Senate protests president's attempt to claim Nevada land money

Nevada senators voted unanimously Tuesday to protest President Bush's attempt to take away money raised from the sale of Southern Nevada federal lands.

Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said money raised from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act was originally designated 5 percent for Nevada schools, 10 percent for water infrastructure and 70 percent for environmental projects throughout the state - including $300 million specifically for Lake Tahoe.

Bush's proposed budget would take 70 percent of the land sale revenue - about $700 million a year - to reduce the national deficit.

"If the Bush budget proposal is adopted, it will be devastating for Nevada," said Titus.

She said a long list of projects from improvements at Lake Mead and Red Rock Canyon to the purchase of 770 acres of Incline Lake property at North Tahoe would be jeopardized.

"We already receive much less in federal funding than we contribute in taxes," she said. "For every tax dollar the federal government collects from Nevada, we get only 70 cents back in the form of federal spending," she said, adding that is 50th among states when calculated per capita.

Further, she said the federal government owns 86 percent of Nevada's lands.

"This is land that cannot be developed and remains outside the tax roll, which is a terrible deterrent to economic development in rural Nevada," she said.

"The money from the sale of land in Nevada should stay in Nevada, preserving Nevada's natural treasures, building Nevada's infrastructure, educating Nevada's children," Titus said.

All 21 members of the Nevada Senate joined in voting for SJR2 asking Congress to reject Bush's proposal and leave the land sale money in Nevada.

U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., have also objected to the proposal. But Gibbons said earlier he wanted to take the money away from conservation, water and environmental projects and use it to replace money lost to public schools by repealing the estate tax. Gibbons is one of the key supporters of repealing the estate tax which generates about $65 million a year to public schools and the state university system.

n Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or at 687-8750.