Assembly OKs ‘noncontroversial’ fee

Cy Ryan and Erin Neff

Friday, July 18, 2003 | 10:24 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A once-shelved strategy for passing taxes has reemerged in the state Assembly, which Thursday took the first vote in what is now expected to be a piecemeal approach to approving taxes.

The Assembly took the first "small step" Thursday evening in passing a bill to raise $44 million over the next two years by increasing fees charged by the secretary of state's office.

The bill, Senate Bill 2, was called for a vote because further delay could have jeopardized $2 million in revenue expected from the fee increases, Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said.

Further votes on other "noncontroversial" parts of the tax package could come as early as this morning when the Assembly reconvenes.

During the regular session of the Legislature, legislative leaders eschewed the piecemail approach to passing taxes, saying it would leave them no way to approve a large business tax on its own.

Unless a large business tax were coupled with non-controversial taxes like the ones on cigarettes and liquor, the leaders said previously, support couldn't be expected for the larger ticket item.

Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, said he had suggested the piecemeal approach earlier on, to include such things as cigarettes, entertainment and the business head tax.

"If we get to the same end, what differences does it make how we get there?" Hettrick asked.

The first step, SB2, passed 36-2, with Sharron Angle, R-Reno, and Don Gustavson, R-Sun Valley, opposed. Four members were absent from the vote.

Lawmakers need to raise $830 million in new taxes to balance the state budget and pass the school funding plan.

The piecemeal approach could result in $500 million in new revenues being approved by the Assembly, but could still leave a $300 million hole in the required amount if no business tax wins two-thirds support.

Hettrick continues to ask for the overall budget amount to be reduced by reopening the state budget that has already been approved and cutting programs or spending.

The minority leader said he could get three or four of his members to support a total tax plan that raises $704 million. That amount is the "line in the sand" Gov. Kenny Guinn said he would not go below in signing a tax bill into law.

But Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said Hettrick has to reveal where he wants to reduce the budget. "You have got to tell me how we get there," he said.

Perkins said Hettrick won't reveal his secret list of cuts because "they will hurt real people. It's a moving target every time."

While there has been some movement in the Assembly, the Senate has stopped efforts to develop a tax plan that would be acceptable to the Assembly.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said Thursday morning "the ball is in the Assembly court."

He said his members were tired of coming up with tax proposals only to be told that they could not get a two-thirds majority vote in the Assembly.

The Senate, he said, already passed Senate Bill 6 but the Assembly could not muster the two-thirds vote on the bill. The Assembly passed the bill 26-16, two votes shy of a two-thirds majority, after the state Supreme Court last week ruled that funding education took priority over the supermajority required to raise taxes.

Fifteen GOP assemblymen have refused to approve any tax plan until the $4.9 billion budget is reduced. They suggested that the tax needed be $704 million, not the $873 million in the Senate bill.

"Nobody ever envisioned that we would be here this long," Raggio said, adding that people have to give up their "rigid" stances.

"Until they (the Assembly) come up with a plan that is accepted by two-thirds, I see no reason to go through the process," said Raggio, referring to attempts to fashion a variety of tax proposals.

The perceived trouble with voting on taxes in a piecemeal approach is that individual members may not realize the running tally of their actions and may suddenly appear surprised when the number crests above $600 million or $700 million.