Friday, Dec. 5, 2003 | 10:20 a.m.
Rep. Jim Gibbons' plan to give education a larger cut of proceeds from the auctions of federal land in Southern Nevada did not receive a ringing endorsement at a hearing Thursday in Las Vegas.
Gibbons, R-Nev., wants to reduce the Bureau of Land Management's share of auction funds for environmental and conservation projects from 85 percent to 55 percent. He would then boost the share of the money that goes to education from 5 percent to 35 percent.
While some said they support Gibbons' desire for more money for education, none of the 10 people who testified at the congressman's hearing fully endorsed the proposed formula.
The response from fellow lawmakers, a BLM official and school officials, for the most part, was that they are willing to work with Gibbons to improve the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act.
Gibbons, a potential gubernatorial candidate in 2006, made a passionate plea for funding education during his opening remarks while chairing the subcommittee on national parks, recreation and public lands at the Clark County Commission chambers.
"Clearly -- clearly -- we need to revisit this legislation so that we can better address Nevada's growing needs," Gibbons said.
"I submit to the committee and to all Nevadans that educating our children should be our first priority ... Under my proposal, we can still accomplish our capital improvements ... funding our parks, trails and natural areas.
"This is not a choice between educating our children and protecting Nevada's environment and natural beauty. We can and should do both."
Since the act has been in effect, 15 auctions have sold 5,600 acres of federal land in Southern Nevada and raised $690 million. Of that $473 million has gone to the BLM, with $207 million of that used to acquire 105,000 acres of environmentally sensitive lands.
It is that expenditure that Gibbons is targeting, saying the federal government already owns 87 percent of Nevada's land and does not need to be acquiring more, especially from rural and Northern Nevada.
Gibbons contends that had his plan been in effect from the beginning, Nevada education officials would be drawing from a pool greater than $240 million instead of the $29 million that was built from the 5 percent of auction sale proceeds.
Four Northern Nevada elected officials testified Thursday that the BLM is purchasing land from Elko and other communities with money raised from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act sales.
It is a move Gibbons said enriches Clark County at the expense of rural areas that already have a low tax base because there are not enough people living in those communities to fund their needs.
However, Bob Abbey, Nevada State Director of the BLM, testified at Thursday's hearing that the BLM's job is to "acquire property we believe will benefit the American people."
Asked by Gibbons if he would support his efforts to raise education's share from the auctions to 35 percent, Abbey said he was willing to work with the entire Nevada congressional delegation on potential changes.
That does not figure to be good news for Gibbons.
Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., issued written joint testimony to the committee. The two-page document makes no mention of support for Gibbons' redistribution of funds.
They said, instead, that the current legislation "provides tremendous benefits to taxpayers. The land auctions permit free market forces to determine the price of surplus land, and most parcels offered for sale have brought in millions of dollars more than the appraised price."
However, they left the door open for change.
"We are willing to look at viable options to update this landmark legislation," they said in their document.
Berkley said her impression was that there is not an appetite to change the distribution of public lands auction funds.
"The law is working as it was intended," said Berkley, who did not attend the meeting. "People are pleased with it. It ain't broke, it doesn't need fixin'."
Berkley said education needs could have been addressed through the No Child Left Behind program had the White House not "underfunded it to the tune $6 billion to $9 billion."
Walt Rulffes, deputy superintendent of the Clark County School District, testified that he would like to see the School District get more money from the public lands fund, especially in the area of "growth associated with the sale of the land" to developers.
As for how much it should increase, Rulffes said: "I'm not qualified to say what percentages."
Abbey questioned Gibbons' assertion that there is enough money to pay for local environmental and conservation concerns if education gets a bigger slice of the pie.
Abbey noted that while future auctions could raise "in excess of $1 billion," the current "wish list" from Southern Nevada is for $600,000 for improvements to parks and trails, and "we are not going to generate that in the next year."
Environmental leaders were not asked to testify before the committee Thursday, but watched the proceedings.
"We are worried about this plan," Jane Feldman of the Sierra Club said outside the hearing. "Given that education is a passionate issue, this could be a problem."
Feldman said the Sierra Club is not anti-education, but noted that Gibbons' desire to give auction sale funds to education is only a temporary solution.
"Our kids deserve priority funding for education, not a short-term handout," she said. "The land sales are a short-term program and simply cannot fund a long-term priority requirement. We can't hope to balance the education books on the backs of conservation."
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