CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Gov. Jim Gibbons is lashing out a legislative panel, claiming its inaction to adopt a regulation puts tens of thousands of Nevadans at risk of losing unemployment insurance benefits.
In a press release issued Monday, Gibbons said he was "prepared to use emergency regulations" to continue unemployment benefits, and that lawmakers should be "ashamed."
But legal council for the Legislative Commission's subcommittee on regulations says the governor's accusations are false, and that it was known an emergency regulation could be necessary to enact rates paid for employers by Jan. 1.
The panel last week was asked to "pre-approve" the regulations. But legal staff says lawmakers were uncomfortable giving approval until after a scheduled Dec. 7 public hearing.
