What's happening with the Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group?
Last time we saw them was on May 14, when the Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group ordered Moody's Analytics to revise its entire preliminary report and discussed ways to skirt the open-meeting law.
And there's no truth to the rumor that Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group Chairman Robert Lang moved back home to Virginia because he couldn't handle the Vegas summer heat. As he told us at the last meeting, he's from New York not Virginia.
All kidding aside, I called their legislative staff today and Dave Ziegler told me their next meeting has not been scheduled, but should happen "sometime this summer."
Now, Chairman Lang can call a meeting at any point, but it's probably a little difficult with people's schedules and vacations ... and because the NVSG ordered Moody's to rewrite its entire preliminary report and do a better job of incorporating the NVSG's suggestions. And because the public found out what the NVSG was proposing and was not amused - calls for other people to take and spend your money aren't popular. Who knew?
One problem is that the NVSG has 20 unique individuals on it who all have different ideas about what the future of Nevada should look like. Which is precisely why the idea of the NVSG determining a singular vision for Nevada's 3 million people is such a joke.
Also complicating the mix is that the whole purpose of the NVSG is to provide the legislature with political cover for passing tax increases.
So even though the NVSG isn't meeting for a few more weeks, the legislators who created it and want to raise your taxes in 2011 (and create a corporate income tax) are still hard at work behind the scenes.
Keep checking in with Write on Nevada and NPRI.org, and we'll let you know the latest on the NVSG as soon as we know.
In the meantime, check out NPRI's revenue-neutral tax reform proposal that would broaden, stabilize and simplify Nevada's tax structure.
