Governor faces Yucca battle

Erin Neff

Friday, March 29, 2002 | 11:22 a.m.

In his effort to boost Nevada's efforts to fight Yucca Mountain, Gov. Kenny Guinn faces major political and legal hurdles to find money the state's senators say they will need to stop the nuclear waste dump.

U.S. Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., have asked Guinn to call a special session to appropriate $10 million for advertising and grassroots campaigns aimed at building support against the dump.

But Guinn, who is exploring ways to find the money outside of a special session, faces three main hurdles toward appropriating money.

For starters, there isn't much money to find -- the state has a $100 million shortfall, and Guinn has ordered agencies to tighten their belts.

If money is discovered there are two additional roadblocks in the way: stringent regulations governing which funds can be tapped and how money can be transferred.

If Guinn overcomes those, he then faces an uphill battle on the political front as the Interim Finance Committee of the Legislature will have to approve the expenditure.

"The Legislature has got the executive branch very limited without their approval," State Budget Director Perry Comeaux said.

Guinn said he thinks it will be easier to find $10 million to add to the state's lobbying efforts "off-budget," as an alternative to convening a special session of the Legislature because there are "less people to vote on it."

Guinn said the $10 million is "not a sacred number," but state lobbyists say they will need more money to get the issue in front of the public as it heads to Congress. Congress is expected to decide the issue later this year.

But Guinn said drafts showing how the money will be spent have already reduced the $10 million total. The state currently has $6 million in the Nevada Protection Fund, but much of that money has been accounted for.

Guinn stressed Thursday that local governments are in better positions to contribute to the fund than the state, which cut $120 million last June and has had a hiring freeze on all noncritical positions for three years.

Guinn has sent a letter to state agencies telling them to tighten their belts further in the coming fiscal year because of the expected shortfall of revenues. Some programs, scheduled to begin July 1, may be deferred several months to save money.

"I think if the county can come with some money, we can come with some money," Guinn said. "First, we're going to ask the city of Henderson and the city of Las Vegas to give money."

Las Vegas has pledged $100,000, and Henderson has pledged $50,000 -- both will donate in July, when the new fiscal year begins.

"Can they come with more?" Guinn asked. "The city of Mesquite came with $50,000. Can the city of Las Vegas, because of their size, come with more?"

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he would look for additional money, but does not think the funds will be available due to a bare-bones preliminary budget.

"It's not any more difficult for the city of Las Vegas to cut than it is for the state," Guinn said.

Goodman said he's "hopeful the private sector steps up a little more" to help in the fight.

If the Clark County Commission approves a $3 million contribution to the fund Tuesday, Guinn said he will begin the process of getting state money transferred to the fund.

He will convene a meeting of the Board of Examiners -- composed of himself, Secretary of State Dean Heller and Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa. That board must recommend any transfers to the IFC, which is scheduled to meet April 10.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, who heads the IFC, said he will "defer" to Guinn to find the money, although he is squarely opposed to a special session.

The IFC emergency fund has $8 million. However, a portion of that fund has to be retained to cover potential forest fires predicted due to dry conditions.

Although the transfer is possible, it is not wholeheartedly accepted.

Senate Republicans and a mixture of Assembly Democrats and Republicans oppose a special session and think there are better ways to spend any money the state can find.

"I don't know where we would get the money and I've seen no accounting of how they plan to spend it," said Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville.

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said that while she opposes Yucca Mountain, she thinks the state's fiscal reality makes it impossible to add more money to the lobbying efforts.

"There are too many obligations already," Giunchigliani said.

Guinn noted the difficulty. He said any savings from state agencies will have to be used to offset the expected $100 million shortfall this year in tax revenue for the state.

The governor also said the state must make up $21 million to the public schools because the receipts from the sales tax did not come in as high as predicted. When the schools suffer a shortfall in sales tax revenue, the state is obligated to make that up.

Guinn said this morning he is looking to see if there is extra money in the state's share of the tobacco settlement money. That amounts to about $40 million a year, but he said he thinks that is all used.

Reid and Ensign knew from the beginning this would not be an easy task, aides said this morning.

"Anytime you are talking about that kind of money it's not going to be easy," Ensign spokeswoman Traci Scott said.

"(Reid) wouldn't ask if he didn't think it would be a good use of our resources," Reid spokesman Nathan Naylor said.