Jon Ralston on how the Legislature has turned into a theater of the absurd

Friday, May 4, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Only in this theater, where there is a fine line between comedy and tragedy and where the absurd is the quotidian, could this production be possible of "How a bill becomes law - and then is a law no more."

Neither Oscar Wilde nor Neil Simon nor Eugene Ionesco could have conceived how this protean process works - or doesn't work. It is almost indescribable, this mishmash of politics, policy and incompetence. And it is, often unintentionally, quite funny.

How else to view a bill passed unanimously only two years ago and then suspended nearly unanimously two years later? How else to describe a suspension that is proposed one day and passed by the entire Legislature less than 24 hours later, without so much as a full hearing or vetting? And how else to describe a proposed law put forth by Republicans and supported by every GOP legislator, who have no idea that the governor of their own party has vowed to veto it just an hour before the Assembly minority leader (yes, a Republican) gives a floor speech in favor of the measure?

Now that is comedy. Or is it tragedy?

Some history is in order:

Two years ago lawmakers enacted a measure that provided incentives to developers that produced so-called "green" buildings. At the time, sponsor Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani estimated that the measure would cost the state $250,000. It turned out she was only off by about $1 billion.

Now that is funny.

This information came to light just as lawmakers were scrambling to find how to fill a hole in the budget identified by Economic Forum projections that slashed $110 million and by lagging local property tax revenue that the state must replace. Seems Giunchigliani and her colleagues, who passed that measure in 2005 without a dissenting vote, had no idea how green was our valley.

Major gamers, including those building billions of dollars in mixed-use projects on the Strip, found their environmentally conscious sides once they saw it could save them tens of millions of dollars. And the Clark County School District was even greener, creating buildings that could be eligible for half a billion dollars in tax breaks over the next 15 years. And if that property tax revenue is lost to the schools, the state gets a double whammy because it has to replace the disappearing revenue to make up for the shortfall.

Isn't that funny?

Not to lawmakers who believe in being green but not losing too much green. So they sprang into action this week and used an expedited process (read: ram and jam without substantive discussion) to do in less than 24 hours what can take 120 days with a regular bill.

This came several days after key lawmakers lunched with Gov. Jim Gibbons. The consensus: Something had to be done to stop the program and take stock of the impact.

"I was under the impression the governor supported it," said GOP Assembly Minority Leader Garn Mabey, who gave a floor speech backing the suspension.

Yet Gibbons, without informing lawmakers he would use the V-word, announced after the Senate GOP leadership had pushed the bill, and right before the Assembly Republicans signed on, that he planned to veto the measure. Gibbons has a legitimate policy concern - that it constitutes a takings of rights already granted - and a legitimate political one, too - I bet those gamers will be apoplectic after they showed their green sides to make more green!

But his lack of forethought to tell lawmakers what he planned to say surely seemed quite malicious to legislators who had rushed through the suspension of the tax break. Doesn't the governor have phone numbers for Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio and Mabey? And might it not have been smart to inform Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, too?

Now that is funny.

And it gets better: The governor now is on the record saying he will veto a bill that every Republican voted for (only two Democrats opposed it). If Gibbons does veto it - and I can't believe he will stick to that pledge - he likely will be easily overridden.

Maybe there's a better - and more comical - way. Lawmakers could allow Gibbons to keep his veto pledge and then change the bill so the governor will sign it. That way they can still be green, not infuriate those big gamers who want the green and everyone can live happily ever after.

I am sure it wouldn't take long to do this all over again. And I bet it would be even funnier the second time.