Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Memo From Carson City:

Taxes are not off the table this legislative session

 Joe Hardy

Joe Hardy

Steven Horsford

Steven Horsford

Despite some posturing last week that seemed to show Democrats and Republicans beyond compromise, taxes are still in play at the Legislature.

It didn’t seem like that as both sides appeared ready to dig trenches for a long, hot summer of partisan warfare.

Democrats couldn’t get a single Republican vote in either house on the education budget, which Gov. Brian Sandoval will almost certainly veto.

A Senate Republican accused Democrats of being beholden to public employee unions on the floor of the Senate, a breach of decorum, Democrats complained.

Adding to the tension, the powerful teachers union, a Democratic ally, attacked Democratic leadership for their education reforms, although Republicans said they don’t go far enough.

So things looked bleak for proponents of a tax increase to soften the cuts in education and human services.

Yet Republican lawmakers are still open to negotiations.

Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, said a realistic conversation is finally taking place on both taxes and government reforms of collective bargaining.

“It’s happening now, as we speak,” Hardy said. “We’ve opened up the discussion.”

Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, said, “I think we should negotiate. I think we should hear proposals ... I’ve said from the beginning of my campaign that I’d read any bill put in front of me.”

He added: “I still don’t think anything on the table, in terms of reform, would make any Republican willing to vote for taxes.”

To pass a tax increase, Democrats — if they all are ayes — need two Republican votes in the Assembly and three in the Senate to reach the necessary two-thirds majority to pass a tax increase and override Sandoval’s veto.

Republicans have, since February, split into two camps.

In one are those, led by Sandoval, who say there’s no scenario in which they would agree to a tax increase, or extending taxes passed in 2009 that are scheduled to expire this year.

The other Republican group, most openly Assembly Republicans, say that they will consider extending sunsetting taxes (worth about $626 million over two years) for the right reforms on issues such as local government employee bargaining and construction defect lawsuits.

This is by no means saying that taxes are sure to pass or even likely. The Legislature has until June 6 to pass a budget, and a way to fund it.

After that, it will be up to Sandoval to set the agenda.

Sandoval has proved a persuasive force to keep most Republicans from straying.

And Democrats, at least so far, have resisted offering up enough reforms to bring Republicans to the table.

“They’re feeling snubbed and, at some level, disrespected,” said one lobbyist who has had conversations with Republicans. “They are willing to negotiate, but the cost, the price keeps going up.”

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, expressed frustration Friday with business leaders who said they would only support additional revenue if passed in conjunction with long-term reforms.

Horsford said Republicans have yet to come to the table. “We’re not going to negotiate with ourselves,” he said.

Earlier that morning, in an Assembly committee, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce offered an amendment to a bill, sponsored by Hardy, that would qualify as serious reform:

• Eliminate binding arbitration in local government contracts, and leave it to elected officials.

• Require public employee union contracts to open automatically if local government revenue falls by 5 percent during two consecutive years.

• Prohibit supervisors from engaging in collective bargaining.

Those will be tough for Democratic lawmakers to stomach if for no other reason than they gore an important political constituency — public employee unions.

But despite appearances to the contrary, the negotiations have started.

Anjeanette Damon contributed to this report.

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