Tuesday, June 7, 2005 | 11:17 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- With a mere 13 minutes to spare before the end of the Nevada Legislature's 73rd regular session, lawmakers approved rebates of $75 to $275 for every Nevadan who had a registered vehicle last year or was at least 65 years old as of Jan. 1.
The $300 million rebate, the result of a state budget surplus, will be distributed through roughly 2 million checks between July 1 and Dec. 31.
Gov. Kenny Guinn had been pushing for the rebate for months. After the compromise was reached by the Legislature to approve a slightly modified version of Guinn's proposal, he said would sign the bill into law.
"It stays on line in terms of the philosophy of the plan. It gives back $300 million and is actually closer to $305 million. And it has a fair ruling from the Internal Revenue Service," Guinn said.
Only people who itemize their vehicle registration fees on their federal tax returns will be taxed by the IRS on their rebates, Guinn said.
The rebate for vehicle owners will be based on the amount of money they paid -- up to $275 -- per vehicle for each vehicle that was registered with the state in 2004. All such vehicle owners will be guaranteed at least $75 even if their vehicle registration last year was below that amount.
Excluded from the rebate will be utility trailers, vehicles weighing more than 26,000 pounds and rental car fleets. But the rebate will include all other business-owned vehicles.
Rebates of $75 each will also be distributed to seniors aged 65 and older who do not own vehicles but possess an identification card issued by the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
"This is not going to be a check to get you out of problems," Guinn said. "It is more symbolic because when we have had tight years the people have stayed with us. And in good years you better stick with them and share the wealth with them."
Guinn had initially proposed rebates that reportedly would have ranged from $1 to $300. The Republican governor's plan initially ran into strong opposition from Assembly Democrats who sought rebates of $175 for each adult with a driver's license or anyone over 55 with a state identification card.
It had been widely speculated that if the Legislature couldn't complete its 120-day regular session by today's 1 a.m. deadline, the culprit would be a deadlock over the rebate. As it happened, the Legislature convened a special session at 3 a.m. but the cause was a stalemate over proposed changes in the Millennium Scholarship that provides up to $10,000 per student to attend a Nevada university or community college.
Lawmakers were not thrilled with the rebate compromise, though some were happier than others.
"A lot of people will be disappointed," Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said, explaining that she believes many Nevadans had been expecting to get $300 each.
Under an earlier version of the proposal thousands of rebates were only going to be $1 to $5 each, leading many critics to wonder aloud whether it would have been worth it for the state to cut checks in those amounts. But at a 10:30 p.m. Monday press conference in the governor's office, Guinn said that 124,000 checks of $5 to $24 each would have gone to owners of utility trailers and that the larger rebates would have gone to vehicle owners.
To up the minimum rebate to $75, Guinn said he eliminated the utility trailers from eligibility. But he also said that he has had a plan for more than four months, contrasting that to the Assembly plan that was revealed just last week.
"I'm very firm on the plan I had," Guinn said. "I had two criteria -- give back $300 million and give a check. They (the Assembly) came up with a plan that nobody has seen, and we didn't get a hearing on it."
Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, was actually the first lawmaker to propose a rebate tied to vehicle registrations. The adopted rebate plan, he said, was "a compromise by both sides" that he supported.
One of the lawmakers who was most enthusiastic over the deal was Assemblyman Bob Seale, R-Henderson.
"It's great because it's important that we get money back to people who paid it, both individuals and companies," Seale said. "My constituents will react fairly well. At first I got e-mail from people who wanted the rebate money to go somewhere else. But as time passed I started getting more e-mail from people who said, 'I paid that money in and I want it back.' "
The opposite reaction came from Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas.
"We should have gone for the $175 plan so that everyone would have been treated equitably rather than reward people who are wealthier," she said. "We were hoping for a minimum of $100 per person, but sometimes you have to compromise."
Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, had a similar take: "We would have preferred a higher minimum so that more money got into the hands of more Nevadans."
Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, said, "No, I don't like it but I have to live with it." He predicted many people will be upset when they don't get a check for $300.
The compromise first passed the state Senate by a 19-1 margin, with Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, casting the lone dissenting vote. Coffin has been going on a hunger strike because he wanted rebate money to go to military reservists and National Guard members who were called up for service in Iraq.
"We need to do more than put a ribbon on the back of our car that supports the troops," he told his colleagues.
But fellow Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, said afterward that the compromise made sense because "we've got 63 people here with 63 versions of a rebate," a reference to the number of lawmakers who make up the Legislature.
It wasn't until 12:47 a.m. this morning, 13 minutes before the scheduled close of the regular session, that Assemblyman John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, stood up on the Assembly floor and introduced the rebate legislation to his colleagues.
"Mr. Speaker, this is our rebate bill," Oceguera said.
With that, the Assembly adopted AB572 by voice vote and a few minor bills later the session came to an end.
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