Editorial: This one got away from them

Friday, June 15, 2001 | 4:56 a.m.

The special session of the Nevada Legislature should have been simple, but nothing is as it seems with this group of lawmakers. To recap for those at home who didn't have a scorecard the first time to chart the death throes of the regular session, Gov. Kenny Guinn was forced to convene a special session for two reasons. First, despite having plenty of time to complete its business in a regular session, the Legislature failed to pass a reapportionment plan to redraw political boundaries. Second, the Legislature also implausibly passed bills after the June 4 midnight deadline during the regular session, casting doubt on their legality. This attempt at a sleight of hand prompted a special session to pass these late bills all over again to ensure that they could withstand a court challenge.

Against this backdrop, the Legislature did pass a reapportionment plan during the special session on Thursday. But Senate Democrats and Assembly Republicans -- both minorities in their respective houses -- said the plan unfairly cemented the majority parties' status for the next decade. Assembly Republicans took their anger one step further and petulantly blocked legislation that required a two-thirds majority for it to be effective. Two bills requiring a super-majority weren't lightweight measures, either -- one was a $23 million rental car tax necessary to balance state government's budget and the other was an energy bill, which set aside $10 million to help low-income families pay their power bills.

While the energy legislation appears dead, Guinn said further research shows that most of the tax plan did pass just prior to the midnight deadline during the regular session after all, so passing it again may not have been necessary. Let's hope so. Nevadans couldn't stomach a special-special session to fix more mistakes.