CARSON CITY – It took hours of marathon meetings between legislative leaders, Gov. Jim Gibbons and the governor’s staff, but it appears a deal to close Nevada’s nearly $900 million budget gap has been reached tonight. Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley said Saturday night that Democrats in the Senate and Assembly have reviewed the plan and signed off. Republicans, she said, are still reviewing the plan.
Gibbons visited the Republican caucus Saturday evening to endorse the final deal, one lawmaker confirmed. That’s powerful political cover for Republicans who may be inclined to vote for the plan when it’s presented after a brief hearing in the Assembly Sunday morning. Although Democrats maintain a two-thirds majority in the Assembly and can pass any bill without Republican help, Senate Republicans want their colleagues in the lower house to embrace the plan as well.
Although many details are unknown, the final plan:
- Reduces the cut to K-12 education from 10 percent to between 5 percent and 7.1 percent.
- Does not include a plan to “monetize” (or borrow money against) unclaimed property.
- Is not contingent upon passage of unrelated proposals to subject public-employee negotiations to the state’s Open Meeting Law, or to pass a bill reversing a recent Supreme Court ruling on water rights.
- Does not include a requested $32.5 million contribution from the gambling industry in the form of higher fees.
“Tensions were a little high this week,” said Buckley, who said most of the debate centered on the size of the cut to education.
“There is something in this plan that everyone hates,” Buckley said. “None of us would have written this plan looking anything like it looks.”
Gibbons participated in four meetings during the last two days of the special session, along with his staff. Spokesman Dan Burns said the meetings stretched longer than any he’d ever seen Gibbons participate in. Earlier in the evening, as Gibbons left one meeting, he declined to answer questions, but had said, “Hope is there. We’ve got a lot of work yet to do. We’re getting there.”
A news conference is planned for Sunday morning to discuss details of the plan. Stay tuned to SlashPolitics.com and my Twitter feed for up-to-the-minute details.
Tags: Nevada Legislature
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