Nevada lawmakers convened in Carson City Monday to begin their biennial session, facing a budget crisis in an atmosphere of partisan rancor.
Democrats won control of the Senate in November, giving them majorities in both houses and reducing the leverage of Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons.
With Nevada facing significant shortfalls in its staple revenue sources, sales and gambling taxes, the budget process figures to be ugly.
The Democratic leaders, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley and Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, have criticized some of the cuts in Gibbons’ budget proposal, which calls for $6.17 billion in general fund spending over two years, down from $6.8 billion in the previous two-year budget.
To accomplish that, the governor proposes salary cuts for many state employees and a 36% cut in support for the state university system, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Democrats are particularly critical of the higher education cuts. They say they are planning a six-week budget review before presenting spending and revenue recommendations in March and April.
Gibbons criticized them for not having a plan ready to go.
“I find it incredibly disappointing that some members of the Legislature would suggest that they have not had the resources, the opportunity, or the time to find solutions to our budget situation,” he said in a news release.
