Wednesday, May 28, 2003 | 11:05 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- A second consecutive night of late negotiations left Senate and Assembly leaders about $30 million apart from an agreement on a $4.8 billion budget plan as talks again stalled Tuesday over educational funding.
Ten lawmakers emerged from a Senate conference room just before 10 p.m. without resolution on the final budget number.
Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said late Tuesday that lawmakers were "in the $900 million range" for the new and increased taxes.
The plan has stalled over raises for teachers. The Assembly has called for 4 percent raises for teachers with the Senate eyeing a 2 percent raise.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, attempted to break the impasse this morning by pushing a budget plan through the Senate Finance Committee that would add $848.7 million in taxes over the next two years. Raggio's proposal calls for rolling $100 million in federal money for education and homeland security into the 2-year budget plan to fund 2 percent raises in each year for the teachers. The plan would give a 2 percent raise in the second year of the budget for university employees and state workers as well.
He said the Democratic proposal for a bigger raise for teachers is not practical.
"It's not addressing the similar concerns expressed by state workers," he said. Democrats have agreed with raises for university and state workers but have pushed for a larger raise for teachers.
Senate and Assembly leaders are still expected to continue negotiating the budget package. Assemblyman Morse Arberry Jr., D-Las Vegas, said the two sides are "not that close."
After Tuesday night's negotiation session, one Republican lawmaker's worksheet left on the table after two hours of talks showed a total of $880 million in new revenue needed, leaving the possibility that the Democrats were asking for $910 million in revenue. Two-thirds of each house must support a new revenue amount for it to pass.
Raggio has dealt with dissent within his caucus all session and is now facing an uphill battle getting the more conservative members to approve what he negotiates.
Tuesday's talks began with Raggio proposing a teacher salary increase of 2 percent in each of the next two fiscal years and with the Assembly proposing 3 percent in each year, sources said. After money is rolled into the Public Employees Retirement System, a 2 percent raise is equal to a 1.25 percent raise in the employee's pocket and a 3 percent raise is akin to a 2.25 percent increase.
About an hour after Tuesday's negotiations began, with slightly different participants than in Monday's discussion, Perkins angrily opened the door to the conference room, threatening to walk out.
After a brief return to the room, Perkins and four other Democrats retreated to the speaker's office to regroup in private.
Perkins was joined by Las Vegas Democrats: Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, Sen. Terry Care and Assembly members Chris Giunchigliani and Arberry.
Coming out of the break, Arberry turned to Titus and said: "Yeah, I'll do it. What am I pitching? Two, three and a day?"
Democrats had negotiated for a 4 percent raise, but the offer became a 2 percent teacher raise in 2004, a 3 percent raise in 2005 and the addition of an instructional day to the school year.
The Republicans apparently didn't accept, because the talks ended just five minutes later. Raggio and Sens. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, and Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, were joined by Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville and Josh Griffin, R-Henderson, at the talks.
Republicans are reportedly bucking the last $30 million in teachers' raises because the amount is an add-on to the budget and pushes the total amount of a tax increase higher.
With some conservatives proudly discussing how their votes against more taxes will help get them re-elected in next fall's primaries, moderate Republicans like Townsend, Rawson and Griffin are being called upon to rally support from within their caucuses.
Earlier on Tuesday the Senate Taxation Committee passed a $560 million tax increase bill on to the full Senate floor for consideration.
Townsend has said he will propose floor amendments to include adding the Unified Business Tax, and possibly another tax to the mix.
The deficit for the next two fiscal years is $704 million -- the amount Gov. Kenny Guinn has referred to as his "line in the sand" for funding. For each hundred million dollars beyond that number, the amount of Republican voting support for taxes decreases.
But for Democrats, the problem could actually be the opposite. Some Democratic lawmakers are privately calling for $1.3 billion in taxes, saying that amount would fill the deficit and properly fund education.
"If we're going to do it, let's do it," one Democratic senator not involved in the talks said Tuesday.
Democrats want to be able to say they did fund education and tell teachers they listened to their needs.
After the negotiations broke apart Tuesday night, Perkins said: "I'm lower than I thought we'd go in the first place."
The difference in education funding is limited to the teacher salary issue and how to implement class-size reduction.
Full-day kindergarten for at-risk schools, a plan proposed by Guinn and included in modified form by the Assembly, is not going to be included, lawmakers said.
And despite Assembly Democrat complaints during a public hearing Tuesday morning on implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the provisions of that act, as contained in Senate Bill 191, are not a part of the continued hang-ups between the houses.
Lawmakers apparently agree to fund stipends for teachers in at-risk schools or in high-need subject areas. Increasing the starting salary for teachers to $30,000 has also been taken off the table.
Tuesday night's talks came after hours of time during the day in which lawmakers had the ability to sit down, but didn't.
Some Democrats privately accused Raggio of playing games in order to meet on his own time.
The Senate floor session adjourned at 2:15 p.m. and Senate Finance, which Raggio chairs, did not convene until 5 p.m.
After the Senate Finance Committee meeting ended just before 6:30 p.m., Raggio further delayed the budget negotiations to hear a new tax proposal from the Business Representative Group, a group representing the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and other businesses.
The new tax proposal from the business group, their third of the session, removes the sales tax on services that has found no support. In its place the group is proposing a payroll tax that would be applied on a company's total payroll costs, with different rates applied to payrolls in a tiered fashion.
Titus said she had also heard the proposal and was not impressed.
Other Democrats said they believed the business group was simply trying to delay the debate.
The budget impasse is preventing progress by the tax panels. The Assembly Taxation Committee cannot pass a revenue plan until it knows how much is needed.
And, lawmakers are also pressed to settle the differences in time for Monday's midnight adjournment.
By legislative rule, the appropriations bill must sit idle for 24 hours after it is introduced before any vote can be taken on it.
That means the bill has to be introduced early on Sunday -- at the very latest -- for lawmakers to even consider it in time for the June 2 end to the 120-day session.
Also, since all rules have been suspended in each house, a bill no longer requires an initial reading; second reading and vote on third reading -- a procedure that takes three days under normal rules.
Thus, legislative leaders still left the building after 10 p.m. Tuesday claiming they could adjourn on time with both a budget and tax plan approved.
Previous hopes to finish by May 31 and save taxpayers $100,000 are now mechanically impossible.
Sun reporter
Cy Ryan contributed to this story.
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