Opposition to governor's proposal begins

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said Tuesday the governor's proposals to balance the budget make things worse, not better, especially for education.

"The biggest take-away is that the governor did more harm to education, to our children and their futures," he said. "He made the situation worse by adding another $35 million in cuts to K-12."

Horsford referred to the 1.75 percent payroll reduction added to both K-12 and higher education to make their pay cuts equal to what all other state workers are taking.

He said higher education is badly impacted by the proposals.

"Education is the one thing that is going to help our economy recover. We all know this and yet he is cutting that very thing."

Horsford said he refuses to call what the governor presented a plan.

"It's not a plan because it doesn't balance the budget," he said. "These are all quick fixes, continued Band-Aids because the governor refuses to address the fundamental problem, which is our revenue structure."

"Now we will have taken, swept, diverted nearly every possible source of revenue that exists, including those which statute requires," Horsford said. "There is some concern this is going to put us in a deeper hole going forward."

Horsford even questioned the governor's plan to get $50 million more out of the mining industry, saying elimination of different deductions "was not well thought out, not well vetted."

"There are more responsible ways to ensure mining and other businesses are part of the solution."

He also criticized the plan to install cameras along highways throughout the state to identify and fine unregistered vehicles, pointing out that Gibbons' administration opposed that proposal during the 2009 Legislature.

He said the governor ignored the obvious solution to at least part of the problem: Collecting more of the taxes and fees now being missed. He said the executive branch auditors show Nevada is due $90 million or more in uncollected insurance premium taxes. State taxation officials have estimated overall the state is owed upward of $700 million when all missed tax collections are counted.

"Rather than make cuts to taxation and gaming and the insurance division, we actually need to beef up the audits, positions for auditors, positions which actually help the state bring in revenue," Horsford said. "Why are we leaving money on the table?"

He said the Interim Finance Committee will meet Thursday to review the proposals and try get more details on how they would work from the governor's staff and agency heads.