Supermajority vote urged for revenue cuts, shifts

CARSON CITY -- If it takes a two-thirds majority to pass taxes in the Legislature, the same standard should hold for measures that reduce revenue, take money from local governments or impose unfunded mandates on local governments, a Senate panel was told Thursday.

Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, has sponsored Senate Joint Resolution 9, which was discussed Thursday by the Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections.

"It is hard to budget when the state is holding a large hammer over each local governor's piggybank," Lee told the committee. "Requiring a two-thirds vote would hopefully encourage legislators to reach out to local government representatives. In my opinion, this would result in better legislation."

Nevada voters in November approved an advisory question saying the state shouldn't take money from other jurisdictions without local consent.

The proposed constitutional amendment would require the same supermajority vote needed to raise taxes or fees before lawmakers could raid local government coffers or require local governments to provide new services. It's a budget-balancing maneuver legislators and governors have used in the past, and Gov. Brian Sandoval has proposed in his current $5.8 billion spending plan.

Among other things, Sandoval wants to tap $300 million in school district bond reserve accounts to fund educational operations. He also wants to make counties pay for pre-sentence investigations, juvenile justice services and to take on mental health courts.

Another proposal continues diverting a portion of room taxes generated in Washoe and Clark counties that were approved by voters to help fund education to the state general fund until 2014.

Sandoval is not alone in the tactic of shifting costs and siphoning local money to fill state budget holes.

"Since 2008, revenue diversions and unfunded mandates have cost counties $250 million," said Jeff Fontaine, executive director of the Nevada Association of Counties.

He said the governor's proposed budget would cost them another $335 million over the next two years.

"These impacts only exacerbate the shortfall that counties are experiencing," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said he was troubled by references to state money versus local money. The discussion, he said, should be about how best to spend taxpayer money and "how we can work as partners regardless of jurisdiction to prioritize the needs of all the constituents that we serve."

It was a message mayors and county representatives agreed with, though they spoke in support of the measure.

"We want to take a seat at the table when the Legislature is having these discussions," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.

"You've got problems. We've got problems," echoed Reno Mayor Bob Cashell. "Do I like it when somebody comes messin' with my taxpayers' money? No, I don't," he said.

He also said that when voter approved funding is at stake, citizens should be allowed a say on whether that money can be used for "something other than what they voted on."

Local government representatives also complained that their own tentative budgets must be submitted by mid-May, while the Legislature won't set the state budget until June. The uncertainty makes the budgeting process that much more difficult at the local level.

If SJR9 wins legislative approval this year, it would have to pass again during the 2013 session before being put to voters on the 2014 general election ballot.