Lawmakers are split on senators’ request

Erin Neff and Cy Ryan

Wednesday, March 27, 2002 | 4:26 a.m.

Although Nevada's two U.S. senators and governor want to call a special session of the Legislature to add $10 million to the Yucca Mountain fight, state lawmakers are not convinced the funds would help.

A survey by the Sun of the 63 state legislators found significant opposition to a session by members of the state Senate and bare majority support for the session in the Assembly.

Yucca Mountain is a difficult issue to gauge because many lawmakers hedge by saying they will attend a special session if one is called and possibly support giving money if they see a clear need. But Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn has said he won't call a special session without the lawmakers' support.

Even most of those who support a special session said they would only go if there was proof the funds could help and that the money is available in state coffers.

Guinn's spokesman, Greg Bortolin, said the governor is "still open" to holding a special session.

But with one house clearly opposed to such a session, and 36 percent of the other house against it, a special session appears doubtful.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said he would have to be shown that the money -- requested by Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev. -- could assist the state's lobbyists before he would agree to a special session.

"When both Reid and (U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom) Daschle say there is no way to stop it, why are we being asked to spend $10 million?" Raggio asked.

Daschle, who last year called Yucca Mountain "dead," planned to use his power as Senate leader to block the issue from coming to the floor for a vote. Earlier this month, though, he said he couldn't do that because the law that authorized the creation of a nuclear waste repository allows any senator to call for a vote.

Senators are trying to build a coalition to defeat the vote, and repository opponents now plan a nationwide campaign to bring pressure on Congress.

Reid and Ensign have called for the $10 million to help build the campaign as the issue heads for Congress later this year.

The state has already raised $6 million, but $3.5 million has already been spoken for.

The $10 million would go to pay for television ads that will air in states through which nuclear waste will travel. The money would also go to grassroots organizing efforts.

Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, said Guinn would have to build a much stronger case for a special session before he would agree.

"It looks bleaker every day," Carpenter said. "Daschle came out and said he can't do anything to stop it. Can Sens. Reid and Ensign round up them votes? I don't know."

Lawmakers have questioned everything from the need for the money to whether it would be legal to take the money out of the state's rainy day fund.

Responses to the poll did not fall along party lines -- most notably with six Assembly Democrats opposing a session.

A few Republicans, such as state Sens. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, and Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, favor a special session.

"A special session would be OK if we can do it in one day," Amodei said. "If we just go in to appropriate additional money, that's fine."

Democrats such as Assembly representatives David Goldwater and Chris Giunchigliani, both of Las Vegas, said there has not been enough justification for a special session given the state's pressing financial needs and $100 million budget shortfall.

"If we can't call a special session to address an educational crisis and a health care crisis, why should we call a special session to pay Washington, D.C., lobbyists and powerbrokers?" Goldwater asked.

State Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, said his constituents are worried about the state's budget and funding for education.

"Ten million dollars would not be sufficient money to make a difference," he added.

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said despite concerns about from where the state could draw the money and how it would be spent, he favors a special session.

"I think circumstances in Washington, D.C., have created an emergency for us," Perkins said.

A few, such as Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons, R-Reno, were fervently in favor.

"I would support absolutely everything and anything this Legislature can do to keep that dump out of here," said Gibbons, wife of U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

Last week Raggio, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said the Legislature cannot lawfully tap money from the rainy day fund to fund a lobbying campaign. That fund is available only to stabilize the state's budgets if revenues come in below expectations.

If lawmakers do convene in a special session to spend money from the rainy day account, they would first have to change the state law governing its use.

Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, said he would like an opinion from the Legislative Counsel Bureau about whether the fund could be tapped for another emergency.

"This is as rainy a day as you can get," Manendo said.

Most of those who oppose a session cite the state's financial crises, including the shortfall and dwindling Medicaid and welfare budgets.

"It's interesting that instead of getting compensation for Yucca Mountain, it's costing us," said state Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas. "We should be getting compensation."

O'Donnell said that even if a special session were convened, the Senate Finance Committee would not sign off on the $10 million appropriation.

If the bill were required to go to that committee -- as is the case in a regular session -- five of the seven members are opposed to a special session and would likely kill the bill.

Some lawmakers said they could be swayed to support a session if other issues were added to the agenda.

Both state Sens. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, and Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, said they would support a special session only if it also included medical malpractice and construction defect litigation.

Guinn is the only one who can call a special session, and it is the governor who sets the agenda for such a session. Guinn has previously said the special session would be for Yucca Mountain only due to the complexity of the other issues and the need to keep the special session to one or two days.