It is now the eve of the 75th convening of the Nevada Legislature. But don’t get too excited, kids! Tomorrow will be a day of glad-handing and back-slapping and silly grinning.
Anyone waiting for actual state business to be done will have to wait (at least) until Tuesday. Longer, probably, since the the Dems still have not put forth a comprehensive budget proposal, and it’s going to be more than a 5 minute job to solve our $600 million budget shortfall.
Even then, with the Dem super-majority in the Assembly, the best that minority leader Heidi Gansert will be able to do is convince her team that supporting tax-and-spend policies is bad for their electoral futures. And if they don’t believe her and choose to join the Dems in a “bi-partisan” action, I’m guessing it’ll be D-Day for them in 2010.
Update: Steve Sebellius has the Democrat “plan” – all two vague-sounding, double-spaced, extra large font pages of it – here.
Tags: 75th, Buckley, Budget, Gansert, Gibbons, Horsford, legislature, Nevada, session, Taxmas Eve
Posted by E!!
on January 15, 2009
Balanced Budgets,
Nevada,
Taxation /
No Comments
Here’s another tired story about how the most helpless people in our society – our disabled, our children, and our disabled children - will be harmed if the Nevada legislature makes any more cuts to the state budget.
(yawn)
The thing about these kinds of stories is that most people don’t dare criticize them because then you’re called a supporter of “unconscionable” acts and a heartless hating hater of autistic kids.
Unless you’re me, and then you dare.
As a general rule, large government bureaucracies run so inefficiently and are guilty of so much over-spending and waste that any run-of-the-mill efficiency auditor could find ways to shave 5 to 10% without much of an impact on anyone.
If you doubt me, check out some of the information on the new Transparent Nevada website.
Like the sum total of the astronomical above-market salaries, overtime, and benfits packages being paid to some state employees. A few reasonable adjustments and everyone could keep their jobs while the state saves about $100 million.
Or the astoundingly large vendor contracts that exist just here in Clark County. You cannot convince me that out of the six $100,000,000 – ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR – contracts, there are no reasonable cost reductions that could be made while still maintaining adequate service levels.
It’s all about identifying and reducing inefficiency and waste - not cheating the poor kids out of their speech therapy classes.
Tags: Budget, crisis, Cuts, Gibbons, legislature, Nevada, State of the State, tax, Taxes
