Legislature: Senate passes bill lifting sunsets to complete budget deal

On Monday, lawmakers gave final approval to the last major piece of the budget deal - the bill lifting the sunsets on $620 million worth of tax increases approved by the 26th Special Session a year ago.

Asked whether there was anything left in the Legislature that Gov. Brian Sandoval regards as important enough to justify a special session, Senior Policy Adviser Dale Erquiaga said, "there's not."

"All the reform bills are moving," he said. "All the mechanisms are in place. All the votes have held.

"We're very pleased with the way it's coming to an end."

Assembly Bill 561 maintains the higher rates for the Modified Business Tax, keeps the short-term car lease tax in the General Fund, extends the advance payment of the net proceeds of mines and maintains the higher Local School Support Tax for schools and the higher business license fees. It also transfers $41 million from the state's Rainy Day Fund to the General Fund.

The measure passed both the Assembly and Senate with more than enough Republicans joining Democrats to exceed the two-thirds majority requirement. Six Republicans in each house opposed the measure, which received 15 votes in the Senate and 36 in the Assembly.

Sen. Michael Roberson, R-Las Vegas, was among those who voted against the measure.

"Yes, it can be argued these are not new taxes," he said. "However, the extension of the taxes that were due to sunset can be seen as a broken promise to the people of Nevada."

He said that money is $600 million taken from the state's economy.

"We will have to rebound from this recession despite rather than because of this tax increase," he said.

Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, said she, like Roberson, isn't convinced the hole is $656 million, that it could just be the Clean Water Coalition money - a much smaller $62 million hole in the budget.

Minority Leader Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, supported the measure.

"The decision to vote for this budget was not an easy one for me," he said. "But this budget, I think, puts Nevada on a path to smaller and more responsible government."

Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, pointed to the Supreme Court decision which created up to a $656 million hole in the budget saying, "I did not expect to be in the situation I am in now and break my promise not to extend these sunsets."

They were joined by Republican Senators Joe Hardy and Dean Rhoads in backing Democrats to pass the measure.

On Sunday, lawmakers finished action on the five major bills that make up the $16.9 billion total budget. They are the Appropriations Act, $6.2 billion in General Fund and $940 million in Highway Fund money, Authorizations Act totaling $11.7 million in federal, fee and self-supporting budgets, the pay bill, K-12 education bill, which contains some $2.2 billion in General Fund money, and Capital Improvement Projects bill which has $72.5 million in maintenance and repair projects.

Along with those measures, lawmakers Monday approved AB219 sweeping the cash from expired slot machine vouchers to the General Fund - worth some $17 million a year - and AB493 reducing deductions the mining industry is allowed to take from the net proceeds of mines tax.

In addition, AB529 moves the $40 million in the Indigent Accident Fund to the General Fund.

In addition, a series of bills shifting programs form state to county or requiring counties to pay the state for them have now moved to the governor's desk.