26th Special Session of the Nevada Legislature
WHEN: 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Legislative Building in Carson City
OBJECTIVE: Cut state government spending by 20 percent — or $887 million — between March and June 30, 2011, to meet the state constitutional requirement for a balanced state budget.
WATCH: In the Sawyer Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., in Las Vegas, or over the Internet at http://leg.state.nv.us/audio/AudioVideo.cfm
HIGHLIGHTS OF GOV. JIM GIBBONS’ SPENDING CUT PLAN
■ Cut appropriations to state agencies, higher education and the public schools by 10 percent; saves $400 million.
■ Lay off 227 workers, keep 295 positions vacant, close the Nevada State Prison in Carson City and the Summit View Youth Correctional Center in Las Vegas.
■ Take $88 million in federal Medicaid funds.
■ Increase revenue from the mining industry by $50 million.
■ Launch a four-day work week and require state employees to take one unpaid 10-hour furlough day per month; saving $12 million.
■ Raid $30 million from the Healthy Nevada trust fund now used for smoking cessation and other programs.
■ Reduce salaries of teachers and school employees by 1.75 percent, saving $36 million.
■ Secure $30 million by allowing a company to set up cameras on major highways to scan licenses plates to catch and fine drivers without auto insurance.
■ Take $12 million in funds that would have gone to the Millennium Scholarship program.
■ Take $6 million in surplus funds from Nevada Check Up, a free health care program for poorer children.
■ Collect $5 million in overdue insurance premium taxes.
■ Save $5 million through voluntary retirement of older workers.
■ Raid $35 million from a Department of Taxation bond program, $8 million from an Insurance Division insolvency fund, $6.5 million from an Employment Security Division special fund, $5.6 million from the Wildlife Department heritage account, $5 million from the Legislature’s disaster fund, $2 million from the attorney general’s tort claim fund, $1.6 million from the Criminal History Repository account, $1.5 million from the Supreme Court’s reserve fund and lesser amounts from 25 other state agency accounts.
SPENDING CUT ALTERNATIVES PROPOSED BY LEGISLATORS
■ Secure as much as a $100 million voluntary contribution from the mining industry.
■ Require businesses, including the gaming industry, to pay fees to cover the costs the state spends on regulating them. Gaming Control Board costs, for example, are about $32 million a year.
■ Close state parks, saving $5 million a year.
■ Lease state buildings to private investors for $250 million.
■ Expand the state’s foreclosure mediation program, which currently is open only to single-family homeowners, to private businesses. Charge a $500 fee to lending institutions when they file a foreclosure notice, securing $40 million.
■ Call for a tax amnesty period to allow businesses and people to pay the taxes they owe the state without facing penalties.
■ Collect $90 million or more in overdue taxes by beefing up the auditing staff at the state Insurance Division.
■ Authorize Secretary of State Ross Miller to increase fees charged for incorporating businesses.
■ Require the Nevada Athletic Commission to raise licensing fees and broadcasting rights for boxing matches and mixed marital arts events.
■ Move state bank accounts from large banks to smaller and community banks that will agree to loan to small businesses and individuals.
■ Create an account that would put unemployed construction workers to work building state buildings and roads.
Las Vegas Review-Journal