Lawmaker upset over opposition to tax plan

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2001 | 10:11 a.m.

"I was terribly concerned that Sen. (Ann) O'Connell would go forward on this issue without consulting other lawmakers," said Perkins, D-Henderson. "She has the authority to do so, but I'm concerned that one person has made a decision that carries the full weight of the Legislature."

Perkins said Monday he's considering asking O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, to hold a meeting of the Legislative Commission to discuss whether the "friend of the court" brief should have been filed.

"I thought it was somewhat unorthodox," he said. "I never would have dreamed of bringing legal action to bear without consulting with the rest of the committee."

O'Connell, the chairwoman of the Legislative Commission, said she had authority to file the brief and did so after the legislative counsel authored an opinion that the proposal was unconstitutional.

"Since I had gotten the opinion from the Legislative Counsel Bureau that the proposal was indeed unconstitutional, I felt that it was the proper thing for us to do, to stand behind the legal opinion that I had," she said.

She added that Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, asked that a brief be filed.

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, which is involved in the court challenge of the business profits tax, welcomed the intervention by the Legislature.

But Ken Lange, executive director of the Nevada State Education Association, questioned the propriety of the filing. He noted O'Connell accepted more than $39,000 in contributions from the Chamber of Commerce and others opposed to the tax plan.

"Sen. O'Connell's business connections and her anti-tax philosophy are clearly conflicting with her responsibility to do right by Nevada's children," Lange said. "Using her authority in this way is just plain wrong."

NSEA president Elaine Lancaster added that O'Connell runs a business that would be taxed under the teachers' proposal and "acted in her own interest."

Teachers gathered signatures to force the Legislature's consideration of the tax. If lawmakers don't approve the proposal, it will go to the voters in 2002. It would raise an estimated $250 million a year for public education.

But the chamber and other business interests have challenged the measure in court. Teachers won the battle at the District Court level, but the matter is now before the Supreme Court. A hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 7.