Democrats to challenge Guinn’s suit

Thursday, July 3, 2003 | 11:11 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Democratic legislative leaders plan to question whether Gov. Kenny Guinn has legal standing to bring a lawsuit in the Nevada Supreme Court to force the Legislature to pass a school aid bill and a tax package.

They suggest the Supreme Court has only one option: ordering the lawmakers back to work.

Justices gave legislators until 5 p.m. Monday to respond to the suit filed by Guinn at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, after the Senate and Assembly failed to pass a school budget and a tax plan to pay for it. The new fiscal year began Tuesday.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said Wednesday a meeting was held with Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, and Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, to talk about how they will respond to the lawsuit.

She said Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, was contacted by telephone.

The consensus, she said was to ask the court to remove the names of the individual senators and Assembly members named in the suit. No one was individually responsible for the deadlock, Titus said, and only the Legislature should remain as a defendant.

The leadership will use Brenda Erdoes, the Legislature's chief attorney, to write the response. Some other lawmakers are talking about hiring their own attorneys and making their own points.

Titus said the response will not address the difference between the constitutional requirements that a two-thirds majority is required to pass a tax plan but only a majority is needed to approve the state's budget, though Chief Justice Deborah Agosti, in setting the Monday deadline, suggested that could be.

Titus said the two-thirds requirement was passed twice by the voters to put it in the state constitution.

Meanwhile the court gave permission to the school districts in Clark and Washoe counties Wednesday to file friend of the court briefs in support of the governor's petition.

The districts maintain they have a "unique insight" into the impact of the Assembly's inaction. Clark County said the uncertainty in the school district's finances is hurting its recruitment effort to hire new teachers.

Two primary lobbying groups in the tax battle -- the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Nevada Resort Association -- have both decided not to file friend-of-the-court briefs.