Playing games on the road bill

Never underestimate the yearning of politicians to grab the spotlight.

Take state Senate Democrats, for instance.

Silent for most of four months on the issue of transportation funding, they finally found their voice in the waning days of the Legislature this weekend after it appeared that Gov. Jim Gibbons had grabbed control of the issue. And they certainly couldn't let that happen -- especially Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, still stinging from her electoral beating at the hands of Gov. Gibbons in last November's gubernatorial race.

Last week, just days before adjournment, Assembly Democrats and Gov. Gibbons reached agreement on the state's most vital business. Revenue was identified to pay for the widening of Interstate 15 and part of U.S. Highway 95 in the Las Vegas Valley -- without increasing any taxes.

The highway funding bill that won passage in the Assembly was a modified, scaled-back version of the proposal Gov. Gibbons introduced last month. The state would purchase a $1 billion construction bond by diverting $20 million per year in hotel room tax revenue from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, a share of Clark and Washoe county property tax revenues and 25 percent of the state's car rental tax proceeds to the highway trust.

The bond is significantly smaller than what the Nevada Department of Transportation had sought. The agency has identified $5 billion worth of improvements it says it can complete within eight years, but several of the projects -- including three proposed for the Reno area -- won't be needed for a decade.

The measure appeared poised for easy passage in the Senate.

But Democrats in the upper house sensed a chance to play politics -- and to try to deny the governor a victory. After having essentially ignored the transportation issue for the entire session, they suddenly decided that the bill which had passed the Assembly wasn't good enough. Instead, in a transparent political ploy designed to position themselves as warriors in the battle against Southern Nevada gridlock, Senate Democrats offered a series of amendments that slowed the bill's progress.

Their amendments included a demand that voters face an advisory question on raising the diesel fuel tax to pay for road improvements and that a tax break given to golf course owners be rescinded with the money being redirected to transportation.

In other words, Senate Democrats want higher taxes.

This issue has always been about prioritization -- forcing NDOT to complete the state's most critical, beneficial highway projects first, and forcing the state and local governments to shift existing resources from less-important programs and services to the region's greatest economic and quality-of-life crisis: traffic congestion. The $1 billion bond is an appropriate amount, drawn from appropriate sources, going to appropriate projects -- all without tax hikes.

I-15 is the Las Vegas Valley's lifeline. Most every product on every retail shelf in Las Vegas arrived on a truck that spent some time stuck in freeway traffic. Tens of thousands of Californians brave I-15 gridlock every week to enjoy the amenities of the Las Vegas Strip. And more than 100,000 valley residents crawl along this corridor every day on their way to their jobs in hotels, casinos and restaurants. Without additional travel lanes, a congested I-15 would limit the ability of resort operators to fill tens of thousands of new hotel rooms currently under construction.

In fact, this late-session gamesmanship in the Senate is an effort to deprive Gov. Gibbons one of his crowning achievements. Say what you will about the Republican's first few months in office -- he and his staff clearly weren't prepared for the beginning of the legislative session, and at times the state's chief executive came across as confused or paranoid -- but he's the reason the highway funding issue has been a priority at the end of the session.

Southern Nevada lawmakers dawdled around the challenge for months. The Legislature didn't make any headway on the issue until Gov. Gibbons proposed diverting room tax revenue from the convention authority. His proposal was roundly mocked, initially, and declared all but dead by a handful of lawmakers. Now a version of it is likely to become law.

Commuters can also direct their gratitude to Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas. The bill surely wouldn't have made it out of the lower house without his hard work in the session's closing days.

Could Gov. Gibbons and the Legislature have found more existing revenue to spend on transportation infrastructure? Absolutely. State and local government tax receipts are growing far faster than the economy, and that's not going to change anytime soon. There are plenty more public-sector frills that could be stripped down or eliminated altogether to pay for highway improvements.

But if you think that's what the last-second maneuvering by Senate Democrats was truly all about, we've got lakefront property in Gabbs to sell you.