Gibbons Announces Open Government Initiative Petition Governor Gibbons: "I Want Citizens to Know how Their Tax Money is Spent."

Press Release

Governor Jim Gibbons today announced the Gibbons OPEN Government Initiative (Open Public Employee Negotiations). The initiative petition amends the Nevada Revised Statutes to subject collective bargaining agreement negotiations and meetings to Nevada's Open Meeting Law.

"Just like the State of Nevada, local governments and school districts are struggling to reduce expenditures," Gibbons said, "It is disappointing to see unions forcing local governments to lay off employees rather than accepting some form of salary reduction to save jobs. Nevada needs to keep as many people working as possible, and the voters of Nevada will pass this initiative to save jobs."

Currently, state law exempts collective bargaining negotiations from the Open Meeting Law. Generally, between 70 to 80 percent of a local government or school district budget is spent on personnel, making most local government spending hidden from the public view. Generally, except for these union negotiations, no other spending of public funds is allowed to be done outside of an open public meeting. Governor Gibbons has twice tried to get the Legislature to change the law so negotiations involving public unions and public funds are open, but the Legislature refused both times.

"Transparency and accountability in government are essential to keep the public trust," Gibbons said. "We must open up all negotiations and meetings where public funds are allocated, especially during these difficult economic times where every penny counts." Gibbons added, "These are public funds, tax money, we're talking about and the people have a right to know how their money is spent."

The Steering Committee for the Gibbons OPEN Government Initiative includes Governor Gibbons, Senator Mark Amodei, former Senator Bob Beers, and Republican Party Executive Director Cory Adair. The Committee has until November 9, 2010 to gather the 97,002 necessary valid signatures to place the petition initiative before the 2011 Nevada Legislature.

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