Gibbons calls for '04 initiative mandating K-12 budget be OK'd first

U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, flanked Saturday by most of the Republican lawmakers who have refused to support a tax increase, said he will put a ballot question before voters in the 2004 election mandating education funding be passed before any other state budget.

Gibbons, R-Nev., said the Nevada Supreme Court ruling lifting the two-thirds vote requirement to pass any tax increase was "unconscionable" and that the initiative being prepared for the next election would also reinstate the super majority requirement.

"Just because something is hard or difficult to accomplish does not make it unconstitutional," he said.

To put the question on the ballot, Gibbons will have to raise more than 66,000 signatures of qualified and registered Nevada voters. To become part of the state constitution, the plan must be approved by a majority of voters in two consecutive elections.

Gibbons was one of the authors of the two-thirds requirement which was added to Nevada's constitution in 1996.

A group of 15 Republican Assembly members have used the super majority requirement to block passage of a tax plan by the Legislature. Instead, they want the budget reopened and cut back so that it doesn't require $860 million in new taxes over the next two years.

In response, the Democratic majority in the Assembly passed out the state and university budgets, then tied the public schools budget to the tax plan, a move designed to force Republicans to either vote for taxes or be viewed as opposing education funding.

The new initiative would have the effect of preventing such strategy in the future.

Contrary to what Gibbons told the crowd of more than 100 who attended the press conference on the Supreme Court steps, the court didn't rule the two-thirds requirement unconstitutional. Instead, the court ruled the two-thirds rule must "give way" to the specific constitutional mandate requiring the Legislature to fund public education.

Legislative Counsel Bureau Director Lorne Malkiewich and Attorney General Brian Sandoval both said after Thursday's ruling they don't believe the decision to lift the rule in this specific case can be automatically applied in the future. Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said he believes the two-thirds rule will remain.

Gibbons described the battle over taxes and the budget as a political, not a constitutional conflict. He said all portions of the state constitution should be given equal standing.

"And I can tell you that it is the first time I have ever seen any court grant relief that no one asked for," he told the crowd.

However, the Nevada State Education Association, in its brief filed in the case, specifically asked for the two-thirds rule to be lifted in this case.

Gibbons said he will take the "Education First Initiative" to the voters and that it will "require that the education budget be funded first, and adequately, before the general fund budget is considered."

It would apply to funding for kindergarten through grade 12 but, unlike existing constitutional requirements, would not protect the university-system budgets.

Asked if he intended to use the issue as a "springboard" to another office, Gibbons said he would announce his own political plans later. He has been rumored thinking about a run for U.S. Sen. Harry Reid's seat or for the governorship.

The press conference comes as lawmakers prepare to return to the job of balancing the budget and passing some new revenue measures to pay for the package. Raggio and Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, both said they will follow the court's directive and operate under a simple majority.

Their discussions Friday quickly indicated that, even without the two-thirds requirement, it won't be easy to develop a tax plan that will get through both houses.

The Assembly resumes meeting today. The Senate will return Monday.