If legislation says ‘oink, oink,’ it’s still alive in Carson City

The problem with tales of late-night Senate sessions and wrangling over a shelved policy is that nothing is really dead until midnight — er, 1 a.m. on daylight-saving time — on June 4. That’s when the state constitution requires the Legislature to adjourn.

And while you might have glanced at the list of bills that failed to pass from one house to the other last Tuesday, you probably have little knowledge of the $3.6 billion in legislative “pork” that’s still alive.

That’s billion with a “B,” roughly equivalent to the proposed general fund budget for next fiscal year. And that doesn’t even include what Gov. Jim Gibbons has budgeted for some extracurricular spending.

So, if you can bear with me as I go through a few numbers, you’ll have a better understanding of what lies ahead in the dwindling weeks of the session.

To be fair, one man’s pork is another’s necessity. You might bristle at the thought of sending $50,000 to Pennsylvania for the construction of a memorial to the passengers of Flight 93, who tried to take their plane back from 9/11 hijackers before it crashed in a Shanksville field (AB475 sponsored by Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas). Another person might think it’s a fine gesture in this age of terrorism.

There’s also that fine line between fostering culture and actually paying the bills the state government should cover.

But that’s the way the Legislature here works. On that mystical 120th day of the regular session, when it finally becomes clear that lawmakers may not finish their business in time, there’s usually plenty of pork scuttling up and down the long first-floor hall between the offices of the Assembly speaker and the Senate majority leader.

So here are two pork projects sponsored by those two leaders that will likely be in play late, late in the legislative game.

Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, is sponsoring both a straight pork bill and a policy pork one. First, the traditional appropriation: Buckley’s AB320 earmarks $5 million to Three Square for construction of a food production facility. Three Square works with the casino industry to provide wholesome food to the hungry in Southern Nevada. This is not a group that relies solely on buffet leftovers. Three Square benefits from its partners’ bulk purchasing power and receives donations of purchased food it can prepare for the hungry.

And it has a board of directors that lawmakers can’t afford to ignore, with members including MGM Mirage executive Punam Mathur to Venetian executive Andy Abboud to Boyd Gaming Chairman William Boyd. There’s also folks from banks and Agassi Enterprises and Harrah’s and … well, you get the picture.

Buckley’s bill could put this new effort on the map nationally by giving it a big financial boost. Plus, it represents a true focus on poverty without getting bogged down in politically charged debate about homelessness. Hunger is an easier sell than homelessness.

Buckley’s other appropriation is destined for horse trading despite a clear partisan rift and threats of a Gibbons veto. AB157, which would provide full-day kindergarten statewide, would cost an estimated $180 million over the next two years.

In the other house, Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, will have a say in which of the governor’s “pork” appropriations gets through, and, of course, what Northern Nevada gets.

He’s telegraphing one late-session move by having his Finance Committee sponsor a $5 million appropriation for High Sierra Industries. That Reno nonprofit, similar to Las Vegas’ Opportunity Village, helps developmentally disabled adults find work.

The governor has split $5 million between High Sierra and a similar agency, Washoe ARC. He also has set aside $12 million for Opportunity Village, showing he’s adept at north-south negotiations.

So if Opportunity Village gets some money, you can bet Raggio will get some for his favored agencies. And if anti-poverty measures are the new black, Raggio’s committee also has SB205, which would give $100,000 to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada.

There are so many Senate Finance appropriation bills it’s hard to pick a few that could survive. In some years we’ve seen AIDS money go to the north and south. In others, it’s been a cultural program, tit for tat.

This being the so-called education session, Raggio might get some mileage out of SB440. That bill would give $100,000 to the proposed Challenger Learning Center in Reno. It’s a science- and math-focused center created by the families of the astronauts and teacher who were killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. The $1.5 million project is backed by a who’s who of Northern Nevada elite, with John Ascuaga’s Nugget hosting fundraisers and Stephen McFarlane, the former dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine, leading the effort.

It’s the kind of center Reno will want to have as it gets ready to host the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in 2009. Funding to support the city’s efforts as host is contained in a $1 million bill sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas.

Titus will get a very small say in the end-of-session pork. She’s also the prime sponsor of money for the Rape Crisis Center in Southern Nevada and for the Northern Nevada Railway Museum in White Pine County. Last year’s Democratic nominee for governor hasn’t given up her statewide ambitions just yet.

The other big pork player is always Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

He has many options. If money goes to the Challenger School, Arberry might be able to win money for the Lied Discovery Children’s Museum in Las Vegas or the Carter G. Woodson Library in West Las Vegas.

If the north-south pork train continues with any money for social programs in Reno, Arberry will be at the trough with two measures for the Las Vegas-Clark County Urban League. One is for $465,000 for computers. The other is a cool $3 million for “prisoner re-entry.”

He’s also got a real doozy. AB402 gives Arberry’s former employer, the city of Las Vegas, $500,000 to inform citizens of the tax credits available when they purchase vehicles that use alternative fuels.

Then again, if global warming becomes politically fashionable in Carson City, that bill’s got a real chance. And who knows? Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, is trying for $8.3 million for various higher education “green” projects, including a geothermal energy plant at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Although the current focus is on the budget and education, you can bet there will 3 billion attempts to squeeze a little something out of this session for the folks back home.

Erin Neff’s column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at (702) 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.