salaries, resources and the reinstitution of legislator pay for each day of a special session.
The 2001 session adjourned in chaos after negotiations on redistricting plans fell apart. Lawmakers worked past 1 a.m. in 2001 and had to re-approve -- in the 17th special session -- about a dozen bills that were technically unconstitutional.
Early this morning as the Senate and Assembly continued processing bills right up until 1 a.m., there was both order and purpose that was clearly missing two years ago.
In 2001, lawmakers were so confused that lobbyists had to run onto the floor in violation of legislative rules -- but at the invitation of leaders -- to instruct lawmakers which bills had to pass.
The closest call today was final approval, at 12:57 a.m., of the hard-fought broadband regulation bill for telecommunication companies -- Senate Bill 400.
Both the Senate and Assembly passed minor bills at 12:59 a.m. and then called it quits with only a few conservative Republican lawmakers smiling.
Many of the Assembly's 16 freshmen were still hoping to attend the sine die party at a Carson City bar which had advertised food and drink from adjournment until 5 a.m. But by 2 a.m. today, few had any desire to toast this session's finale.
One normally garrulous lawmaker stormed out of the Assembly chambers and said: "I'm not going to talk to you because I'm afraid of what I would say to you."
In addition to the 2001 session for reapportionment, Guinn called the Legislature into the 18th special session last August to deal with Nevada's medical malpractice crisis.
That session, which cost more than $200,000, finished on the third day and resulted in Nevada's medical malpractice law.
When Guinn issues a proclamation today calling the Legislature in for a special session, he can clearly define which topics or bills lawmakers may consider.
The passage of the massive appropriations bill by both houses will require funding of $861 million in new revenue by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
Guinn has said consistently that he required a balanced budget by July 1, or the state risked shutting down due to the grim nature of the daily cash flow, which sometimes ebbs and puts the state temporarily into the red.
When the appropriations bill did pass, many lawmakers who supported the measure said they hoped the governor would ask legislators to approve new revenue sources to match the size of the budget bill.
During Monday's attempts to win support for the Unified Business Tax, several gaming lobbyists suggested that while the tax may raise concerns, it is also as one lobbyist said: "The last girl left on the island and she's starting to look pretty good."
A special session could give lawmakers more time to propose amendments, including Democratic Sen. Joe Neal's expected push for significantly higher gaming taxes. Other senators had proposed a net profits tax, a room tax, increasing the sales tax and creating a sales tax on services.
None of those options would have passed the state Assembly, where Perkins has demanded that any tax plan include a broad-based business tax.
When the Senate Finance Committee, after 11 p.m. Monday, amended the school funding bill into the tax bill, senators opposed to the Unified Business Tax expressed opposition.
"Frankly I'm a little disappointed with the tactics and style of this committee," Tiffany, R-Henderson, said to Raggio, the Finance chairman. "I sit on the tax committee and we've voted down this UBT time and time again."
Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, was still asking Raggio to split the school budget and taxes later on the Senate floor when the chairman moved to refer the bill for a vote.
"They're completely separate battles," Cegavske said.
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