Tax bill veto will bring Gibbons to 12 for session

By Cy Ryan

Published Wednesday, May 27, 2009 | 2:35 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, May 27, 2009 | 4:19 p.m.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons will set the modern day record for vetoes by a Nevada governor on Thursday, when he plans to reject the tax legislation passed by the Legislature.

Gibbons has so far vetoed 11 bills, one short of the mark set by Gov. Bob List in 1981.

Gibbons will veto Senate Bill 429, which calls for increases to taxes of $390 million a year. He apparently will also veto the budget bills since they would not be balanced without the tax increase.

The tax increase passed the Senate 17-4 and the Assembly 29-13. If those numbers hold, lawmakers would have the two-thirds vote necessary to override the veto.

Like Gibbons, List was a Republican governor dealing with Democrats who held a majority in both houses.

Research by the state Archives shows Gibbons will fall short of the record set by Gov. Henry Blasdel, who vetoed 30 bills in 1864-65 session, the first Legislature after Nevada became a state. Blasdel, a Republican, vetoed a number of bills sponsored by legislators who sought toll road franchises.

Gov. Richard Kirman, a Democrat, vetoed 21 bills in 1937. Gov. Edward Carville, a Democrat, vetoed 20 bills in 1939 in his first Legislature as the state’s chief executive. In 1941, he vetoed 16 bills.

Gov. Mike O’Callaghan, a Democrat, did not veto a single bill in the 1975 session. And Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, also did not veto any bills in the 2003 session.

Gibbons, in his first session in 2007, vetoed seven bills.