Budget ready for governor’s signature

Monday, March 1, 2010 - 2:15 AM

Assemblyman David Bobzien, D-Reno, looks over a draft of the budget bill before voting on it early Monday morning. Photo by Jay Balagna/Nevada Sagebrush.

CARSON CITY — A balanced budget passed in both houses (34-8 in the Assembly, 20-1 in the Senate) in the early morning hours today. The budget bill, A.B. 6, still needs the governor’s signature, but Gov. Jim Gibbons already committed to the plan in an announcement about the deal yesterday evening.

The bill is the culmination of a “compromise” in solving a nearly $1 billion budget shortfall with “something to like and dislike for everyone,” lawmakers said.

However, this is just the start of budget balancing as legislators will face a proposed $3 billion shortfall in the regular session, which starts in February 2011.

“This week’s challenge will seem like a picnic next session,” Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said.

Before the vote in the Senate, Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Clark County, gave his fellow senators a nearly 25-minute scolding on what he felt was their shortsightedness in balancing the budget. Coffin was the only dissenting vote in the Senate.

“Don’t go home and congratulate yourself, because it’s not well done,” he said. “We could’ve stayed here a little longer and done a little better.”

Despite Coffin’s disagreement and other votes against the budget in the Assembly, legislators said A.B. 6 is a “solid agreement to try to move forward” in facing the 50 percent drop in revenue when they meet again in 11 months.

The breakdown:

Higher education received a 6.9 percent cut, after an original 22 percent proposal. K-12 also ended up with a 6.9 percent cut. State employees will transition to ten-hour four-day workweeks, so offices can close Friday to save energy costs. The prisons will remain open. Additional furlough hours were excluded from the bill to save state employees from another pay cut after they took an 11 percent cut to salaries and benefits last session.

To restore proposed cuts, the Legislature swept many state accounts, including part of the Millennium Scholarship fund. Also, mining and gaming licensing fees will increase, along with a slew of other small fees.

“This bill has a lot of compromise in it, a lot of tough decisions and really a lot of pain in it,” Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, said before the vote.

Before the long-awaited vote in the Assembly, lawmakers congratulated each other on being able to work together, achieve bipartisanship and complete a “insurmountable task” so quickly.

After the Senate vote, Senate Minority Leader William Raggio, R-Washoe County, said: “During these past six days we were able to work together across party lines and with the governor and his staff.”

The Legislature adjourned sine die just after 2 a.m.

Check nevadasagebrush.com/budget or pick up a copy of Tuesday’s print edition for in-depth budget stories. Jay Balagna and Jessica Fryman can be reached at news@nevadasagebrush.com.