Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons may reject some stimulus funds

Gov. Jim Gibbons on Wednesday advised the Obama administration Nevada will do its best to use stimulus funds to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

But he also served notice Nevada may reject parts of the package " a reference to the funding for extended unemployment benefits which the governor already has said seem to commit the state to future expansion of that program.

"I believe the federal requirements or 'strings' associated with specific funding streams within (the stimulus) will have the effect " intentional or not " of institutionalizing programmatic expansions which the federal government will not fund beyond this stimulus action," he wrote. "Once this bill expires, states will be forced to pare back benefits to pre-stimulus levels or raise taxes to continue to provide these federally mandated expansions."

He said the state may reject some parts of the package because of that concern.

"It is short-sighted for the governor to decline badly needed funding at a time when Nevada families are struggling and our state faces a tremendous budget shortfall," said Jon Summers, a spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Gibbons also complained in his letter about the size of the federal package.

"I am concerned that future generations will be burdened with this sizable and unprecedented debt," he wrote.

But he also complained that Nevada's portion of the stimulus is "significantly lower than what our taxpayers pay in federal taxes."

He said that makes Nevada a donor which he described as "indefensible considering Nevada finds itself one of the hardest hit states during this current economic downturn."

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, described the governor's letter as "rather incoherent" since it states he wants the stimulus funds but also says Nevada may reject some of it.

Buckley also said the governor can't decide on his own what stimulus money is accepted or not. Gibbons can make a proposal and the Legislature will make a final decision, Buckley said, adding that if that legislative decision is rejected by the governor, lawmakers can vote to override him.