Friday, May 9, 2003 | 9:28 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- A core group of 12 lawmakers representing both the budget and taxation committees has begun meeting to try to bring the right and left hands of the legislative process together.
The group's first meeting Wednesday was described by one of those attending as an opener in the discussions with "nothing meaty yet."
Another lawmaker said the discussions showed that roughly two-thirds of the core group seemed to be on the same page in terms of a budget and spending plan.
The goal is to arrive at a workable spending number so that the money committees can close Gov. Kenny Guinn's budget by May 19 and give the tax committees an idea of how much they have to raise from new taxes to pay for the budget.
Among those involved thus far: Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno; Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson; Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville; and Senate Taxation Chairman Mike McGinness, R-Fallon.
Others involved in the process are Sens. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas; Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas; Bernice Mathews, D-Sparks; Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas; and Randolph Townsend, R-Reno; as well as Assembly members Morse Arberry Jr., D-Las Vegas; Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas; and Josh Griffin, R-Henderson.
Coffin, Griffin and Hettrick each serve on their house's budget and tax committees.
O'Connell, McGinness and Townsend serve on the Senate Taxation Committee. Raggio, Mathews, Rawson, Arberry and Giunchigliani serve on their respective house's budget committees.
Assembly Taxation Chairman David Parks, D-Las Vegas, is expected to also join the core group but has been busy chairing his own committee's hearings. Since the core group is not a specific committee, it is meeting behind closed doors at its own convenience, without public notice or inspection, to try to craft a consensus.
Protesters play hardball
When rural and northern teachers descended on the Legislative Building on Wednesday to ask for more money for education, they were disturbed to learn that 17 of the 63 lawmakers were across town playing softball.
Nevada State Education Association President Terry Hickman thanked the students for playing a funeral dirge on their band instruments and encouraged teachers not to worry about lawmakers who were off somewhere else.
"If there is no support by the Legislature in '03, then we promise no support in '04," Hickman said. "If there is no work by the Legislature, then the people will do the work of the Legislature through initiative petitions."
While some teachers left "sorry we missed you" messages on lawmaker doors, others drove across town to the game just as the Assembly finished off the Senate 16-14 in the biennial seven-inning affair. Students replaced the dirge they had played at the Legislative Building with their own version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
After "take me out to the crowd," they sang:
"Find me some funding for education. We don't want to be last in the nation."
Several senators were visibly offended that teachers were suggesting they would not fund education. When O'Connell and Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, left the post-game barbecue, they would not walk through the protesters at the entrance to the gate, choosing instead to walk through a separate gate a few paces away.
"Did you see that?" asked an astonished Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, and a Culinary Union shop steward. "Well, I guess I did teach them never to cross a picket line."
The S words
Raggio is telling people he has a vacation scheduled for June 3 -- the day after the Legislature adjourns.
The problem is that with 24 days left and no consensus close on taxes, the newlywed Raggio's honeymoon may have to wait a bit longer.
So far lawmakers and lobbyists aren't making contingency plans for what some think could be inevitable -- a special session.
Mike Millard, manager of the Plaza Hotel just blocks from the Legislative Building, said he's already booked summer travelers into the rooms the legislative folks are currently occupying.
"We're selling our rooms because we've got a lot of the legislative people leaving June 3," Millard said.
Millard said he would do everything possible to accommodate legislative guests in the event of a special session, and he made sure to note his hotel will feature a new 33-suite tower for long-term guests for the 2005 session.
Too bad it won't be ready June 3.
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