The Never-Neverland of the Nevada Legislature

(Janine Hansen) – I feel like I just spent days in the Never-Neverland of the Nevada Legislature’s Assembly Taxation and Senate Revenue Committees. In 2009, the Legislature put a 2011 sunset on the many new taxes they imposed, including the doubling of the business license fee, the raising of the modified business tax, ad nauseum.  The Never-Neverland hearings were held on AB569 the new tax on services and SB491 a new business “margins” tax and repeals the sunset on the new taxes from the 2009 session. The hearings have been filled with “capitol campers” brought to Carson City by the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN), which represents nearly every tax-user left-wing organization in the state. 

A partial list of the organizations in cahoots with PLAN is instructive: Nevada State Teachers Association, unions including SEIU of Obama fame, AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees), Nevada NOW (National Organization of Women—radical feminists), Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, Gay and Lesbian Community Center, Nevada Women’s Lobby, Nevada Lawyers for Progressive Policy, and their creation for this tax battle, ProgressNow Nevada. 

As the Fates would have it, I was sitting next to Bob Fulkerson, the guru of PLAN, at one of the hearings and watched as he orchestrated the event, telling disheveled college-aged campers how to sign up to speak and whether they were for or against the bill. I had to admire his efforts deploying his troops through electronic and personal means.  They repeatedly came in and out of the hearing rooms at his command.  It was an interesting sideshow to the greater circus going on at the Legislature.

It was amazing to me to witness the unusual number of hearings and the extraordinary amount of time given to this sideshow.  When the “regular public” shows up at hearings, the hearings are often severely restricted, along with testimony being limited to 2-5 minutes. However, if we consider the sideshow to be the main event of the tax-user crowd (who live off the public dollar) to intimidate the Republican Legislators and the Governor, we should relax and enjoy the show.

Consider that the taxpayers, who would be paying the taxes, did not have the luxury of spending nights in the rain and cold, camped at the capitol. They were at their jobs and businesses, taking care of their families so they could pay the bills and meet their tax obligations.

In the Nevada Legislature Never-Neverland, they know that never never was a tax sunsetted.  But just maybe, with a little pixie dust, the Republicans will keep thinking happy thoughts and SB491 and AB569 will be fed to the crocodiles as the Legislative clock ticks on.  

Just to keep those happy thoughts flying, be sure to send the Republican Legislators a little pixie dust from the “regular public.”

Send a little “Thank You for holding strong on taxes” pixie dust to:

Governor Sandoval: 775-684-5670, 702-486-2500

Senators: gbrower@sen.state.nv.us, bcegavske@sen.state.nv.us, dgustavson@sen.state.nv.us, ehalseth@sen.state.nv.us, jhardy@sen.state.nv.us, bkieckhefer@sen.state.nv.us, mmcginness@sen.state.nv.us, drhoads@sen.state.nv.us, mroberson@sen.state.nv.us, jsettelmeyer@sen.state.nv.us,

Assemblymen: jellison@asm.state.nv.us, egoedhart@asm.state.nv.us, pgoicoechea@asm.state.nv.us, tgrady@asm.state.nv.us, jhambrick@asm.state.nv.us, shammond@asm.state.nv.us, ihansen@asm.state.nv.us, chardy@asm.state.nv.us, phickey@asm.state.nv.us, rkirner@asm.state.nv.us, kkite@asm.state.nv.us, plivermore@asm.state.nv.us, rmcarthur@asm.state.nv.us, msherwood@asm.state.nv.us, lstewart@asm.state.nv.us, mwoodbury@asm.state.nv.us,

Note: Email addresses are the first letter of the Senator’s & Assemblymen’s names plus their last names.

Legislative Phone & Fax numbers: Southern Nevada: 702-486-2626, Northern Nevada: 775-684-6800, 775-684-6789, Toll Free: 800- 978-2878, 800-995-9080, 800-992-0972, Toll Free Fax: 800-995-9080

For more details on AB569 and SB491 please see our Legislative Alerts on our website at: www.nevadafamilies.org

(Janine Hansen is State President of the Nevada Eagle Forum.)