Welcome to Nevada (23212295792) by Tobias Haase is licensed under CC BY 2.0
In his first term, Nevada Governor Lombardo has turned back an onslaught of bad legislation from the Democrat-controlled legislature.
Ignoring the governor’s agenda to protect Nevada’s taxpayer-friendly environment, and promote education freedom, the legislature has thrown bad legislation at Gov. Lombardo all session. The governor has proved himself to be an ally to Nevadans with his refusal to sign tax-hiking legislation.
The Governor recently vetoed a particular disaster of a bill: Assembly Bill 359 (AB 359)
The bill would permit local government officials to hike gas and fuel taxes without the consent of their constituents, in perpetuity. It should be noted that Nevada is already known for having the highest gas and fuel taxes in the nation.
AB 359 served as an attempt to circumvent the Gibbons Tax Restraint Law, a law which states that any attempt to increase taxes in the state of Nevada requires a 2/3 supermajority in the Legislature. Rather than hike taxes through transparent means, the legislature wanted to defer that decision to left-wing local governments who are frothing at the mouth for any opportunity to increase taxes.
AB 359 passed in the Assembly by a 32-10 vote with Republicans Bert Gurr, Melissa Hardy, Brian Hibbetts, and Greg Koenig going across the aisle to support this ill-conceived piece of legislation. The bill passed the Senate with a similar margin of 15-5 with the support of ‘Republicans’ Carrie Buck, Pete Goicoechea, and Scott Hammond.
Given the recent fluctuations in the price of oil and gas, these kinds of taxes have been especially crippling for Nevadan families struggling to put fuel in their tanks, put food on the table, and keep up with the rising tide of inflation.
Thankfully, Gov. Lombardo is in office to defend Nevada taxpayers.