Waiting for Republicans on budget deal

CARSON CITY — Democrats may have reached their line in the sand. After passing a pair of education reform bills that Gov. Brian Sandoval says he’ll sign, Democrats on Tuesday were balking at further demands from a cadre of Republican Assembly members that they give more ground on the issue of construction defect lawsuits.

That those Republicans are all contractors and would all personally benefit from construction defect "reforms" has been a point of contention in the legislative building for days. But their audacity may have found the outward boundary of the Democrats’ willingness to compromise.

"I think we’re where we need to be on that," says Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, author of a construction defect reform bill that Republicans contend doesn’t go nearly far enough. "You want me to sacrifice homeowners’ rights" for a budget deal, Oceguera asked, incredulously.

There’s also a sense among Democrats that the problem of rounding up Republican votes for a budget solution now rests with Sandoval, not Democrats. Republicans have said repeatedly since the session began that they will support the governor, who up until last week was standing fast behind a no-new-taxes position.

But after a Nevada Supreme Court ruling left a hole in the budget of as much as $657 million, Sandoval switched course and agreed to extend certain expiring "sunset" taxes in exchange for some reforms. And Democrats were willing to make deals.

For instance, on Tuesday night, the state Senate approved a pair of Assembly bills on education. Assembly Bill 225 would put teachers who receive two consecutive bad evaluations on probation. And Assembly Bill 229 would establish a pay-for-performance program; use student achievement to compile 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation; and provide that teachers or administrators can be demoted, suspended or not re-hired based on "gross misconduct."

It’s a far cry from the entire education package that Sandoval and the Republicans wanted from the start of the session — including amending the state constitution to allow for voucher programs so state money could flow to private religious schools. But it’s more than the Democrats were willing to give up, especially since at least one of their number — Assemblyman Tick Segerblom — frankly acknowledged to the Las Vegas Sun’s Anjeanette Damon in March: "If we piss off the teachers, then we are a defunct party. They are our backbone."

Although the bills don’t go as far as Republicans would have wanted, they do, in fact, piss off the teachers. And Democrats weren’t happy about doing it, either. Sen. Mike Schneider took to the floor to call the reforms a joke in light of the fact that Nevada will still fund its schools at a level well below the national average, even with the "sunset" taxes.

But in the end, almost all of the Democrats in the Senate voted for the bills anyway, knowing the alternative was to leave the state without a balanced budget for the next two years.

Now, the question becomes, will the Republicans do the same? Will Republicans in the Assembly agree to give up on collective bargaining reforms in order to get a budget? They have all the political cover in the world: An unexpected court ruling and a Republican governor with credibility is behind the plan. Only the very conservative (or those willing to risk a lawsuit that could unbalance the budget months from now, when a simple extension of expiring taxes would not be as easy to enact) seem to be willing to continue to stand on principle.

From this point out, it seems like it’s Sandoval’s problem to fix. The Democrats say they’re finished compromising.  

Steve Sebelius is author of the blog SlashPolitics.com. Follow him at www.Twitter.com/SteveSebelius or reach him at (702) 387-5276 or ssebelius@ reviewjournal.com.