Quotes on Gov. Kenny Guinn’s “state of the state” address

AP

Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2005 | 4:12 a.m.

Quotes from legislators, educators, advocates and others on Gov. Kenny Guinn's State of the State address:

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Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, on the governor's proposal to cut health benefits out of new state employees' retirement plans:

"I think that's probably necessary. It's not taking anything away from the existing employees. But we know have a crisis in that health care benefit. So I think we'll have to look at it on a prospective basis, it's probably a prudent thing to do. We cannot continue to subsidize all of that in the future."

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Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson:

"I think the governor did a pretty good job setting out plans for health care and education. I'm a little concerned that he wants to change directions in the retiree health insurance program. I'm not sure we can take something away without having a plan to care for them. It's going to be important that we take care of Nevada families."

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Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, on the governor's proposal to link teachers' salary increases to student performance:

"I don't think the salary increase is near enough for teachers. It doesn't even cover inflation or cost of living. ... As a former teacher, I can say, merit pay, whatever you call it, it does not necessarily work in attracting and retaining good teachers. If they actually paid people properly in the first place, then you could talk about career ladder and other performance changes. But to just throw pennies at someone whose salary hasn't even kept pace with inflation and then make them jump through hoops? They're working their hearts out as it is, and I think we can reward people better than that."

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Assemblyman Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, a fiscal conservative on the governor's spending:

"There's no question it's a major expansion of state government. ... But the money is there, what he's spending is the money that was paid by the (2003) tax increases, which have gone way over the projections. He spending that money. The likelihood that we're going to cut much, that we're going to roll back taxes, doesn't appear to be very great."

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Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, on Guinn's proposal to eliminate health care retirement benefits for new state employees:

"The elimination of health benefits for public employees is going to get a hard look (from legislators)."

Regarding his proposal to use state bonds to provide $100 million for the Millennium Scholarship:

"We should use surplus money to shore that up instead of floating bonds."

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Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, on the governor's proposal to spend more than $100 million on mental-health services:

"There's a lot of things that are on my list that are on the budget. But I think there's a gap in terms of funding for emergency crises in Las Vegas. There's no funding for triage centers. I'm not sure he's doing enough between now and when the new state (mental-health) hospital opens in May 2006. We need to look at filling the gap. It's a good start but the devil's in the details."

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Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno:

"The combination of efforts for economic development and mental health I thought were most important. He articulated it well. I liked the positive nature of the message."

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Washoe County Assessor Bob McGowan on Guinn's urging for property tax changes:

"I think that's good to address. I'm not sure that the solutions I've heard so far are going to get us where we want to get. I think to have it discussed it is very important. Nobody should lose their homes because of property taxes."

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Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, on Guinn's proposal to create the Gov.'s Commission on Excellence in Education, which would oversee Guinn's proposed $100 million infusion for troubled schools:

"I'm a little concerned about the education commission. I think that's the job of the Legislature. We have our own education committee."

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Jim Richardson of the university system's Faculty Alliance on proposed 2 percent yearly pay raises:

"I know things are tight. Two percent per year, we're very pleased with that. We had asked for 3 percent and 3 percent. Two percent barely keeps us up with inflation. I think we'll be happy with that. You won't see a lot of argument from us on that."

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State Treasurer Brian Krolicki on $100 million Millennium Scholarship infusion:

"This infusion of $100 million coupled with some of the changes that we've already suggested should give this Millennium Scholarship legs to 2015 - another decade."

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Scott MacKenzie of the State of Nevada Employees Association, on pay raises and medical insurance benefits being cut off for new state workers:

"It's easier to cut off the new employees than it is to deal with the current employees. We're not going to hear a lot of screaming about that for a couple of years. I will speak against it. As far as the 2-plus-2 pay raise goes, it's a good start. Our goal is 5 percent. It's something. It's a start. We'll try to build on that."

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Secretary of State Dean Heller, on Guinn's legacy:

"Without a doubt I think Guinn has established himself as an education governor."

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