Redistricting likely to muddy the waters
On Thursday, the legislative majority plans to release proposed political redistricting maps that would outline new legislative jurisdictions for the next decade in Nevada.
To this point in the legislative session, there has been a deafening silence on the redistricting debate and, indeed, the timing of this event immediately calls into question the majority's motives. Speculation has been rampant that Democrats will infuse the redistricting debate into the budget debate - extracting support for tax increases by threatening to draw Republican lawmakers out of their districts. The timing of the majority's unveiling of their proposed redistricting maps would seem to validate these suspicions.
The majority's last strategy for breaking impasse on the budget debate - pulling budget bills out of the budget committees and hearing them before the press in Committee of the Whole meetings - appears to have backfired. The budget stalemate between Democratic and Republican lawmakers appears to have only intensified as both sides have further entrenched their positions. As such, legislative Democrats appear to be playing their last card in order to lure some Republicans into supporting major tax increases.
It's likely that legislative Democrats will become increasingly desperate for pro-tax Republican votes as the session wears on. These majority lawmakers will try to avoid a special session to resolve the budget, wherein the agenda would be controlled by the governor.
They are ready to play their trump card. We'll see where it goes.
