Lawmakers can expect battles over funding for pet projects

Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2001 | 11:35 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Legislators who want to tap into the state treasury for their pet projects are in a long line that's growing longer.

With the Legislature set to convene Feb. 5, there are already more than 60 bills by lawmakers who want to bring home the bacon, a k a "pork."

Gov. Kenny Guinn has said he's going to allocate every penny in his $3.74 billion budget and in the estimated $150 million to $200 million in surplus money. But lawmakers in the past have always been able to round up cash to quiet some of the demands on their local fronts.

This time, lawmakers are seeking money for a variety of items, which include a railroad, a mother-daughter diversity program at UNLV and the fairgrounds in Pahrump.

There is only a brief description of the bills in the weekly list released by the Legislative Counsel Bureau. There's no figure on the amount of money requested, but it could total in the tens of millions of dollars.

Assembly Speaker Emeritus Joe Dini, D-Yerington, says a number of the requests have been before the Legislature on several occasions. For instance, the 1999 Legislature authorized a study of setting up high-tech centers in Dini's district in Yerington and Fernley.

Now he's back for the money to start them.

Dini said the amount of money available will depend on how much is allocated in pay for state workers. "It depends on what the governor budgets. We could end up with $20 million to $25 million split between the two houses."

Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, has been one of the staunchest defenders against critics who label some of these as "pork barrel." In fact, he says, these projects serve a useful function at the local level. And people who ask for the money see a real need.

Assemblyman Roy Neighbors, D-Tonopah, will be one of the busiest lawmakers in trying to find cash for projects in his district. He wants funds for a community college in Pahrump. Last session, he got $3.5 million for a high-technology center in Pahrump.

Neighbors said the Nye County Commission intends to put up $1.5 million and the town of Pahrump will donate 80 acres for the proposed community college.

He also requests money for the Pahrump Town Fairgrounds, restoration of historic Belmont Courthouse and for pre-construction planning for the Desert Space Station. Twenty-five years ago when he was Nye County manager, he said, he worked with the state Parks Division to get a roof on the courthouse. Now the foundation in Belmont needs shoring up.

Neighbors quipped, "It's pork when YOU get it, not when I get it."

He said the bills are responsive to the area he represents and are "long overdue." His district in central Nevada contributes millions of dollars in mining and other taxes.

One project that appears to have a lot of support is money for a national memorial for World War II veterans. Three Assembly members -- Dennis Nolan and Kathy McClain, both of Las Vegas, and John Carpenter of Elko -- have all requested money for this project.

Also popular is money for the public television and public radio stations in Nevada. Sen. Jon Porter, R-Boulder City and Assemblymen Harry Mortensen, D-Las Vegas, and Greg Brower, R-Reno, have requested bills for an appropriation. In 1999, $2 million was allocated to KLVX in Las Vegas and KNPB in Reno to covert to digital television.

Nevada's first military veterans home is near completion in Boulder City and Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, wants one in Northern Nevada.

The Assembly Ways and Means Committee, headed by Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, dishes out the money. Committee members want to send money to the Culinary Union in Las Vegas for construction of a center and to North Las Vegas for the El Camino Real Cultural Center.

The committee also is suggesting money for construction of affordable housing and assisted living accommodations. This could dovetail with the announcement last week by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, on plans for affordable housing.

Reid said he is searching for federal land for this project and he asked the Legislature to "find the necessary funding to turn this idea into a reality."

Assemblyman John Lee, D-Las Vegas, wants the state to put up money for a public shooting range in Clark County.

Assemblywoman Marcia de Braga, D-Fallon, is seeking $100,000 for a statue of Indian historian, educator and leader Sarah Winnemucca to be donated to the National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. De Braga said Winnemucca is being honored, not because she was an Indian but because she was one of the foremost women in early Nevada. And she said an effort will be made to raise the $100,000 from private donations.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, is proposing an appropriation to the Nevada Test Site Historic Foundation.

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