Assembly approves bill to fund school repairs

CARSON CITY — Defying Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, the Assembly voted 25-to-16 Thursday for a bill that would allow school districts to use so-called excess bond reserves to construct and repair schools.

Sandoval had put this same money, $425 million in all, in his budget to help pay for school operational costs.

In the first party-line vote of the session, all 16 Assembly Republicans voted against Assembly Bill 183, while all Democrats supported it. Assemblywoman Olivia Diaz, D-North Las Vegas, who recently had a baby, was not present.

The Senate, where Democrats hold an 11-10 edge, has not yet debated the bill.

The Sandoval administration has warned for weeks that if the Democrats’ bill eventually became law, it would create a big hole in the governor’s budget.

After Thursday’s vote, Sandoval’s press secretary Mary-Sarah Kinner said the governor will veto any bill that leaves a hole in the recommended budget.

Since it would take a two-thirds vote to override a governor’s veto, Republicans have more than enough votes to keep the bill from becoming law.

During the floor debate, Assemblyman Mark Sherwood, R-Henderson, said "nobody can argue against children and schools," but the bill "blows a hole" in Sandoval’s proposed budget.

He said legislators need to "spend wisely," but questioned if that would occur with the school construction funded with this bill.

He said a state labor commissioner’s report shows that $450 million was added to public works project costs in 2005-08 because workers were paid the "prevailing wage," not the lower wages that nonunion workers normally would receive. The state labor commissioner determines the prevailing wage by surveys of projects in each county.

"If we overpay for stuff, we don’t put as many people back to work," said Sherwood in an interview. "Business as usual doesn’t work."

Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, said she developed the bill in June, long before Sandoval proposed spending the same money for a different purpose. She said her bill calls for funds to be spent for the purpose that voters intended: the construction and repairs of schools.

Democrats have called the bill their "school works" plan since unemployed workers would go back to work on school projects if the bill becomes law.

During hearings, the Clark County School District supported Smith’s bill, but administrators advised they did not have spare reserves now to pay for additional school construction projects. Instead the money is needed to cover the debt service on the existing bonds, they said.