Petitions on public workers, taxes set to be submitted

Kirsten Searer

Friday, July 16, 2004 | 9:26 a.m.

Republican activist George Harris expects to turn in signatures Tuesday to put two issues on the ballot this November, and he's sure to upset some lawmakers on both counts.

One of Harris' petitions would ban all public employees from serving in the Legislature. The other is a referendum on the $833 million in taxes passed in the last legislative session.

Harris said he expects to turn in 40 percent more signatures than he needs on both issues.

"These people went crazy like drunken sailors and raised our taxes too high," he said of state lawmakers. "I'm just trying to protect Nevada families."

The average family, he said, pays an extra $1,400 a year because of the tax increases.

Many legislative leaders have been openly hostile about the tax referendum, saying it would throw the state into chaos if it makes the ballot. Others argue that the petition is unclear and misleading to voters who aren't well versed in last year's tax bill.

The proposed ballot question asks voters: "Shall the following sections of Chapter 5, Statues of Nevada 2003, 20th Special Session, be repealed: Sections 1 through 128, Section 130 through 164.38, Sections 166.5 through 188.3, Sections 188.7 through 189, Sections 190 through 192.5?"

Because of the way the Nevada Constitution treats the outcomes of referendums, if voters reject the "Axe the Tax" question it would set a precedent that would mean those taxes could never be changed by the Legislature without a vote of the people, even if legislators want to lower the taxes, Legislative Counsel Brenda Erdoes said.

If voters pass Harris' referendum, the taxes would be repealed, cutting off the revenue. Lawmakers could have to head into a special session to either cut state spending or raise other taxes, Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said.

"Anyone I've talked with has concerns because it would leave a large void with the revenues with the state and would pose some very difficult problems," Raggio said. "Budget cuts would be necessary."

Raggio predicted serious cuts such as caps on university and community college enrollment and cuts in mental health care.

The governor might be able to avoid a special session if revenues from the sales tax were especially high, meaning the state could temporarily squeeze by with budget cuts, Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association, said.

"You would hope that they could stave off not having a special session, which just costs more money, and go to a regular session and address the issue," she said.

Special sessions cost about $50,000 a day to operate.

Other legislators, including Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, and Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, also agree that the tax referendum would be trouble if it made the ballot.

"If it qualifies, it will be a no-win situation," Perkins said.

The Nevada Taxpayers Association opposes the tax measure, and Vilardo said she sees an opportunity to challenge the petitions if they do make the ballot.

She said that the written material that petition gatherers have been circulating doesn't give a complete view of what the referendum would do.

It would, for example, cut funds meant to replenish the state's rainy day fund, she said. And it would cut money for computers the state has already purchased for its tax division, she said.

"You had people who were signing a petition to repeal these taxes when in effect the petition did way more than that," she said.

Harris won an extension to gather signatures until Tuesday after lawyers argued in court that his signature gatherers were harassed on public property.

The referendum to cut taxes would need to be passed in November to take effect, but the initiative to ban public employees is a constitutional amendment and would have to pass in both 2004 and 2006.