Monday, March 3, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- State lawmakers enter the seventh week of the 1997 session with an agenda that includes review of state parks and welfare budget proposals, a bill to reduce fines for speeding and tougher penalties for misbehaving prison inmates.
As the Legislature starts its 44th day Tuesday, Assembly and Senate budget committees will meet jointly to review the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and its various divisions that run state parks, forest-firefighting efforts, inmate work crews and other programs.
Also Tuesday, Assembly Elections, Procedures and Ethics will review a proposal for continued legislative oversight of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
Senate Transportation plans a hearing Tuesday on a bill to give a break to people who drive fast on Nevada's rural highways.
Senate Bill 137 would eliminate the demerits for drivers who exceed the limits by up to 10 mph on highways where the maximum is 55 mph or faster. Fines would be cut to $5, and insurance companies couldn't increase rates based on such tickets.
On Wednesday, lawmakers will hear from Chief Justice Miriam Shearing, who wants a huge budget increase. High on the list of requests for new funding are seven additional staff attorneys and two additional justices for the court.
Shearing also wants lawmakers to approve $22,000 pay raises to her and two other justices who, like her, are in midterm. She gets an annual base pay of $85,000 and notes that the court's newest member, Bill Maupin, is earning a base pay of $107,000.
Also Wednesday, Assembly Government Affairs is scheduled to vote on a bill that expands the scope of mandatory bargaining for teachers in Nevada's public schools.
On Thursday, various welfare administration budgets will be considered by a Senate-Assembly budget subcommittee. The same panel will take up various mental health services budgets Friday.
Senate Judiciary plans a meeting Thursday to discuss a bill that changes the way prison inmates are supervised. SB113 allows for random drug tests, increased penalties for sexual contact between convicts and prison employees, and mandatory education, training and rehabilitation programs for inmates.
And Senate Taxation will hold a hearing Thursday on a constitutional change that would allow for property tax exemptions if the amount of tax to be collected would be less than the cost of collecting it.
On Friday, Assembly Judiciary will review a bill that would revise child support formulas, and will discuss Nevada's family court system. The meeting will be in Las Vegas and teleconferenced to Carson City.
Assembly Infrastructure also has a Las Vegas meeting on Friday. The panel is scheduled to talk about a recent water-pumping emergency in Southern Nevada and tour water treatment facilities.
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