Riddle: What is the difference between the Nevada Legislature and a drunken sailor? Answer: Eventually the drunken sailor sobers up. The Economic Forum, which is tasked with estimating state general fund revenues so lawmakers can dodge blame for overestimating, has found a few million more coins in between the couch cushions — $96 million more in the coming biennium and a … [Read more...]
Nevadans would benefit from Trump’s tax deduction change
So President Trump has finally decided to take our advice. More than a year ago this newspaper noted in an editorial that then presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Ben Carson all had proposed repealing the IRS deduction for state and local taxes, but Trump was still vague on the matter. Nevada is one of only nine states … [Read more...]
Lawmakers seek to dodge duty to set their own salaries
Perhaps the lesson of 1989 lingers. In that legislative session, Nevada lawmakers were so bold as to pass a law that increased their pensions by 300 percent. Though the eventual retirement payouts amounted to only a few hundred dollars per month, voters were outraged by the audaciousness of the self-serving money grab. Under that 1989 law, pensions for part-time … [Read more...]
State workers should not be allowed to unionize
Lawmakers in Carson City keep coming up with more ways to spend our money. Senate Bill 486, for example, would authorize state government workers to unionize and collectively bargain for salaries and benefits. Currently, state law allows local government workers to engage in collective bargaining but not employees of the state. This has resulted in local government … [Read more...]
State makes progress in challenging sage grouse rules
Nevada won a temporary reprieve from the Interior Department’s plans to enforce sweeping restrictions on land use as a means of protecting greater sage grouse habitat, but failed to convince a federal judge to put those plans on hold entirely. In a recent opinion, Nevada federal Judge Miranda Du ruled Interior agencies erred in preparing environmental impact statements for … [Read more...]
Bill could dilute Nevada’s presidential voting power
There is a bill pending in the Legislature that could have the effect of diluting the state’s voting power in presidential elections. Assembly Bill 274 would rope Nevada into a compact called the “Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote.” Instead of awarding Nevada’s six electoral votes — one for each representative and senator in Congress … [Read more...]
Forfeiture of property should be tied to a conviction
A couple of weeks ago we editorially bemoaned the fact that no one had introduced a bill in the state Legislature to restrict the practice of law enforcement agencies seizing private property — homes, cars, cash and such — under the presumption it is the product of criminal activity, but without ever having to actually go through the due process of convicting someone of a crime … [Read more...]
Why Nevada joined a Wisconsin property rights case
The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in a rather obscure and complicated property case titled Murr v. Wisconsin, in which the Murr family claims the value of their waterfront property was drastically reduced by government regulations. The Murrs argued the regulation essentially reduced the value of their property and the government should compensate them … [Read more...]