Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Political notebook: Some senators a little conflicted

CARSON CITY -- While the federal investigation into public corruption in Clark County is largely based on things the public never saw, the state Senate bares its conflicts.

The most notable case this week involved Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, working to add an amendment to the tax bill that would allow a timeshare with a gaming license to pick up and move provided it pay increased taxes.

Schneider never disclosed publicly what he later admitted to the Sun in an interview. Two years ago he sold his interest in the Royal hotel in Las Vegas after developing the property into timeshares.

Even while he still owned a piece of the property, he was pushing a bill in the Senate that would have classified timeshares as resort hotels.

And even though he sold his stake, he sold it to his friends -- friends who stand to gain financially if the Royal is permitted to move its gaming license across town to a better location.

An hour before Schneider's amendment was forced into the sunshine by political spite, Sen. Dennis Nolan was trying and trying and trying to get an amendment from the live entertainment tax for tour operators that book packaged deals to Las Vegas, including air, hotel and event tickets.

Fiscal analysts suggested he drop it because it would reduce the amount of revenue the tax generates. And despite some fellow senators objecting to the move, Nolan, R-Las Vegas, kept pushing.

Finally after Sen. Joe Neal asked Nolan what kind of specific industry or group he was trying to protect, Nolan said: "I should disclose that I serve on the board of directors for Las Vegas Events Inc."

Thanks for the disclosure because many of your colleagues made no mention of their ties to banks when the Senate summarily rejected a proposed 3 percent financial institutions tax.

Sens. Randolph Townsend and Bill Raggio, both R-Reno, and Bernice Mathews, D-Sparks, serve on the boards of banks. Las Vegas Republican Ann O'Connell's husband serves on a bank board as does Las Vegas Democrat Bob Coffin's wife.

Coffin did remind people Wednesday about his wife's position, as he remarked about the lack of a bank tax inclusion in the Senate's plan.

The way the tax votes have been going in the Senate, the lawmakers may as well abstain. It's not as though their participation would really change the outcome.

Kitchen sink

Just 30 minutes after the Senate committee motioned to introduce a tax plan, it miraculously appeared, completely drafted and with more than the kitchen sink tax proposals.

The bill failed after Scheider's amendment was discovered, but when lobbyists and the press started to read Senate Bill 5, they found some other beauts.

State Controller Kathy Augustine had tried unsuccessfully in both houses during the regular session to take over debt collection for all but three state agencies.

Augustine also sought to have a person's driver's license canceled if the person had any outstanding debts with other agencies.

Those provisions show up in Sections 162 through 165 of SB5.

The lawmakers who ordered those amendments written into SB5 apparently were too busy to pay much attention to the key provision -- the payroll tax.

Bill drafters were never told to exempt nonprofit organizations from paying the per-employee tax, and also never specifically exempted governmental entities from being subject to the tax.

At least the state's Constitution prohibits the latter.

Committee of the Hole

The state Senate undergoes silly rituals to convene itself and then turn itself into a Committee of the Whole.

Usually the 21-member body rises and walks down the hall. But after a successful 15-6 vote on taxes that became a 13-8 failed vote on taxes when the committee walked back to the chambers, no one was moving anywhere Thursday.

"We seem to lose members and votes when we go down the hall," Raggio said.

Then as the Senate became the committee, Raggio introduced Legislative Counsel Brenda Erdoes to provide information on a measure and prove: "There's nothing in the bill that's not relevant."

That bill may not have had anything irrelevant inside, but the whole measure was technically irrelevant because Raggio had no authority from the governor to discuss the measure.

Perhaps during the 50-foot walk down the hall, he would have realized that.

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