Legislative briefs for March 22, 2001

Thursday, March 22, 2001 | 10:06 a.m.

Bills introduced in both houses

More than $128 million wrapped up 70 spending bills requested by Gov. Kenny Guinn -- including $57 million for teachers' bonuses -- were introduced in the Senate and Assembly Wednesday.

Senate Bill 458 calls for spending $57.5 million to give schoolteachers a one-time bonus of about 5 percent.

Among the other measures, Assembly Bill 512 provides $7.99 million to help pay the costs of transferring child welfare services from the state to Clark and Washoe counties and Senate Bill 434 allocates $300,000 to help plan for the Las Vegas Springs Preserve Project.

The measures were referred to the introducing committees -- either the Assembly Ways and Means or the Senate Finance.

Land request passes Assembly

A resolution calling on Congress to approve transfer of 5,000 acres of federal land to Clark County for a public shooting range was approved by the Assembly 42-0 Wednesday.

Assemblyman John Lee, R-Las Vegas, said plans call for a safe, world-class shooting facility. Assembly Joint Resolution 6 now goes to the Senate.

Expanding commercial and residential development in the Las Vegas Valley is forcing target shooters to abandon some of their ranges in the desert. The resolution said the shooting ranges owned by Metro Police and North Las Vegas Police will need to be relocated in the near future.

The Clark County Department of Parks and Recreation is also pursuing the development of a shooting facility that could be a host site for local, regional, national and international events.

Shift urged for vehicle taxes

Faced with difficulty raising taxes at the state level, two lawmakers are proposing to take millions of dollars from local governments to boost teacher salaries.

A bill by Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, and Assembly Taxation Chairman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, would shift revenue from vehicle taxes away from local government agencies to give teachers in Nevada an annual 2 percent cost-of-living pay hike.

Assembly Bill 457 would only affect the five counties in the state with populations of 40,000 or more: Clark, Washoe, Elko, Douglas and Carson City.

But Las Vegas-area officials said Tuesday the bipartisan proposal would cost their local governments nearly $65 million a year and require them to increase taxes or cut services.

Beers countered that it's time for local governments to tighten their belts as the state did two years ago.

"This is a pretty big chunk of money, but I think it is time for people to realize that it takes big chunks of money to offer something like a little cost-of-living adjustment in the schools," Beers said. "Local governments can do one of two things, raise property taxes or cut costs."

Beers said local government gets much of its revenue from property taxes while the state has to rely on sales taxes, and that it's appropriate for the counties and cities to cut costs as did the state in response to budget constraints.