Where I Stand -- Mike O'Callaghan: Some things don't change

BECAUSE OF A LEGAL necessity to meet a reasonable time limit imposed by the voters, the 1999 Nevada Legislature can't hang around Carson City to celebrate the Fourth of July. Its members have now reached the point in time that we can predict the following will happen before the adjourn sine die:

Several legislators will tell constituents they couldn't pass the bills promised them because committees didn't have an appetite for them. Lack of appetite usually results from a legislator not believing the bill is worth pushing or he has simply traded it off for something he believes is more important.

Some legislators will allow bills to be amended to destroy them and still be able to claim credit for them in their original form.

Several lobbyists and campaign managers will call in their chips and kill good legislation or pass bad legislation into law.

There will be whining among legislators about being rushed and a new call for annual sessions.

The governor or his staff will be blamed by unsuccessful legislators for the failure of their bills designed to help a contributor or their district.

At least a dozen lobbyists will remind legislators of past contributions and/or promise contributions for the 2000 campaign. This kind of action isn't restricted to the end of the legislative session.

There will be several noisy personal confrontations between legislators, and false rumors will be spread to weaken a legislator's effectiveness.

The Nevada Legislature is a very predictable player as it continues to make the same hits, runs and errors every session. Good examples are the continual attempts to further invade the privacy of Nevadans, grab power from other branches of government and increase its own power, promote annual legislative sessions, increase length of terms so they won't have to run for office and face the voters every two and four years.

A few old-time legislators, like Assemblyman Bob Price, D-North Las Vegas, who would like to be in Carson City all the time, always push for annual sessions. The lawmakers who have full-time jobs and want to remain citizen legislators usually block this move. Evidently the numbers of the people feeling this way are fewer when compared to past years.

The 1997 Legislature passed Price's Assembly Joint Resolution 5, and last week the 1999 Legislature's Assembly passed it again with a 23-18 vote. If the Senate now approves AJR5 it will be up to the voters to again defeat this annual session move when it's on their ballot next year.

Going beyond providing for annual sessions, this little sweetheart includes the additional power for the Legislature to call a special session. Wow! This is all some of these professional legislators need is the opportunity to call a special session. Right now only the governor has this power and it is used with great discretion. Every governor has had pressure from legislators, or other people with little else to do, to call for special sessions. The records will show that seldom do governors succumb to this pressure. Most governors view it as just one more gimmick for special interest people to get around the public's ban on annual legislative sessions.

Wisely, several Southern Nevadans, both Republicans and Democrats, voted to dump AJR5 last week. They weren't in the majority, but they included Barbara Buckley, Jerry Claborn, David Goldwater, Kelly Thomas, Sandra Tiffany, Richard Perkins, Kathy Von Tobel, Barbara Cegavske and Bob Beers.

Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, noted that the passage of this resolution flies in the face of voters who cast ballots to provide for the 120-day session every two years. Also, the annual session will cost an estimated extra $3 million to $4 million and provide for an additional 45 days pay and living expenses for legislators.

Will this latest ploy to come in the back door for more power and pay be stopped by a majority of wise senators or will it be up to the voters to again block it?

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