CARSON CITY, Nev. — Even after amendments were made to address concerns, a proposal to limit mining tax deductions failed to pass the Nevada Senate on Saturday night.
The proposal would have capped the deductions that Nevada mining businesses can claim to 60% of current levels. It would have exempted businesses that gross less than $10 million annually and directed about $100 million to restoring potential cuts to education amid coronavirus-related revenue shortfalls.
After Democrats revived the proposal Saturday, two days after it failed, lawmakers again voted 13-8 for the proposal on party lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans against, denying it the two-thirds majority Nevada law requires to pass new taxes.
To address Republican concerns, Democrats rewrote the bill to address concerns about its potential effects on small businesses and where the funding would go.
The revisions weren't enough to sway the one Republican needed to pass the proposal. The deja vu outcome frustrated lawmakers from both parties.
Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, gave impassioned testimony about her own background as a product of Nevada schools in asking lawmakers to back the amended bill. She blasted Sen. Keith Pickard, a swing-seat Republican from Henderson, for agreeing to vote for a proposal that directed funding to education, but later reneging.
Cannizzaro repeatedly quoted his Thursday testimony that he would have been a "strong yes" if the revenue would be promised for education.
"This is the vote that was asked for. This is the vote that was agreed to. This is the vote before us now," she said.
"It is corporations or kids — and this should be a strong yes," Cannizzaro said.
Pickard said he wanted to revisit plans to increase funding for education in 2021 — including plans the mining industry may not like.
"What I learned after I committed wrongfully to the bill was that it was going to put dozens of mines out of business and thousands out of work," he said, apologizing to the the teachers' union that endorsed his 2018 bid.
Gov. Steve Sisolak called Nevada's part-time Legislature to Carson City to address the coronavirus pandemic and plummeting revenue projections that threaten cuts to health care, education and state workers. The proposal to limit mining tax deductions is the only idea put forth to raise revenue in the 11 days that the Legislature has convened for a special session.
Nevada's multibillion-dollar mining industry and the special protections that the state's tax code affords it have long been a target for Democrats looking to bring new revenue to state coffers. Both Democrats and Republicans vowed to revisit the issue when the Legislature convenes in 2021.
Lawmakers are expected to vote on a proposal to make more than $500 million in budget cuts later Saturday evening.
Sam Metz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.