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March 29, 2024

Damon Political Report

Sandoval vetoes first bill of legislative session

Updated Monday, April 4, 2011 | 12:31 p.m.

Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed his first bill of the legislative session today, killing legislation at the heart of Democrats’ jobs agenda.

Assembly Bill 183 would have allowed school districts to use a portion of their debt reserves to fund school rehabilitation projects, which Democrats said would immediately put jobless construction workers back to work.

The bill was targeted mostly at the Washoe County School District. The Clark County School District has said it wouldn’t be able to use its debt reserves for new projects.

But Sandoval had already earmarked the debt reserve funds to help fund schools’ operating budgets in the face of a $2.5 billion shortfall.

In his veto message, Sandoval said the operating budget is more important than construction projects.

“The bill has merit; a quality educational environment is important to the success of our students, and our state has far too many unemployed construction workers,” Sandoval wrote. “But the condition of our schools and the struggles of the construction industry are not the only challenges we confront. Indeed, with an unemployment rate of 13.6 percent and the nation’s worst graduation rates, rarely has our state been so severely tested. In the face of such difficulty, we cannot afford to be parochial.”

Sandoval said passage of the bill would require a tax increase to fill the hole it would open in his budget.

The bill passed the Legislature on a party-line vote, meaning Democrats likely do not have the votes to override Sandoval’s veto.

Responding to the veto, Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, the bill's sponsor, accused Sandoval of ignoring both children who need better schools and the will of the voter.

"The majority of these schools don't have parents or business partners who step in to upgrade the schools when the district can't provide rehabilitation," Smith said in a prepared statement. "The inequities are glaring, and I'm surprised that a creative opportunity to correct them has been vetoed by the governor."

Sandoval's veto was expected, despite Democrats' efforts to build political pressure against the veto.

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