Pubdate: Mon, 07 Feb 2005
Source: Las Vegas Sun (NV)
Copyright: 2005 Las Vegas Sun, Inc
Contact:  http://www.lasvegassun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/234
Author: Cy Ryan, Sun Capital Bureau
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/marijuana+initiative
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

73RD NEVADA SESSION STARTS TODAY

CARSON CITY -- Taxes, marijuana and improving Nevada schools are among
the major issues that will confront the 73rd Nevada Legislature that
was to open at noon today.

The 63 lawmakers -- 42 in the Assembly and 21 in the Senate -- will
devote themselves to ceremonial functions such as electing officers
and passing a bill to finance the first part of the session.

The session, expected to cost $18 million to $19 million, will last
120 days unless the legislators can't finish their work and Gov. Kenny
Guinn has to convene a special session.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said there are several
"tough" problems to deal with but he thinks work can be completed in
the 120 days. Guinn doesn't see this session rivaling the 2003
Legislature when lawmakers couldn't agree on taxes until their second
special session during the summer.

"The height of interest is not what it was two years ago," Guinn
said.

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said this
session "will be easier. Nothing can be as bad as things were last
session." But there will still be major issues to tackle.

The Legislature will have to find a way to balance government income
with escalating land value and thus higher property taxes. Lawmakers
will also be dealing with several proposals to spend a surplus as well
a proposals to bolster health care and education.

The session kicks off with a series of parties, receptions, lunches
and dinners hosted by lobbyists who hope to curry favor with the
legislators. The first is Tuesday night, sponsored by Carson City and
other local governments in the area.

More than 500 paid lobbyists are expected to register to try to
influence legislators during the session.

So far more than 55 bills have been pre-filed for introduction on the
opening day. They include measures to imposition of the death penalty
on people who are younger than 18 when they kill. There are also bills
to require full-day kindergarten and to allow local governments to
install digital or video equipment at intersections to nab errant motorists.

More than 1,000 bills and resolutions have been requested and a couple
of hundred of these are expected to be ready and delivered to
legislators for introduction during the opening week.

The most pressing issue in the early session will be skyrocketing
property value leading to higher taxes. Assemblyman Richard Perkins,
D-Henderso, who is expected to again be elected the Assembly's
speaker, wants to put a cap on the valuations that have risen, in some
places, 30-40 percent. Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas,
suggests freezing the value at last year's rate to give the lawmakers
time to study the impact of skyrocketing property taxes.

The Assembly Growth and Infrastructure Committee, led by Perkins, and
the Senate Taxation Committee start taking testimony Tuesday in trying
to work out a solution. City and county officials are scheduled to
testify about the effect of any tax freeze or tax limit on their operations.

Raggio said, "It's the toughest issue we have. I know we have to deal
with it promptly. But there are a lot of ramifications whatever you do
with it, whether it's a freeze or a cap."

Any plan must be completed within the first two months to give the
assessors time to prepare the tax bills.

Raggio said this session would be faced with big issues including the
governor's plan to put an additional $50 million a year into
low-performing schools and the proposal to rebate $300 million to
owners of motor vehicles who registered with the DMV last year. The
plan would give people up to $300 per vehicle. Raggio said the rebate
plan "is up in the air."

Buckley plans to push for a state solution to the health care crisis
in Southern Nevada where hospital emergency rooms are being filled
with mentally ill patients.

And the Legislature has to find a way to improve the schools as well,
Buckley said. The proficiency and graduation rates are "horrible" now,
she said.

Lawmakers also want to make changes to the $833.5 million tax plan
enacted two years ago.

In this opening week, Secretary of State Dean Heller will deliver
three initiative petitions dealing with allowing Nevadans to possess
one ounce of marijuana and two of them competing plans to limit
smoking in public buildings.

The Legislature has 40 days to act on them or they will be on the
statewide ballot in 2006 for the voters to approve or reject.

Heller will officially open the Assembly at noon and then give way
after the House elects Perkins as its speaker. Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt
presides over the Senate.

Democrats control the Assembly 26-16 while Republicans are in charge
of the Senate 12-9.

Each lawmaker will be paid a $130 per day salary for the first 60 days
of the session. Each is also paid $91 per diem, each day, for the
entire session. Each lawmaker also is allowed $2,800 for telephone
expenses and $60 for postage. They receive free stationary as well. .
They also have a travel allowance of $6,800 to permit their return
home on weekends. Out of that $6,800, the legislators from outside the
area can use up to $600 a month to pay for lodging, says Lorne
Malkiewich, director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

Those in leadership and committee chairmen and chairwomen each receive
an additional $900 for the session.

There are 10 freshmen in the Assembly and three in the Senate. Sen.
Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, moved from the Assembly to the Senate.
Assembly members Bonnie Parnell, D-Carson City, and Debbie Smith,
D-Sparks, served previously in the Assembly but were not at the 2003
session.

An estimated 260 extra staff have been added for the session including
secretaries, janitors and security. The attaches came on board in
early January for training.

This is the last session for Guinn whose term ends in January 2007,
and though Perkins and Titus have already announced that they want to
succeed Guinn, a Republican, Democrats say that competition won't
create any problems.

Buckley said Perkins and Titus are good leaders and "their
gubernatorial aspirations will not create acrimony." She said she and
the other Democrats "are not going to fight among ourselves."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake