Sandoval signs law reducing mining tax breaks

Mining companies will no longer get tax breaks on their fire insurance, marketing costs and severance packages after Nevada's governor signed a law expected to bring the state $24 million in the next two years.

Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval approved the measure Thursday as he works his way through a stack of more than 100 bills that he must act on by Friday.

The mining law came after a session of scrutiny on the industry, which has enjoyed a tax cap in the constitution since Nevada gained statehood in 1864 and has benefited from soaring gold prices in recent years.

In last-minute negotiations, representatives from the mining industry also agreed to give up a deduction of health insurance costs for the next two years. Health insurance costs are already deducted from companies' modified business tax, but whether they should also deduct those costs from a mining industry-specific tax was not resolved during the 2011 legislative session.

Sandoval also signed laws setting up a new Autism Treatment Assistance Program that will eventually replace three separate state autism programs.

The new program gets about $2 million each of the next two years to serve 134 children, up from the 83 provided for in the governor's original budget proposal.

Officials say another 174 children are served under a separate program that is being phased out. About 350 children are still on a waiting list for the services.

Parents of children with autism gave emotional testimonies during legislative hearings, saying their children would regress and become permanently dependent on state services if they did not get adequate treatment.

Another new law signed Thursday will give aspiring teachers more ways to get a license in Nevada.

Proponents say the measure authorizes an alternate pathway that opens teaching to people who are highly qualified but don't have time for the traditional route to a license.

Existing law requires candidates for a high school teaching license to have a teaching major or its equivalent, plus 22 more credits of education coursework.

The new law calls for alternate path taking two years or less, and was one recommendation from the group that compiled Nevada's application for federal Race to the Top funds.

Other reform measures recommended by the task force were signed into law Wednesday. Those laws will make it easier to fire ineffective teachers and end layoffs based solely on seniority.

Sandoval also signed a measure that puts $10 million of state money toward the Millennium Scholarship. The allocation keeps the scholarship funded through 2015.