I can see the end...

The Senate passed SB 429, the tax bill, by a vote of 17-4. Four Republicans voted no.

A few minutes later, the Assembly passed it 29-13, with John Carpenter from Elko as the only Republican voting yes, along with every Democrat.

The Governor has the bill and has until Thursday to veto it.

There was some back and forth between Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford and Minority Leader Bill Raggio most of the afternoon, as Raggio insisted on a hard sunset for the new tax rates and some haggling over the language of an interim tax study.

While all the rates remained the same, Raggio's sunset demands were agreed to. The new tax rates will sunset on June 30th, 2011 unless the 2011 Legislature renews them. (Shall we place our bets now?)

I must point out that there has been no reform package introduced yet. There was a PERS hearing on Thursday, but the bill has not gone to a vote yet. So far, I have seen nothing on PEBP, prevailing wage, or public employee collective bargaining.

Therefore, we remain opposed to the inevitable tax increases.

The autism bill is still out there, as is the binding arbitration bill.

The SB 201 (RTC-5) veto has not been taken up for an override vote, and the new RTC-5 bill, with a diesel tax addition, is still hanging out there.

Both chambers are meeting on Saturday morning, but then have the rest of the weekend off!

Since the budget and tax bills have been sent to the Governor, next week is wrap-up and veto overrides! If she is going to run for Governor, it would seem to be in Speaker Buckley's best interest to wrap up session early, before the June 1 deadline. She can then claim that she saved the taxpayers money, given that it apparently costs $120,000 every day to run the show down here.

Ready for the circus to end.

And then, a long nap...