Tuesday, April 16, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, has filed for a seventh term and he hopes he will again be in charge at the 1997 Legislature.
Raggio, 69, said Monday that if Republicans continue control in the Senate, he would like to be majority leader and also chairman of the Finance Committee that helps write the state's budget.
"Our policy is if existing chairmen want to retain their post, we try to accommodate them unless there is some compelling reason," Raggio said. So far no one has filed against him.
Republicans controlled the Senate 13-8 in 1995. And Raggio said it is likely the GOP will be in charge again. Six GOP seats are up this election but most appear safe.
He didn't want to predict which party will have the majority in the Assembly, which was tied 21-21 at the last session.
He said he thought about not seeking re-election.
"After six terms, you wonder if you have worn out your welcome," he said. But he added he and his wife, Dorothy, are in good health and that he could summon commitment to run again.
At the start of the 1995 Legislature, Dorothy Raggio was in critical condition with an illness but recovered and is now doing fine, the senator said.
Raggio and Sen. Joe Neal, D-Las Vegas, are the senior members of the Senate, having been elected in 1972. Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, is the senior legislator, elected in 1962 to the Assembly and moving to the Senate later.
The issues, said Raggio, are the same as in past years.
"Obviously with more growth, the revenues are spread thinner. We have to deal with education and higher enrollments and keep up with technology."
Welfare reform will be an issue for the 1997 Legislature.
"We talk about it but we haven't gotten a good handle on it," he said. "There's also an overwhelming desire to limit government. We have not done a great job on that."
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