Senators decry Gibbons’ refusal to sign room tax

CARSON CITY -- Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons' announcement that he'll let a hotel room tax increase take effect without his signature has prompted state Senate leaders to accuse him of misleading them and being a political coward.

Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said Wednesday that Gibbons, while opposed to most tax increases, indicated he would approve the 3 percent increase in Las Vegas- and Reno-area room taxes if the plan had voter support.

"If he is now not going to sign it, I and others have certainly been misled," said Raggio, one of four Republicans who joined with the 12 Democrats who control the Senate to give final legislative approval to the tax plan on Tuesday. Five GOP senators voted "no."

Raggio said Gibbons "proposed" the room tax, which was supported by voters in the Las Vegas and Reno areas in November, in the state spending plan he outlined in January, adding inclusion of the plan in the budget was "one of the reasons I supported it."

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, also criticized Gibbons, saying, "Once again, the governor has chosen to abdicate his responsibility to lead Nevada" by taking "the easy way out by choosing to take no stance on the initiative."

Gibbons responded with a statement that Horsford called him a coward for "refusing to be an ardent supporter of a tax increase," and that should make it "perfectly clear to Nevadans that he not only plans to raise taxes but intends to do so with great zeal and enthusiasm."

As for both Horsford and Raggio, Gibbons said they expressed reluctance about supporting the room tax plan and he chose to do the same by letting the tax plan become law without his signature.

In other legislative matters:

• Lawmakers were urged Wednesday to approve a registry tracking people who abuse and neglect the elderly, but were warned that the plan could violate due process rights of those in the registry and also compromise victims' privacy.

AB8 would require the state Department of Health and Human Services to maintain the statewide registry. Currently, police officers and adult protective services staffers must report suspected abuse, but those reports aren't kept in a central database.

• Lawmakers expressed concern Wednesday over a decrease in the number of seniors that, because of budget cuts, a state agency can now handle in home care and community programs.

The caseload for such programs now averages about 1,800 per month, down from a projected figure of nearly 2,300 cases that lawmakers approved in 2007, state Aging Services Administrator Carol Sala said.

The spending plan eliminates seven social worker positions, including five that are vacant. If the five were staffed, the programs could take on another 225 cases per month, according to materials provided to legislators.