Our Opinion: Legislature needs to play by same rules

Two weeks ago every town, district and board in Nevada was required to comply with state law by approving a tentative budget.

Next month, they are all obligated by the same state law to file a final budget.

Thing is, not one of them has any idea what the revenue side of those budgets will look like.

That's because while they are sweating putting together their final budgets, the Nevada Legislature hasn't even started it's tentative budget.

In good years, it's bad enough. The Legislature invariably works on other things until the last minute when they finally hammer out some sort of agreement. That might happen at the end of May or in the first week of June, just three weeks before the budget is supposed to take effect.

This year it's even worse. While the people closest to their workers have to look them in the eye and tell them there may not be enough money to pay them next year, lawmakers continue to dither.

While they're busy coming up with ways to fill the time until the big budget battles are joined, we suggest they add one more thing, a constitutional amendment requiring that the Legislature complete its work in the same time that it gives the rest of the state's governments.