Quotes on Gov. Jim Gibbons’ State of the State address

Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007 | 3:45 a.m.

Quotes from legislators, educators, advocates and others on Gov. Jim Gibbons' State of the State address:

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Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno:

"His budget is aggressive, ambitious and fiscally responsible. This is going to be a tough session. On the meth problem, he has taken a strong stand. I'm in support of what he said about (not funding) full-day kindergarten. It's fiscally responsible to look at the program and see what we can do."

"The big issue is the unfunded liability. This is a start, but that ain't going to do it alone."

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Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas:

"In general there are many areas where our state needs to do more to respond to the challenges it faces. We can do better. We can take bolder steps."

Regarding proposed education funding: "It's going in the wrong direction. There are no measures to recruit or retain teachers when we know that's the best thing to do. The governor's empowerment proposal is funded by taking away from some of those incentives. It seems to be reshuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic instead of offering something new and bold."

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Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas:

"There aren't any really new things. There's a lot of continuation of programs we started last session. The disappointment was there is no all-day kindergarten extension or expansion. I didn't see anything that would shake the world up. I worry that we just Band-Aid a lot of little things instead of going after them with what it takes to fix them."

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Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno:

"It's not exactly bold, it's status quo. The small fingerprints (on former Gov. Kenny Guinn's draft budget) contain some fuzzy new programs with questionable worth."

Regarding the anti-meth program: "I'm disappointed that we're going to continue to study this instead of having a bold program to combat it. Adding 10 more police officers isn't going to solve the problem. We can't enforce our way out of the meth problem. They're not going to hurt, but the money for treatment is so minimal."

On the governor's plan for coal-burning plants that generate vehicle fuels: "He's taking a giant step backward from where we want Nevada to go. ... Where's the focus on sund, wind and geothermal? Nowhere."

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Assemblyman David Bobzien, D-Reno:

"I was hoping to hear more on renewable energy. We have great potential for our own resources - solar power and wind."

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Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell, D-Carson City:

"Another area that was not discussed at all was teacher compensation. We're still short teachers in many of our school districts. We need to look at how we bring teachers into this state and how we keep them."

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State Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas:

"The thing I like was the educational reform - the idea of bringing in a parallel track of educational reform. He allowed continuation of full-day kindergarten (in at-risk schools) so we can see if it has an impact."

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Secretary of State Ross Miller:

"I hope he will roll out his campaign finance reform plan in more detail. Mine is more comprehensive, but he will have an aggressive plan. I look forward to working with him."