Gibbons rejects four-day work week

CARSON CITY — A four-day workweek for state employees is dead, at least for the foreseeable future, after Gov. Jim Gibbons on Thursday vetoed the enabling bill.

While Gibbons said in a news conference that he might try to implement through executive order a four-day, 10-hour-a-day work schedule in some agencies to help fix a budget shortfall, he also acknowledged that might be a long shot.

Because of his veto, a state law that requires state agencies to keep 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours Monday through Friday remains in effect.

"That is what we are looking at; we may not be able to do it," Gibbons said.

Also on Thursday, Gibbons signed state Senate Bill 5, which takes sales tax revenue paid by Clark County residents and uses it to set up a $500 million bond program to construct roads and create jobs across the state.

Both bills were approved with little opposition during the special legislative session that ended March 1.

Gibbons said this "jobs bill" will create up to 1,000 jobs by funding "shovel ready" road projects.

The state expects to receive about $25 million a year in sales taxes from the continuation of a voter-approved question that allows the Regional Transportation Commission in Clark County to issue bonds for up to $1.7 billion in highway construction.

During the special legislative session, legislators said the $1.7 billion limit is being neared and that the sales tax could be extended and be used for a bond program to create jobs through highway construction statewide. Collection of the sales tax would have ended once the $1.7 billion limit was reached.

Another $1 million a year for the state jobs plan will be raised by taking money going into a fund for cleaning up petroleum discharges. Gas stations collect a small fuel tax for this fund that is capped at $7 million. Funds over that limit will go to the jobs program.

Although initially advocating a four-day workweek, Gibbons said in his veto message that Senate Bill 3 would "actually cost the state time, money and manpower to implement."

He had hoped that with a 10-hour workday, the mandatory once-a-month furlough day that state workers were ordered to take would boost revenue by the extra two hours over the normal 8-hour workday.

He said state agencies needed "flexibility" to implement innovative work schedules and that would not be possible with the bill, which passed the Assembly, 41-1, and the state Senate, 19-2.

Administration officials said earlier this week that the Department of Motor Vehicles might not be able to switch to a four-day week without inconveniencing customers.

State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, questioned why Gibbons vetoed the four-day workweek bill since he was the one who wanted it and his top staff members testified for the bill.

"He shouldn’t have requested it if he wasn’t going to sign it," Horsford said.

In documents released during the special session, the Gibbons administration also estimated $5.3 million in utility savings with a four-day workweek.

However, Utah, which shifted to a four-day workweek in 2008, received only $700,000 in savings on utility costs, not the anticipated $3 million.

Gibbons said legislators went beyond their authority with language they inserted in the four-day workweek bill. He said the Nevada Constitution states that during special sessions legislators can only act on matters that the governor requests.

He said a section of SB3 would "overturn a directive" he issued last month for state agencies to terminate some adjustments to salaries of state employees. Employees at some agencies, particularly the Department of Corrections, have been receiving a 5 percent shift premium for working at night.

Gibbons said he was trying to save money by ending these pay differentials and that legislators had "deliberately and blatantly’ contravened his order.

Horsford, however, said Gibbons’ aides were aware of the language keeping differential pay that legislators placed in the bill. He also questioned the authority of the governor to reduce pay of employees through a directive.

The Nevada Supreme Court following the 1991 session overturned a move by then-Gov. Bob Miller to reduce the pay of state employees through executive order.

In a news conference, Gibbons said the pay differences are unfair to employees doing the same jobs.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.