Nevada School Construction Bill Signed into Law

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Gov. Brian Sandoval signed an emergency bill just hours after it passed through the state Assembly last Wednesday permitting the construction of more Nevada schools.

The stand-alone emergency Senate Bill (SB) 207 allows an extension of bond rollover funds from property taxes for districts to keep pace with the need for new schools and major repairs on existing schools, but does not include provisions to restrict the use of prevailing wage in the projects — a motion that has been debated between Republicans and Democrats in recent weeks.

The passing of the law will result in construction beginning on seven new schools in the Clark County School District alone before the end of the session to open in the fall of 2017. Five more new schools will be built to open in 2018.

In earlier testimony in favor of the bond rollover, Jim McIntosh, chief financial officer for the Clark County School District, said it would allow the district to quickly raise $850 million to address school construction and renovation needs, reported Las Vegas Review-Journal. Over 10 years, the measure is expected to generate $3.6 billion, just over half of the $7 billion in estimated need, McIntosh said.

The signing of SB 207 came about as the Democrats’ response to the Senate’s passage of SB 119 in February. Like SB 207, SB 119 authorized school districts to roll over bonding authority for school construction projects. Although both Republicans and Democrats acknowledged the need for school construction funding, Democrats did not support SB 119 because it would cut prevailing wages for construction workers. Republicans argued that the prevailing-wage pay scale, determined by the state’s labor commissioner, was often inflated and made construction projects paid for by taxpayers more expensive, reported the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Assembly members voted 27-14 to approve SB 207 as an emergency measure. The Senate had approved the measure in a 15-4 vote. Sen. Becky Harris, who sponsored both bills, told the Las Vegas Sun that school districts had given them an early March deadline to get the bill passed in order for new schools to open by 2017. The passage of SB 207 was a victory for Democrats, who opposed the prevailing wage exemption. All 25 Democrats in the Legislature voted for the bill.

The bill gives school boards the authority to continue issuing construction bonds for 10 years beyond the time period approved by voters, although districts would not be allowed to raise property-tax rates to pay debt service on the bonds. Property owners will not see a tax increase under the measure, but their property tax also will not drop, as it otherwise would have, reported Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The passing of SB 207 does not mean the battle over excusing school construction projects from the prevailing wage is over, reported Las Vegas Review-Journal. SB 119 remains alive in the Assembly. All of the 14 Assembly votes that disapproved SB 207 came from Republicans who are concerned that the bill extends the bonding authority without the vote of the people, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal.