Nevada Assembly GOP OK with tax reform — not more taxes
CARSON CITY — The new Republican majority in the Assembly is willing to discuss tax proposals in the upcoming 2015 session, but new revenue will be the last resort after Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed budget gets a thorough review, Speaker-designate Ira Hansen said Saturday.
“Nobody is saying no to anything until we see what the governor wants,” he said. “Obviously I have a very conservative group. So taxation is like the very last line of defense. It’s the easy way out. We need to look at all the options in the budget before we just say yes or no to something as big as taxes.”
Hansen, R-Sparks, held a lengthy caucus at the Legislative Building to organize his 25 members and set some legislative priorities as Republicans take control of the Assembly for the first time in 30 years.
“I think our biggest priorities are actually going to be education related,” he said in an interview after the meeting. “But at the moment everybody, honestly, is very open minded. Once we get the governor’s concepts, then we will take it into our group and see where we are in harmony and where we may have to do a little adjusting.”
School choice is a priority, as are 2nd Amendment issues and collective bargaining reform, among many others, Hansen said.
“A lot of them are very similar to what we’ve done in the past,” he said.
A bill allowing those with concealed carry permits to take their weapons onto the campuses of the state university system is expected to come back for discussion, Hansen said. Past efforts to pass such a bill have failed in part due to opposition from the higher education system.
Republican-backed legislative priorities stand the best chance of succeeding in decades. For the first time since 1929, the governor and both houses of the Legislature are controlled by the GOP.
Hansen said Assembly Republicans are concerned that while spending on public education has doubled over the past 30 years, adjusted for inflation, performance still lags far behind. There has not been an organized effort to assess whether the many reforms passed by the Legislature over the years have actually worked, he said.
The push to get children to read proficiently by the third grade, for example, was made a priority by Gov. Bob Miller in the 1990s, then by Gov. Kenny Guinn, and yet again by Sandoval in 2011, Hansen said.
“Somewhere there is a failure of evaluation,” he said. “We’ve got to make the educational system work. We’ve got a bunch of kids — we’re 50th in the nation.
“So the idea that putting money into education is going to automatically be a panacea and solve all our problems just, the evidence isn’t there to support that,” Hansen said.
Hansen said he has met with Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson, R-Las Vegas, but has yet to meet with Sandoval and his staff.
Hansen was named speaker designate after a lengthy caucus a week ago, taking over leadership from Assemblyman Pat Hickey, R-Reno.
Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801.
