WEEK IN REVIEW: CARSON CITY

By J. Patrick Coolican (contact)

Sunday, May 27, 2007 | 7:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY - A first-term lobbyist who once worked for the U.S. Senate was running from the Assembly to the state Senate on Friday and said his new job can be much harder than working back in Washington.

There, he worked on technology and commerce only. He developed an expertise, schooled his boss on it, helped create policy.

Yes, the issues were complex and the stakes huge, but it was a simple matter of drilling down into the policy, learning it and communicating it.

Now he, like everyone else in the Legislature, is confronted with sheer breadth - a massive range of issues.

Last week, the Legislature dealt with whether judges should be elected or appointed; stopping methamphetamine production; giving or rescinding tax breaks for environmentally-friendly building s ; a transportation plan involving a dozen industries and key players; education spending; price gouging; criminal penalties and their effect on inmates; paint ball guns in schools.

Legislators lack personal staff to help sort it out. Nor is there help from think tanks or state university researchers.

So, legislators rely on their own gumption, as well as colleagues who sit on the relevant committees. And, they get information from lobbyists, of whom there are dozens roaming the halls, data and arguments in hand.

For the most part, it works out. Roads, prisons and schools get built, people keep moving here, visitors are confident that the slot machines aren't rigged, the social safety net gets a little stronger (however slowly).

Not always though. Sometimes, as in the case of the tax breaks for environmentally-friendly building s , which will cost the state as much as $900 million during the next decade unless a fix is made, legislators push ahead without knowing the consequences .

The words "unintended consequences" get thrown around with regularity.

Or, someone knows the consequences, but keeps mum.

Then there's the perpetual pursuit of a stable revenue stream to deal with growth and its costs.

Every few years, the Legislature, working on a tight deadline and dealing with powerful competing interests, has to cobble together new taxes and fees to deliver and upgrade state services. Aside from all the unintended consequences, the fixes never seem to work for long, and the process begins anew.

Some blame the 120-day session, though there's no evidence the process would improve without the deadline.

Regardless, there might be an issue that's most important of all but rarely gets discussed because there are so many pressing problems to get to in 120 days: the legislative process itself.