A cynical exercise

We were told last year that Nevadans shouldn't support the Tax and Spending Control Initiative because, among other reasons, the state already has a cap on budget increases built into statute.

Of course, the "cap" has enough loopholes to house the space shuttle, while TASC would have imposed a much more rigorous constitutional restraint.

In the end, though, the state Supreme Court booted TASC off the ballot for technical reasons, leaving Nevada under a paper tiger spending limitation that has done nothing over the past two decades to handcuff the skyrocketing growth of state government.

And this week, lawmakers moved closer to weakening an already weak statutory cap even further.

On Monday, the Senate Finance Committee heard testimony in favor of Assembly Bill 196, which passed the lower chamber 39-0. It would allow spending to exceed the cap as long as the money goes toward paying down the state's unfunded liabilities.

The unfunded liabilities amount to $4.1 billion that Nevada taxpayers owe to cover promised health care benefits to retired public employees in the coming years. A new federal mandate requires states to report such deficits, which could affect their bond ratings.

Enacting an exception to the cap is important, said Assemblyman John Marvel, R-Battle Mountain, because, "If and when we have some money we can start pre-funding the liabilities" under AB196.

This is amusing on many levels.

First, "if and when lawmakers have some money" you can bet they'll spend a significant portion of it on new and existing government programs. They'll direct only a pittance of it toward covering the unfunded liability -- as they did this year with a tiny $50 million contribution.

Second, lawmakers have shown over and over again that they have no intention of reforming or curtailing the generous benefits offered public employees that have put the state in this position to begin with.

Barring that, AB196 is a cynical exercise in futility and an affront to taxpayers.