Senate Republicans may introduce stand-alone school bond rollover bill

CARSON CITY — Senate Republican leaders announced they will introduce a stand-alone, emergency bill authorizing school districts to roll over bonding authority for school construction projects unless the Assembly passes a comprehensive measure that includes prevailing wage exemptions by the end of the week.

Senate Bill 119 was approved by the Senate on a party-line vote Feb. 16. It was heard by the Assembly Government Affairs Committee last week but no action has been taken in the lower house.

“We believe school overcrowding and degraded facilities have reached a level of crisis in Nevada that can no longer be ignored,” Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson, Assistant Majority Leader Ben Kieckhefer and Sen. Becky Harris said in a written statement Monday.

“However, it is clear that any further delay past this week will put at risk critical school construction deadlines in Clark County. Therefore, in the event SB119 does not pass out of the Assembly by this Friday, the Senate will introduce a stand-alone school bond rollover bill as emergency legislation next week.”

Such a move would be a win for Democrats, who cried foul when the Senate combined a bipartisan consensus on the school bonds with the divisive issue of exempting schools and university construction projects from prevailing wage laws.

Removing public works projects from prevailing wage requirements has long been a priority for Republicans, who argue the law inflates costs to taxpayers and is not reflective of private sector market rates.

Democrats and union supporters counter that prevailing wages ensure quality construction and argue that there is no evidence they add substantially to project costs. They also said it would hurt the middle class and Nevada’s building trades, which lost tens of thousands of jobs during the recession.

The chairman of the Senate Government Affairs Committee, Sen. Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, earlier defended the omnibus bill, saying Republicans in the Senate wouldn’t pass the school bond provision without prevailing wage reforms.

But there are some conservatives in the Assembly who object to extending the school bond provision, equating it to a tax extension. That puts the original bill’s fate in question should Democrats who oppose the prevailing wage component vote with the conservative right to oppose it.

Splitting the bill into separate measures would at least ensure Democratic support needed to pass the bonding authority.

Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901. Find her on Twitter: @SandraChereb.