Columnist Erin Neff: Legislators have nobody else to blame

Erin Neff

Saturday, June 7, 2003 | 3:40 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Just a week ago in this space I warned that lawmakers appeared headed into a special session with the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce to blame.

The extended special session that was called Friday can be blamed on no one but the 63 lawmakers themselves.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, had about as much control of his caucus as a tractor-trailer heading down Interstate 80 over Donner Summit without brakes.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, may as well not even have a caucus after Thursday's antics that led as many of her Democrats to speak against a new business tax as Republicans did.

Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, continued to press for another special session -- one in which he hoped lawmakers could reopen the budget -- although he was in no position to leverage such a deal.

Then there's Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, struggling to save face -- and thus his 2006 gubernatorial bid -- by helping hatch the equivalent of a 13th-hour tax proposal that met his requirement as a broad-based business tax.

Ultimately the 72nd regular legislative session ended without a vote because of lawmaker cowardice.

Lawmakers could have settled on a budget in mid-May. They could have been shopping taxes around to gauge support instead of letting a Senate committee independently decide what the tax package would be.

It was painful Thursday to watch Raggio stumble through roll call support for "concepts" of taxes three days after a balanced budget and revenue plan were due on the governor's desk.

No lawmaker has any excuse for the statement Assemblyman David Brown, R-Henderson, made Thursday when a net profits tax was discussed.

"Do we have any documentation on this?" Brown asked.

Only 1,100 pages from the Governor's Task Force on Tax Policy in Nevada that he and the rest of the Legislature commissioned in 2001 to recommend new revenues and measures to stabilize the state's economy.

On Thursday, a little more than 24 hours until the second legislative deadline, Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, was making motions to oppose the tax votes taken earlier that day in the Senate.

There's also no reason on Thursday -- the day before the first special session was due to end -- for individual lawmakers to have sought information on completely new proposals like Sen. Bob Coffin's quest for discussion of a flat tax and his push for another proposal -- the service tax -- that was long ago killed for lack of support.

Lawmakers cheered at the start of the special session when Raggio sent the lobbyists packing and made it clear lawmakers were the ones calling the shots.

It's clear from the way they handled their duties that they aren't yet ready for the job.