Welcome to
Nevada Families Eagle Forum Feb/Mar 2010
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Welcome to Nevada Families Eagle Forum Feb/Mar 2010 |
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Editor: Janine Hansen
Special Double Issue: Vol. 37 No. 2, Email Version
Feel Free to forward.
Special Session: The Good News!
Now that all the whining from “growing government” Legislators, government employee unions, government lobbyists, quasi-government “living off the taxpayers” organizations and parasites is over, lets take a moment to CELEBRATE…We just saw an exercise in cutting government!
Do you wonder why government is never cut from Legislature to Legislature? I will tell you why… The largest number of lobbyists at the Legislature is always representing those who, in one way or another, are living off the government, hence living off the taxpayers. Every department in the state government, every local government (county, city, school district, water board, etc.), every government employee union (including the most powerful Teacher Union--the NSEA), every quasi-government organization, every business that benefits from government spending ad nauseum has a well financed team of full-time lobbyists at the Legislature. The few free enterprise lobbyists and even fewer citizen lobbyists representing taxpayers fight the continual tax sucking tsunami with minimal success.
Even during the 2009 session when revenues were down significantly what did they do? They raised taxes by over $8,000,000 taking 8 million dollars out of the failing economy. They disregarded the Tea Party demonstration—with over 3,000 people, the largest ever at the State Capitol. Their spend—spend--spend mentality powers them on. Only the State Constitutional requirement for a balanced budget and the painful reality that they don’t dare raise taxes stopped them at this Special Session from raising the taxes and fees more than they did.
When it is election time, starting months before filing, every lobbyist receives invitations to one Legislator’s fund raising event after another---only $500 or $1,000 for a table, etc. The incestuous relationship developed during the Legislature continues. So who do they listen to when they are in Session…well their friends--the people who gave them money during their campaign. Many are ideologues--tax and spenders including many Republicans like Raggio, Rhoads, Hardy, Nolan, Townsend, Carpenter. There are a few valiant souls who stand up for the people and taxpayers!
The election laws are designed to significantly favor incumbents. If someone gives money to a challenger their name shows up on his campaign report on the Secretary of State’s website. The only people interested in this report are the press and their opponents. Many people who would give money to a challenger will not because of fear of retaliation from the incumbent. So…this significantly hinders the challenger’s fund raising. Campaign reporting laws are a violation of the principles of free speech, free association and free elections, and should be repealed. I just call them incumbent protection laws.
In addition, those who benefit from more government tax and spend, and whose livelihoods depend on government growth--put campaign workers on the ground helping elect tax and spenders.
Many of the Legislators themselves work for government or someone in their family works for government or they work for a quasi-governmental organization. This is a violation of the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers. Those on the government payroll are voting on the government budget and for increasing taxes. It’s real cozy! There should be no doubt about why government is almost never cut….so let’s CELEBRATE for this brief moment!
A Closer Look at the Specific Bills of the Special Session
AB1 Passed: Requires employers with 50 or more employees to electronically transfer to the State the income withheld from employees pursuant to child or spousal support orders.
AB2 Passed: Essentially it allows counties to reduce the hours that certain county offices including marriage licenses bureaus, sheriffs, recorders, auditors, clerks, assessors, treasurers and district attorneys are open to the public. Any changes must be approved by the County Commissioners and must be fiscally neutral or result in cost savings. In other words, it can’t result in more overtime and higher costs for the county.
AB 3 Passed: In Section 88 of this bill transfers the entire remaining balance of the Abandoned Property Trust Account for Fiscal Years 2009-10 and 2010-11 to the General Fund. Originally the first $7.6 million of the remaining balance was transferred to the Millennium Scholarship Trust Fund.
Section 6 allows the Legislature to temporarily reduce the amount state agencies are required to pay for premiums for the Public Employees’ Benefits Program. In Section 79 the bill transfers $24,700,000 from the Retirement Benefits Investment Fund to the State Retirees’ Health and Welfare Benefits Fund to pay a portion of the costs for health and welfare benefits for state retirees during FY 2010-11.
The bill also reduces the current amount of money budgeted for FY 09-10 and 10-11 for programs and services of various state agencies too numerous to list, and transfers the various sums of money to the State General Fund Budget Reserve Account to offset the difference between projected revenues and collections and to be used only as necessary to meet existing and future obligations of the state.
AB4 Passed: This bill provides for flexibility to School Districts in class size reduction. Now School Districts may choose to increase class size by 2 pupils for ratios of 18 pupils per teacher in grades 1 and 2, and to 21 pupils per teachers in grade 3. If a school district chooses to do this then all money saved must be used to minimize the impact of budget reductions on class size in grades 4-12. This exception is only for 2010-11 school year and sunsets on 6/30/11.
AB5 Passed: This bill provides a temporary waiver of the required minimum expenditure for textbooks for schools.
AB6 Passed: This is the massive budget tweaking and fee increase bill. Reduces the appropriations passed during the 2009 Legislative Session. It also authorizes expenditures that were not previously appropriated because of increased fees they will charge. The bill: transfers money from the State Public Works Board to other projects. It requires the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Depts. to identify any additional reductions from renegotiating contracts. It transfers money from the Clean Water Coalition including Water Projects in Clark, Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas to transfer money to the General Fund.
Fees collected by the Secretary of State have been increased. Any excess fees from filings with SOS for domestic partnerships now go to general fund. Requires the SOS to deposit 75% of fees for Notaries in the General Fund. There’s an additional fee for a notice of default on real property. Increases administrative assessment (fines) for a misdemeanor for a person who is guilty--goes to the general fund. Bill authorizes the deduction of the Prisons’ Store Fund to defray the costs of operations of the offenders’ store, coffee shop, gymnasium and visitation post. Allows Dept. of Vital Statistics to increase fees. Increases the license fee for promoters of unarmed combat (boxing, etc.). Allows the Dept. of Wildlife to use fees for additional purposes including, automated programs for licensing and registration of vessels and issuance of licenses, permits and tags. Significantly increases fees to holders of small and medium sized mining claims. Requires Legislative Commission to transfer the first $100,000 collected in fees from lobbyists to general fund.
Continued AB 6: The bill reduces the money from the state going to all the 17 county School Districts. Provides for tax, fee or assessment amnesty for those who are delinquent so they can make the payment without penalty or interest. This applies to people who apply between 6/1/10 and 10/1/10. It also provides for that any money from the Feds for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families be used to replace the State General funds that have been appropriated.
SB1 Passed: This bill just provided for the costs of the Special Session some $250,000.
SB2 Passed: This bill removes a prohibition in state law put there by the Teachers Union, which prohibited using test scores to evaluate teachers. It was removed in order to comply with the federal requirement in that there must not be any barriers at the State level to linking data on student achievement for the purpose of evaluating teachers and principals. Now the law requires that this information must be considered. (Parents always know who the best teachers are. If we ran our own local schools instead of the Teachers Union and the State and Federal Government, we would have implemented this light years ago!) This will result in $114,000,000 for the state. The U.S. Constitution gives no grant of power to the Federal government to be involved in education at all. The more the feds become involved education the worse it gets!
Since this Newsletter was originally written, Governor Gibbons vetoed SB3. He said the Legislature went outside of its authority in passing this legislation and it would cost the state money instead of saving money. Here is a link to his veto message: http://gov.state.nv.us/PressReleases/2010/PDF/PR-2010-03-11_SB3_veto_letter.pdf
SB3 Passed: Provides for a temporary reduction in salary of 4.6% for those state employees who are exempt from taking unpaid furlough leave. Provides that even it they take unpaid leave or get a 4/6% salary reduction it does not impact their retirement. It allows work week for state employees to be reduced to 10 hours 4 days a week with certain exceptions and provides that State agencies are closed on Fridays. Any overtime must be approved in advance.
SB4 Passed: Changes the list of prescription drugs that have certain restrictions for those on Medicaid program.
SB5 Passed: A special account is being created under the DMV in the State Highway Fund. It is funded by money transferred from the Fund for Clearing Up Discharges of Petroleum. This account will only be used for construction, reconstruction, improvement and maintenance of public roads. It will be distributed by this formula: 70% to Clark County, 20% to Washoe County and 10% to all other counties. The provision that after $7,500,000 is collected that the fund is to stop collecting fees has been removed. This bill removes the expiration of collection of certain gross receipts taxes in Clark County. For more info: www.leg.state.nv.us
Meeting the Budget Deficit: $805 Million
$304 million state government and education cuts.
$129 million Money from Clark, Millennium Scholarship, Tax Amnesty.
$114 million Federal Funds for Education
$53 million Fee Increases on Mining, Secretary of State, and more
$7 million Transfer from Capital Improvement Reserves & Year end fund balance.
“In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in men, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”
Thomas Jefferson
Last week marked the one year anniversary of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, or the stimulus bill, passing into law. While the debate over its success has been focused on whether or not it is stimulating the economy and on various questionable uses of funds, in my estimation this legislation is accomplishing exactly what it was intended to accomplish – grow the government.
Those of us concerned about the ever increasing level of government debt gasped at the astonishing $787 billion cost estimates for this bill. True to form it has actually cost 10 percent more at $862 billion. We heard over and over that government could not sit around and do nothing while people lost their jobs and houses. The administration claimed that unemployment would not go above 8 percent if the stimulus bill passed. Now, a year later, the government estimates that unemployment is over 10 percent. The real number is closer to 20 percent. It appears that those promises were total fabrications in order to close the deal.
In any case, the American people know that more government spending obviously equals more government. If the goal was to strengthen the private sector, Congress would have allowed businesses and individuals to keep more of their own money through meaningful tax cuts. Outrageously, the administration claims that they did “cut taxes” by reducing withholding, and that they have stimulated the private economy by increasing the amount of money in every worker’s paycheck. What they fail to mention is they did not change the total amount of taxes due. This means that all that money not withheld from paychecks will add up to a big unpleasant surprise when returns are filed this year. Many tax preparers are already seeing shocked taxpayers having to come up with big checks to the government when they normally expect a refund. Stimulus, indeed!
The administration also claims that thousands of jobs have been created or saved by this massive spending bill, but these are just more government jobs, and counterproductive in the long run. Funding for the public sector necessarily comes at the expense of an overtaxed private economy. But, it makes sense that government would seek to expand its payroll since every new bureaucrat becomes a likely advocate for big government, when an increasing number of Americans are demanding the opposite. But the more the burden, the closer the government parasite comes to killing its host.
Rather than learning the lessons of the past year, the administration is moving full-speed ahead to do even more economic damage. With the stimulus bill set as a precedent and victory declared, another “jobs” bill is in the works. And, in order to address the unavoidable issues of our massive deficit, the administration has named a bi-partisan commission to find ways to decrease it. Tax increases on the middle class are notoriously back “on the table”, exposing that campaign promise as another instance of merely saying what the people wanted to hear. If the obvious solution to our spending problems was seriously put forth, that is, getting back to the constitutional limitations of government, I would be shocked. More likely, this will be a tactic to increase taxes and spending in a way that passes the political buck.
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