State lawmakers override veto of water fee increase

CARSON CITY -- A day after a bill authorizing the state's water engineer to impose higher fees was vetoed by Gov. Jim Gibbons, Nevada lawmakers overrode him and enacted the measure.

The Senate voted unanimously to reject Gibbons' veto of Assembly Bill 480. That followed the Assembly's 37-4 override vote on Thursday.

The action was the first of its sort since 1989, when legislators rejected a veto of a pension increase they approved for themselves. That increase was later erased in a special session.

There were no comments in the Senate as AB480 was preserved.

On Thursday, Assemblyman Pete Goichoechea, R-Eureka, pushed successfully for an override by the Assembly, saying, "Nobody likes paying more fees, but the industry is supporting this program and its fees."

Lawmakers who sought the fees said the state engineer's office faced staffing cuts under Gibbons' budget and needed adequate funding to oversee water supplies in Nevada, the nation's most arid state.

Gibbons said in his veto message that he wasn't aware of "any significant support by industry" for the fees.

Gibbons added that higher fees during tough economic times "just does not make economic sense."

While legislators rejected the Republican governor's veto of AB480, party-line Senate votes preserved his vetoes Thursday of bills dealing with consumer health assistance and penalties for taking stacks of free periodicals from news racks.

Assembly Bill 257 would have made it a crime for someone to take more than 10 copies of a free publication, but Gibbons said police have more important things to do.

Assembly Bill 122 would have expanded authority of the state Office for Consumer Health Assistance.

Gibbons said the measure duplicated other government services and was "not an essential governmental service that the state of Nevada can afford to fund in these tough economic times."

Gibbons also rejected a measure that would authorize the Washoe County Commission to enact a voter-approved gasoline tax increase to raise money to finance transportation projects. No override vote on Senate Bill 201 has been scheduled yet.

The governor said he was vetoing the bill because the advisory question approved by Reno area voters lacked "a clear and concise statement that the state legislation being sought would come in the form of a fuel tax increase."

Reno Mayor Bob Cashell has said Gibbons lied to him and Sparks Mayor Geno Martini about the measure when he said he would support anything passed by voters. But Cashell later acknowledged Gibbons' comments weren't specific to SB201, rather that Gibbons generally would support a voter-approved tax increase.