Senate says its up to the Assembly

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, on Thursday suspended meetings of that body, saying the Assembly is where the problem remains.

"The Senate has passed a revenue plan and all the budgets," he told fellow senators. "I think it would be futile for us to continue this effort at this time in this house."

He said working on another plan "is futile if the other house is not willing to support it by a two-thirds of whatever vote."

"The situation is now clearly that the ball is in the court in the Assembly. Until they come up with a plan, I see no reason to continue in this house."

The Assembly responded with a new approach to the problem of building a tax package. It passed Senate Bill 2 containing some $44 million in fee increases for the Secretary of State's Office by a 36-2 vote.

Majority Leader Barbara Buckley said that might be how they develop the entire tax package -- one piece at a time.

"Taking this in a piecemeal way, as we may do with other taxes, may help our progress," she said.

Buckley said that could include votes today on measures raising cigarette and liquor taxes, several so-called "passive revenue generators" designed to improve collection of existing levies, and larger pieces such as an entertainment tax.

Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, said he supports the plan.

"There are certainly taxes here that are not at issue," he said.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, agreed with Raggio that they can't second guess the Assembly

"It's best to let them come in with something at this point," she said.

Asked whether Assembly Democrats were being as stubborn as the GOP, she said, "That may be, but at least you know what they want."

She said Assembly Republicans who have prevented passage of any tax plan to this point have refused to spell out exactly what they will support and what budget cuts they want.

"That's because if they lay out their cuts, then we'll know how bad they are," she said.

She said Hettrick and his caucus don't want to detail those cuts because they would chop funding for prescription drugs for seniors, Nevada Check Up for children's health insurance, a proposed mental hospital in Las Vegas, teacher salaries and a program that helps seniors stay in their homes instead of going to nursing homes.

Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said that has been the problem all along.

"The reason they won't show you their cuts is that they will hurt real people," he said.

Asked for his proposed cuts, Hettrick again refused.

"Why do I put it out there to get whacked at when nobody wants to talk about any of it?" he said.

Perkins said without putting that list before the full Legislature and the public, they can't determine the effect of reducing the budget to some arbitrary tax total like $704 million -- the amount Gov. Kenny Guinn used as the minimum needed in the two-year budget to maintain existing services.

"You've got to tell me how we get there," he said. "I don't know what's in their $704 million."

He pointed out the $704 million figure has been boosted by a number of increases supported by lawmakers, including $40 million for school texts. He said it also increased because of errors in building the budget such as a 3/4- percent increase in the retirement system contribution for state workers -- a $26 million added cost.

Perkins repeated his charge that some Republican opponents are deliberately trying to prevent any agreement.

"Every time we find a way to reach a particular target, they come up with a new problem," he said. "I believe the whole purpose is to run this system into the ground. There is a group of people who want this system to crash."

He said the Assembly will return today to see if they can find more pieces of the tax puzzle members can support.

"We'll see where it goes from there."