Governor vetoes bill to fund state taxation study

By Cy Ryan

Tuesday, June 9, 2009 | 5:31 p.m.

CARSON CITY – A bill setting aside $500,000 for the Legislature to study the state’s taxation system has been vetoed by Gov. Jim Gibbons.

The bill was among five bills vetoed by the governor. He also let three measures become law without his signature Tuesday.

The bills that became law without Gibbons’ signature were:

- Assembly Bill 309, which deals with stalking but had a provision that smoking would be allowed in conventions that are not open to the public and deal only with tobacco.

- Senate Bill 218 to permit constables to cite motorists for failure to register their vehicle. The constable could collect and keep a $100 fee from the offending motorist.

- Senate Bill 92 changing the regulation of notaries public.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, and Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, agreed on an interim study on the Nevada tax structure. Raggio stressed several times that it wouldn’t mean an increase in taxes.

But the governor, in his veto message on Senate Bill 143, said “We don’t need an expensive study to justify maintaining unsustainable levels of spending by increasing taxes while our citizens struggle to get by.”

Gibbons also nixed Assembly Bill 503 to allow the leadership in the Legislature to create an eight-member advisory committee to make recommendations on increasing the funding for future construction and maintenance of Nevada highways. The bill would have provided that the recommendations of the committee would go on the 2010 election ballot in the form of an advisory question.

The governor said, “This bill effectively circumvents the legislative process by allowing a small group of non-elected officials to make recommendations that have major implications on taxpayers and to then present those recommendations to the voters.”

Gibbons said these recommendations should come from the full Legislature and “This bill represents an abdication of legislative authority that I cannot support.”

Also vetoed was Assembly Bill 451, which required the state treasurer to establish a program for the investment of state money in certificates of deposit at a reduced rate. This would provide lending institutions with money for reduced-rate loans to small business.

The governor said the treasurer is required to invest taxpayer dollars to get the highest rate of return and to ensure the safety of the investments. “This bill would change that fundamental duty and require the treasurer to engage in de facto social investing at the expense of ignoring fiduciary obligations.”

He disapproved two bills involving police.

Assembly Bill 130 would have changed the negotiations involving the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. At present a police committee on fiscal affairs, involving representatives of the city and county, negotiate new contracts with officers. This would name the sheriff or his representatives to do the negotiations with the fiscal affairs committee to just monitor it.

The governor said the bill “precludes a county from effectively participating in negotiating between a metropolitan police department and its employees,” said the governor. “The entity responsible for funding the agreements that result from those negotiations should have a real seat at the negotiating table.”

Also vetoed was Senate Bill 396 to require a law enforcement agency to provide a written notice to an officer who is going to be questioned in connection with an investigation. It would also require notice to any officer who might have information about the conduct of the officer. The governor said the bill “would inhibit the ability of a law enforcement agency to timely investigate alleged misconduct of a peace officer.”