Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Lawmakers say progress made in closing state budget shortfall

Special Session - Day 4

The cheerleading team from Legacy High School, in town for the state cheerleading championships, arrive for a tour of the legislature building on Day Four of the special legislative session Friday, February 26, 2010 in Carson City. Launch slideshow »

Day 4 of the state Legislature’s special session belonged to the governor after Jim Gibbons, for the first time during his tenure in office, engaged in the legislative process.

Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, and Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno — neither fans of the governor — both said progress was being made in negotiating legislation to close the state’s $887 million budget shortfall.

“The governor was over, present and ready to talk,” Raggio said. “There was movement on issues.”

Gibbons also said progress was being made on a budget deal, though differences remained on how much to cut education, raise fees on mining claims and whether to seek $91 million by borrowing against the state’s unclaimed property fund.

Gibbons has said the special session will end on Sunday, though he could issue a proclamation to extend it if there’s still business to be done.

On Friday, he first met at about noon to discuss changes in state law needed to allow Nevada to compete for federal Race to the Top education money.

Gibbons’ staff had said earlier this week that the governor would veto a bill passed by the Assembly and Senate to facilitate pursuit of the funds. But Friday Gibbons said he hadn’t made up his mind whether to veto it or not.

A second meeting between the governor and lawmakers Friday focused on budget cuts. The meeting, held in the offices of the Democratic Assembly leadership, lasted more than two hours.

“Since I’ve come to work for the governor, he’s never been in a meeting for 90 minutes,” said Gibbons’ spokesman, Dan Burns, who joined the governor in 2008.

Gibbons’ newfound engagement was a contrast to the 2009 Legislature, when he was rarely seen in the Legislative Building.

He did meet with Republican leaders Thursday, but when he returned Friday for two meetings shocked lobbyists and lawmakers speculated about the governor’s new engagement.

Lynn Hettrick, Gibbons’ deputy chief of staff and a former Assembly Republican leader, said the change was prompted by the governor’s new senior staff.

“There’s a different staff, a different direction,” he said. “I’m not patting ourselves on the back. We have different experience. We’ve encouraged him to be more engaged. We believe he’s more effective when he’s here and present.”

Former staffers have said the governor ignored their efforts to encourage him to reach out to legislators.

Chief of Staff Robin Reedy has defended the governor’s lack of engagement during the last session by saying it was “appropriate for the governor to take a step back when the Legislature was in session.”

As part of his new engagement, Gibbons also appeared Friday on the show “Face to Face With Jon Ralston.”

Gibbons seemed relaxed as he sparred with Ralston, a Sun columnist who has been critical of Gibbons. He defended his stance on fees — he generally supports them if the industry agrees to it — but also raised questions about some mining deductions, which he had proposed reducing. He called mining’s deductions on things like advertising “distasteful.”

Gibbons said unequivocally he’s running for re-election and blamed his poor poll numbers on Nevada’s bad economy.

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