Gibbons threatens budget veto

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Jim Gibbons outlined for Republican lawmakers on Tuesday his hills to die for, threatening to veto any budget that does not address policy issues he deems critical, lawmakers and others confirmed.

Gibbons could make a public announcement today on his veto threat, said one lawmaker aware of Gibbons' comments.

At issue are four concerns for the governor:

• Assembly Democrats might let expire a business tax reduction approved in 2005, from 0.65 percent to 0.63 percent, to gain money for new programs. Gibbons wants the tax reduction to remain in effect and even be reduced further, to 0.62 percent, cutting revenue from the tax by $28 million.

• Democrats, negotiating behind closed doors with Republican lawmakers, are pushing for the expansion of all-day kindergarten to too many additional classrooms. The governor wants some of that funding for his empowerment schools plan.

• Legislative budget committees didn't support a homeland security project Gibbons included in his budget for Carson City. The proposed "fusion center" would be an intelligence gathering facility.

• Gibbons wants $1.7 million in state general funds for a state National Guard program called Project ChalleNGe, which provides help for high school dropouts with a GED through a military-style learning environment.

Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, confirmed that Gibbons made his budget priorities clear to GOP lawmakers in caucus meetings, although Beers said he did not attend.

"He was clear and direct that he has a few minimum standards for the budget, and that if they are violated he will veto," he said.

Asked whether Gibbons would announce his concerns today, Beers said: "Entirely possible."

While Gibbons was making his demands and intentions clear to Republican lawmakers, key leaders of both parties in both houses ended another round of closed-door budget negotiations Tuesday with no final resolution on public education spending.

Democrats said the two sides are separated by only a few million dollars, but that the real issue is whether final decisions should be made on public education first and then followed by decisions on other budgets, from higher education to prisons.

Education First, a constitutional amendment pushed by Gibbons and now in effect, requires the Legislature to pass an education funding bill before other spending measures can be passed.

One lawmaker, who asked not to be identified, said he was told that if education spending could not be resolved by Tuesday, that it would be impossible to adjourn the Legislature on time by June 4.

"The reason we're not done now is because our position is we want to put a lot more money into the DSA (distributive schools account) and they (Republicans) don't," said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, after the negotiations ended.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said Democrats want to fund education first, putting in more money for career and technical education, innovative programs and other needs, while Republicans want to see what other agencies need first and then make decisions on the level of public education funding.

"They are, in effect, holding education hostage until they can look at the rest of the budget," she said.

Both Leslie and Titus said lawmakers of both parties are "pretty much" in agreement on expanding all-day kindergarten, not fully to all schools, but at a level higher than exists now.

The lawmakers would not give details of the deal to expand all-day kindergarten.

Currently, 114 schools of 340 statewide now offer all-day kindergarten at a cost of $26 million a year.

Schools that can offer the program have to meet the requirement that at least 55 percent of their students receive free or subsidized lunches.

Nine more schools now qualify for the program under that formula but have not been funded. It would cost $1.4 million more a year to offer the program in those schools.

School superintendents statewide have asked that the program be expanded by reducing the formula to 38 percent of students who receive free or reduced lunches. Expanding the program to that level would require another $15.3 million a year.

"That's not the sticking point," Titus said. "It's the bigger picture of how much you commit to education."

The Democrats said their differences with Republicans on public education, in terms of funding, is probably less than $20 million.

But Titus said Gibbons weighing in with a veto threat further complicates the matter.

"You have an education first governor who is not even talking about these education things. He's talking about the business tax and the military," she said.

Titus said Democrats are pushing to keep the business tax at 0.65 percent and use the money for education.

"There's no big outcry to roll that business tax back by business or certainly by the public," she said.