Sen. Mark Amodei votes no on most of plan

Carson City Republican Mark Amodei was among the Senate's no votes on most of the tax and spending plan approved by the 2009 Legislature Friday.

"I've voted for a lot of taxes over my time here," he said.

But Amodei said there were several things that bothered him this time.

"Business is our infrastructure," he said. "Your two biggest industries in the state are resorts and (construction). When both are in the emergency room, it makes me hesitant to show up and ask them for money."

Another issue in voting against the tax plan and the Appropriations Act, he said, is that the cuts aren't being done fairly.

"When 35 percent of the General Fund was held harmless or slightly increased while the rest saw double digit cuts, I'm not going to go for that," he said.

Amodei said K-12 education didn't take nearly the reductions every other service in the state suffered during budget hearings.

"K-12 in the last decade has increased 100 percent. Good for them," he said.

But Amodei said when cuts are necessary, the education budget should take a hit, too.

He said core agencies and services of state government, such as Cultural Affairs, human services and others, all took much deeper cuts.

Finally, Amodei said he is concerned about how the budgets were built, relying very heavily on federal stimulus funding and temporary tax diversions from local governments. All those revenues, he said, will disappear in two ears.

With term limits, this is Amodei's last session, along with a number of other legislators. This issue won't hit him, he said, but it will hit returning lawmakers.

"People are going to come back and they're going to have a $1 billion hole to fill to maintain this level of service," he said.

Amodei said he hopes the economy recovers and his predictions don't come to pass, but said he believes the Legislature is setting itself and the state up for another serious fiscal crisis.

Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.