Pubdate: Tue, 08 Jun 2004
Source: Las Vegas Sun (NV)
Copyright: 2004 Las Vegas Sun, Inc
Contact:  http://www.lasvegassun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/234
Author: Kirsten Searer
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project ( www.mpp.org )
Cited: The Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana (CRCM)
http://www.regulatemarijuana.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/props.htm (Ballot Initiatives)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/marijuana+initiative
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

BIG PUSH ON FOR PETITION SIGNATURES

Groups Have One More Week To Qualify For Ballot

Carmen Cashman, who is pushing two constitutional amendments designed
to curb insurance prices, left a harried message for a reporter late
Thursday evening.

"Sorry, I just got home a little while ago," she explained. "We are
working like crazy to get these two initiatives qualified. The big
push is on."

Call back, she said, after June 15.

It's crunch time for several Nevada groups looking to amend the Nevada
Constitution. To get their cause on the November ballot, each must
turn in 51,234 signatures by next Tuesday.

That's no easy feat in Nevada, which requires groups to get signatures
from 10 percent of voters in 13 of the 17 counties.

One petition has been submitted for verification and seven petitions
are being actively circulated now, with some groups paying well above
$2 a signature to people willing to pitch petitions on the street,
several local political consultants said.

To become constitutional amendments, the initiatives must be approved
by voters in 2004 and again in 2006.

Already some groups are starting to battle, with the State Medical
Association charging that Cashman's petitions would ruin their
attempts at tort reform.

That, combined with a renewed push to regulate some marijuana use in
the state, could mean that this year's initiatives could be among the
most interesting and expensive items on this year's ballot. They include:

Insurance rollbacks: This initiative, which is being pushed by
Cashman's People for a Better Nevada, promises a 20 percent reduction
in auto insurance premiums to all Nevadans and an additional 20
percent rollback for "good" drivers.

It would, however, also targets tort reform, stating that tort reform
would be void if, by Feb. 1, 2007, the claims paid on medical
malpractice suits and the malpractice premiums charged don't go down
by at least 10 percent.

While tort reform will help malpractice costs, it might not work that
quickly, said Scott Craigie, a lobbyists for the State Medical
Association, which already has its own measure on the ballot to cap
malpractice costs.

The Keep Our Doctors in Nevada initiative will appear on the November
ballot but would only change state statute, not the state
constitution. If it passes this fall it would change the state law.

It would limit the amount that attorneys could collect on medical
malpractice lawsuits, as well as setting a cap of $350,000 for the
amount a patient could win for pain and suffering in a malpractice
suit.

But if the People for a Better Nevada constitutional amendment were
passed, it would trump the doctors' tort reform because it is in the
constitution, not state law.

"It will be a very contentious issue if it goes to the ballot," he said.

Frivolous Lawsuits: Another petition pushed by the People for a Better
Nevada would hold attorneys responsible for fees and court costs if
they are found to have encouraged or pursued "frivolous" litigation.

The initiative defines frivolous lawsuits as those filed "solely to
harass the opposing party or to seek economic gain unrelated to the
merits of the lawsuit."

But Craigie said doctors also believe this initiative is deliberately
crafted to stop tort reform backed by doctors.

He pointed to a section of the initiative that would "amend, nullify
or change any limitation on damages" passed between January, 2004 and
December, 2006 -- meaning the Keep Our Doctors in Nevada reform could
be voided.

Billy Rogers, whose company, The Southwest Group, is handling both the
frivolous lawsuit initiative and the insurance rollback initiative,
said Monday he thinks both will qualify for the ballot.

Education First: Proponents turned in nearly 90,000 signatures last
week to put this constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

Education First would require the Legislature to pass a K-12 education
budget before any other budget. The measure comes a year after the
education budget was held up while Legislators pondered a tax increase.

While some have criticized the initiative for not doing enough for
education -- it wouldn't provide any funding or accountability, it
would simply mandate that education money be passed first --
proponents said they have seen strong support.

"It's very simple," said political consultant Jim Denton, who is
working on the initiative. "People want education to be a priority for
their elected representatives."

Counties are now in the process of verifying the signatures to
determine if the initiative will make it to the ballot.

National per-pupil average: The Nevadans for National Average, led
largely by the state teacher's union, has been paying up to $2.25 per
signature to put this constitutional amendment on the ballot.

But that's nothing, said Ken Lange, executive director of the Nevada
State Education Association. Some signature gatherers were being lured
to California, where companies were paying $3 or $4 a signature.

Securing qualified signature gatherers was "competitive," Lange said.

Lange predicted the group will have plenty of signatures, though he
said they won't submit them before Friday.

The initiative would require the Legislature to fund per-pupil
spending at or above the national average by 2012.

The teachers' group would use numbers from the National Commission on
Education Statistics, which Lange said gives the best "apples to
apples" comparison of what states spend on each pupil.

Nevada ranked 45th on this list in the 2001-2002 school year, Lange
said, with per-pupil spending set at $5,813. The national average was
$7,548.

Legislators would have until 2012 to come up with the money to pay for
the increase without having to raise taxes, he said.

"It's really not about taxes, it's about what we want to do for our
kids," he said. "I think a lot of parents are focused on that."

But some fiscal hawks, including Carole Vilardo, president of the
Nevada Taxpayers Association, said they are concerned that there are
several "national averages" computed, and each takes into account
different types of spending.

"There's no accounting for the differences in the cost of providing
education," she said. Alaska, for example, has a very high cost of
providing education simply because the state is so large and sparsely
populated, she said.

The Taxpayers Association has not yet voted on whether to support the
initiative.

Regulated marijuana: The Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana
is proposing a new initiative that would allow adults older than 21 to
legally purchase up to one ounce of marijuana from controlled markets.

It also would use tax money from the sales to fund drug and alcohol
treatment programs, and it would beef up laws punishing people who
drive under the influence and sell drugs to children.

Jennifer Knight, a spokeswoman for the committee, said her group
should easily muster enough signatures by June 15 to make it on the
ballot.

A different law that would have legalized up to three ounces of
marijuana failed overwhelmingly in 2002. Advocates and some police
officers have voiced objections once again to the idea, saying it
could put dangerous drivers on the road and give children the wrong
impression that it's OK to use marijuana.

Knight, whose group is largely funded by the national Marijuana Policy
Project, said her group paid signature circulators "more than most
other groups in the state," but she wouldn't speculate on how much the
national advocacy group will spend in Nevada.

"Yes, we're going to put some money into TV, but as far as the
expenses, we're going to release those figures as we go," she said.

Minimum Wage: This is a late entry into the initiative field, but
Rogers, who also is handling the signature gathering for this petition,
said he thinks the measure will make the ballot.

The constitutional amendment would require the state's minimum wage to
be $6.15 an hour if the employer does not provide health insurance,
and $5.15 an hour if an employer does provide the coverage.

Many political consultants speculate that this measure is being pushed
partly to motivate the Democratic base going into a tight presidential
election. Local union volunteers also are carrying the petitions.

Public employees: Republican activist George Harris said he doesn't
have enough signatures yet for his petition to ban public employees to
serve in the Legislature, and he blames government employees.

Last week, Harris went to court, arguing that his petition has been
hampered by government workers who have stopped his petitioners from
gathering signatures on public property.

The most publicized example happened at the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas campus, when several supporters were arrested after gathering
signatures outside the designated "free speech" areas.

But Harris claims that his petitioners consistently have been
harassed, prompting some paid circulators to quit. The average
circulator gets 20 signatures in 45 minutes, but "it's incalculable"
to determine how many signatures the group has lost, he said.

While the judge told agencies to stop preventing the circulators from
gathering signatures, he has not extended the time the group has to
gather signatures.

Property tax cap: Two Republican Assembly members, Sharron Angle and
Don Gustavson, are pushing this initiative, which would address the
burgeoning property value in Nevada.

Homeowners would pay a maximum of 1 percent of their assessed value as
of fiscal year 2001-2002, and the taxable value of the property could
increases by less than 2 percent of the consumer price index.

Angle, who did not return calls for comment on Monday, said in May
that she was actively gathering signatures. She said her measure would
help families plan for their property taxes in a market where property
value increases dramatically.

"If you're going to buy a house, you're going to know exactly what the
taxes are going to be," she said. "You can project ahead."

The Nevada Taxpayers Association has come out against this initiative,
saying it is crafted in a way that would make the constitutional
amendment susceptible to lawsuits.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin