Tuesday, July 8, 2003 | 11:25 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature can't reach an accord on a tax plan, but they agree on one thing: They believe the Supreme Court should stay out of the legislative impasse.
The Legislature, GOP senators and assemblymen, and Democratic Majority Leader Barbara Buckley filed answers Monday to Gov. Kenny Guinn's lawsuit asking the court to force the lawmakers to pass a tax plan and a school aid bill.
Brenda Erdoes, legal chief of the Legislature, asked the court to dismiss the Guinn petition and not find that the lawmakers have violated the constitutional mandate to approve a balanced budget and an aid-to-education plan.
The lawmakers "respectfully request that the court allow the Legislature time to do its work," Erdoes said. The Legislature failed in the regular session and one special session and is now in a second special session trying to reach a compromise.
Buckley said that she, Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, want to continue to bring about a successful resolution.
Fifteen Republican assemblymen and five GOP senators asked the court to direct Guinn to reopen the full budget so that increases in the budget can be scaled back.
The three briefs all agreed there was no conflict between the constitutional amendment that requires a two-thirds vote on new or increased taxes but only a majority vote on approving the budget.
The three documents were among the 15 legal documents filed Monday by a number of parties including businessmen, schoolteachers, conservative groups and university and community college faculty.
Attorney General Brian Sandoval, representing Guinn, asked the court to find the lawmakers have violated the constitution and to give them a deadline to pass a tax bill and a school funding proposal. He said the court should warn lawmakers that if they fail, the court could take steps itself to pass an $867.6 million tax increase.
The court has said it will give speedy consideration to the case but has not indicated when it may have a ruling whether it should find the Legislature has violated the Nevada Constitution by failing to pass a school aid bill and a tax plan to balance the budget by July 1, the start of the fiscal year.
The court received myriad legal advice, including suggestions that the court does not have any jurisdiction over the Legislature, that the two-thirds majority needed for a tax increase is unconstitutional, and a suggestion that the $3.2 billion budget passed to fund general government should be invalidated.
The Legislature passed a $3.2 billion biennial budget to finance state government for the next two years. But it has not passed the $1.6 billion school aid bill or the more than $800 million in taxes to balance the budget.
Erdoes, in her response, said the fact there has not been any consensus so far does not mean that an agreement cannot be reached. The Legislature has not given up and has not yet declared an impasse, she said.
Buckley said every Democrat and four Republicans have fulfilled all of their constitutional duties by voting for a bill to fund education and for a tax plan.
The Republican answer to the Guinn suit said the court should issue a writ of mandamus to force the governor to call or continue the special session to consider the entire budget of the state "to achieve a balance between all spending and revenue."
The Republicans want a chance to slice part of the budget that has already been approved.
The GOP, in brief written by Las Vegas attorney Daniel Polsenberg, said the court should direct the Legislature to adopt "continuing appropriations for funding" the school system until a full state budget is approved. They said they did not want to see education suffer during this budget impasse.
Business groups including the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the Nevada Bankers Association, the Manufacturers Association and the Retail Association, along with former Gov. Robert List, asked the court to dismiss the petition of the governor. They said the court could also void the $3.2 billion budget already passed by the Legislature and require the governor to call another special session to enact both taxes and a whole new budget.
The friend of the court brief, prepared by Reno lawyer Thomas R.C. Wilson, said these "political issues are beyond the province of this Court." It said court cannot "compel the Legislature to act within a specific or fixed time" as sought by Guinn.
While the legal fight progresses, Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, said Monday that he met for several hours with Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, going over possible reductions to some of the increases in the budget.
For instance, he said, there was a 60 percent increase in clients in one budget in human resources and that could be reduced to 30 percent. He did not identify the program, but said there has only been a 6 percent increase in population.
The brief by Sandoval said the Legislature has already approved an appropriation and budget bill of $3.264 billion to run government for the biennium. He said the lawmakers agree that $1.6 billion should be spent on aid to public schools. That leaves a need for $857.6 million in taxes.
Sandoval said the court can direct the Legislature to provide for a tax to cover this deficit by a certain deadline.
Sandoval, like the Legislature, does not see any conflict between the two-thirds vote required for taxes and only a majority vote for a budget.
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