Time To Contact Nevada Legislators Again
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
The signals continue to come in that another Nevada Special Legislative session is just around the corner. As highlighted in this news account the Governor is meeting with legislators to discuss the game plan for getting them back together some time, possibly, depending on whether state government income continues to fall short of the levels that were anticipated to make the spending work out.
This means that we will likely see something by way of a special session before Christmas and it also means that it would be good to start reaching out to your respective legislators to get them thinking about the areas that you believe would be best for spending reductions. It’s quite possible that members of the majority party would like to include more tax increases as one of the options for dealing with the circumstances, but because the Governor sets the agenda for a special session, there probably wouldn’t be the latitude provided for such an approach. We could also likely see further raids on local government resources as has become a popular place for quick cash.
In addition to setting the stage for the special legislative session, renewing your working relationship with elected officials could also be beneficial as many of them increase their activities for re-election or positioning for new offices they’d like to fill. Making state spending and budgets a priority in the 2010 election is really a key to attempting to keep the steam-roller from happening with tax increases in the 2011 Legislative Session. It would be worth being very clear to those who seek your vote in the next election that you don’t think budget creations are something for behind closed door conclaves. You also should emphasize the importance of identifying the specifics for what are “essential services” (since the last legislature couldn’t find anything that wasn’t “essential” and ended up approving a state budget package that actually increased state spending).
Ranting about taxes and how we’d rather not see increases is fine, but if those we elect don’t re-adjust their reference points to spending authorization – we’re going to keep getting the privilege of paying higher taxes in order to keep our government in the lifestyle they believe entitled to.
The signals continue to come in that another Nevada Special Legislative session is just around the corner. As highlighted in this news account the Governor is meeting with legislators to discuss the game plan for getting them back together some time, possibly, depending on whether state government income continues to fall short of the levels that were anticipated to make the spending work out.
This means that we will likely see something by way of a special session before Christmas and it also means that it would be good to start reaching out to your respective legislators to get them thinking about the areas that you believe would be best for spending reductions. It’s quite possible that members of the majority party would like to include more tax increases as one of the options for dealing with the circumstances, but because the Governor sets the agenda for a special session, there probably wouldn’t be the latitude provided for such an approach. We could also likely see further raids on local government resources as has become a popular place for quick cash.
In addition to setting the stage for the special legislative session, renewing your working relationship with elected officials could also be beneficial as many of them increase their activities for re-election or positioning for new offices they’d like to fill. Making state spending and budgets a priority in the 2010 election is really a key to attempting to keep the steam-roller from happening with tax increases in the 2011 Legislative Session. It would be worth being very clear to those who seek your vote in the next election that you don’t think budget creations are something for behind closed door conclaves. You also should emphasize the importance of identifying the specifics for what are “essential services” (since the last legislature couldn’t find anything that wasn’t “essential” and ended up approving a state budget package that actually increased state spending).
Ranting about taxes and how we’d rather not see increases is fine, but if those we elect don’t re-adjust their reference points to spending authorization – we’re going to keep getting the privilege of paying higher taxes in order to keep our government in the lifestyle they believe entitled to.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 9/15/2009 7:52 AM 
Categories: Nevada Budget
Tags: Special Legislative Session Nevada State Budget
Categories: Nevada Budget
Tags: Special Legislative Session Nevada State Budget
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