Leaders target collective bargaining for public employees

CARSON CITY — Democratic and Republican lawmakers lurched in the direction of compromise Friday, reviving several proposals seeking major changes to collective bargaining rules for government workers in Nevada.

The proposals from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce included one to eliminate binding arbitration to resolve public employee labor contracts and several other reforms aimed at decreasing payroll costs borne by taxpayers.

The chamber and many Republicans say using third-party arbitrators drives up the cost of public employee contracts because local officials who answer to voters are unlikely to be blamed for the results of the arbitration.

Collective bargaining reform is important to Republicans who are blocking an effort by Democrats to approve a 2011-13 general fund budget that includes about $571 million in new taxes plus the postponement of an expiration date on another $626 million in existing taxes.

“It’s a bargaining chip,” said Ronald Dreher, government affairs director for the Peace Officers Research Association, who testified against the chamber proposals. “They want collective bargaining in exchange for revenues.”

Chamber officials said they don’t currently support the tax proposals, but would consider support if legislators enact dramatic reforms to curb spending.

“This is what we have been discussing with legislators for over a year,” said chamber lobbyist Sam McMullen.

The reforms were packaged in an amendment to Senate Bill 98, which would require school districts and local governments to report the estimated cost of new labor agreements to the public before the deals become final.

The collective bargaining reforms had been contained in stand-alone bills that failed to clear earlier deadlines in the Legislature.

Although Democrats on the Assembly Taxation Committee grumbled about the chamber reviving the reforms on short notice, chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas, pledged to keep them alive for further debate.

“I am telling any local government who is listening you better get your elected officials up here because we are having this discussion,” Kirkpatrick said.

Democrats are seeking support from chambers in Las Vegas and Reno for their tax plan, which includes an 0.08 percent “margin tax” on businesses and a 1 percent “transaction tax” on services.

Business support for the taxes, which Democrats argue would make the state’s revenue stream more stable and avert deep cuts to K-12 and higher education, could provide political cover for Republican lawmakers to defect from Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposal to balance the budget without tax or fee increases.

The Democrats’ plan would spend about $7 billion, roughly $920 million more than the $6.1 billion Sandoval is willing to spend.

Assembly Republicans have already issued a list of demands for five sweeping reforms that would cover collective bargaining, construction defect liability, education, prevailing wage and public employee benefits they want before they would consider tax proposals.

“We want to make something work that is prudent for the taxpaying public,” said Assemblyman Cresent Hardy, R-Mesquite. “I think it will be a road to recovery for us.”

Even as Republicans are pulling Democratic leaders to the right, traditional liberal constituents are fighting against any compromise they think goes too far in undermining wages and benefits public employees’ worked hard to negotiate.

During another hearing Friday, Danny Thompson, secretary-treasurer of the Nevada AFL-CIO, threatened the Senate Committee on Revenue with a ballot measure to increase taxes should the Legislature deliver a budget that includes too many cuts.

The renewed positioning on hot-button issues such as collective bargaining and taxes came on day 96 of the 120-day legislative session.

Democrats hold a majority in both chambers of the Legislature and can block Sandoval’s budget. But they would need two Assembly and three Senate Republicans to build the two-thirds majority needed to increase a tax or override a Sandoval veto.

Sandoval remains opposed to raising taxes as a trade-off for broader reforms. His senior policy adviser, Dale Erquiaga, said it’s too late in the session to evaluate the proposals Democratic leaders introduced earlier this week.

“Had the measures been introduced in January when the governor asked for them we might have been able to have that conversation but we can’t now,” Erquiaga said.

Despite Sandoval’s position lawmakers are holding out hope for compromise.

Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, said Friday, “Everything is on the table,” including all five reforms sought by Assembly Republicans.

Assembly Minority Leader Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, said “We are talking. We’ll see what happens.”

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.