We hope at least one of the 15 Republican holdouts in the Assembly -- before the Supreme Court is forced to intervene -- will join the legislative majority. Otherwise the state will find itself in constitutional and financial crises. It's hard to imagine that out of 15 legislators, not one would be willing to finally acknowledge that it's more important to open schools on time than cling to a position that, in too many instances, is driven by partisan politics.
If just one of the 15 would yield, the Assembly would have the two-thirds vote it needs to pass a tax increase and the crises would be over. The increase is needed to balance the state's $1.6 billion budget for elementary and secondary education, which the Legislature has already approved. While budgets pass with a simple majority, both houses of the Legislature need to approve tax measures with a two-thirds majority, owing to a change in the state Constitution in the mid-1990s. It took until June 26 of the ongoing second special session, but the Senate -- with one vote to spare -- approved a bill to raise taxes by $873 million to balance the budget.
The majority of Assembly members preferred some amendments altering the structure of the tax increase, which primarily affects banks and big retail stores. But they agreed generally with its size. Without a two-thirds requirement, an agreement would likely have been worked out in a Senate-Assembly conference. A bloc of 15 Republicans, however, led by Assemblyman Bob Beers of Las Vegas and Lynn Hettrick of Gardnerville, voted no. Their continued intransigence is preventing the 42-member Assembly from achieving a two-thirds majority.
When no agreement had been reached by Tuesday, the start of the new fiscal year, Gov. Kenny Guinn took the unprecedented step of turning to the state Supreme Court. Guinn's concern is well placed. Imagine schools not opening in the fall because the Legislature shirked its duty. And more than education is at stake. Nevada's credit rating on Wall Street will plummet if the tax crisis is not soon resolved. If that happens, the state would lose millions.
Ideally, the second special session of the Legislature will resume and gain the one vote needed before the Supreme Court becomes involved. If legislators instead wait for a Supreme Court ruling, it's possible the justices will send the issue back to them anyway, because it's the constitutional obligation of the legislative branch, not the judicial branch, to balance the budget. That would also be an opportunity for one of the 15 holdouts to decide that it's better to add banks and big retail stores to the state's tax structure than to drop kick our schools. Or just as troubling, to set a precedent of the Supreme Court dictating to the Legislature.
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