New look next Legislature

CARSON CITY -- The names of these politicians are familiar to legislative observers, but their titles are made up, at least for the next 19 months.

Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas.

Ways and Means Chairwoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks.

Majority Leader Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas.

Judiciary Chairman William Horne, D-Las Vegas.

Or why not take a long shot? Suppose the Republicans sweep the November 2010 election and somehow gain an Assembly majority.

Speaker Heidi Gansert, R-Reno?

It might be a little bit of 2011 legislative speculation, but nevertheless a lot of new faces will be in charge when the Legislature holds its next regular session.

That is because term limits, approved by Nevada voters in 1998 will have kicked in.

Ten Assembly members and seven senators, all with at least 12 years of experience, won't be returning to Carson City -- unless they are elected to a statewide office or decide to run for a position in the other house of the Legislature.

Only three of the termed-out legislators are Republicans.

Current Assembly Majority Leader Oceguera, not Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, probably will be banging down the gavel to open the session.

Buckley becomes legislative history after 16 years as one of the Assembly's supreme leaders.

But should she want to dethrone Gov. Jim Gibbons she could resurface 100 yards to the north in the governor's office as the state's top official.

Assemblyman Ways and Means Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, will be gone after 26 years.

Sen. Randolph Townsend, who began his career as a longhaired, liberal Democrat, leaves as an impeccably dressed conservative Reno Republican. He has been a fixture in the Senate for 28 years.

Senate Taxation Chairman Bob Coffin, first elected in 1982, also will be watching from home.

Under term limits, no legislator can serve more than 12 years in either the Senate or the Assembly.

But Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, is an example of a lawmaker who realized he would be termed out after this session and acted early to keep a seat in the Legislature.

After serving 12 years in the Assembly, Parks ran and won a four-year seat in the Senate last November. He can serve there for 12 years, too.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, is contemplating a similar step in next year's election. She now is termed out after 12 years in the Assembly, but she might make a bid for the Senate.

Assembly Judiciary Chairman Bernie Anderson figures the job facing the new leaders in 2011 won't be any easier than it was this session.

The Economic Forum decided in May that state tax revenues hardly will change at all over the next two years as the economy remains in recession.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, already has projected a revenue deficit of as much as $1.4 billion when the Legislature convenes in 2011.

"The money issue could be worse than today," Anderson said.

Not only that, but legislators in 2011 also must tackle reapportionment: the redrawing of legislative district lines to reflect population changes.

Reapportionment is a hot topic because each party wants to create as safe as possible districts for the re-election of its members.

Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, is well-aware of reapportionment, and that is why he hopes to become Assembly Elections Committee chairman. His committee would handle reapportionment.

"Those are going to be big issues they are facing," said Anderson, term-limited after 20 years.

Contact reporter Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.