Leaders warn about demands created by short session

CARSON CITY -- The 1999 Nevada Legislature convened Monday, with leaders warning of potential revenue shortfalls and voters insisting that the session conclude in four months.

After the session convened at noon and Joe Dini was elected Assembly speaker for a record eighth time, the Yerington Democrat told the rest of the Assembly the November 1998 voter mandate was to "do more in less time."

Dini also served notice that evening and weekend meetings will start soon - a warning that wasn't given by him or Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, until several weeks into the 169-day session in 1997.

Raggio gave a similar pep talk in the Senate, urging bipartisanship and cautioning against long floor debates.

"The longer we stay here, the feistier we get," he added.

Dozens of bills prepared in advance of the session were introduced in the Assembly and Senate, including SB1, which appropriates $10 million to pay lawmakers and cover other costs. That bill was quickly passed while other proposals were routed to committees for hearings.

Other opening-day events at Nevada's 70th legislative session included the swearing-in of new and re-elected lawmakers and introductions of family members.

Legislators also adopted joint rules which impose first-time deadlines for introducing and passing bills to ensure their work is wrapped up by May 31.

Raggio said the rules streamlined the process, but Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, questioned whether some big changes might slip through unnoticed.

Raggio responded by putting the responsibility on lawmakers to be vigilant, saying, "Any senator can still object to a bill."

Legislators were scheduled to start hearings on bills immediately. That includes money committee hearings starting Tuesday on Gov. Kenny Guinn's proposed $14 billion budget plan for the next two years.

The Assembly Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees wrapped up two weeks of preliminary hearings on the budget Friday - but panel members could only talk about the budget since the session hadn't started.

As of Tuesday, the money panels can actually slash or expand Guinn's proposals.

Finance planned to start with a review of the budgets for the state library, archives and museum systems. Ways and Means will be looking at the budgets for the governor's office, the state Ethics Commission and the secretary of state's office.

The legislators' main job this session will be to go over Gov. Kenny Guinn's two-year spending plan that boosts education and prison spending but shrinks the percentage of funding for welfare programs and other social services and freezes pay for state workers.

The budget is about 10 percent higher than the current two-year budget that covers the state through June 30. It includes $3.17 billion in state general fund spending, generated mainly by state sales tax and casino-related taxes, with the balance coming mainly from federal sources.

More than half of the state funding, $1.76 billion, is earmarked for Nevada's schools, universities and community colleges.

Human services spending totals $755.5 million, and public safety, which includes Nevada's prisons, gets the third largest amount, $378.4 million.

Guinn has proposed no tax hikes, although he has promised to produce a plan for revising Nevada's tax structure for the 2001 Legislature.

In addition to Guinn's proposals, lawmakers and agencies have submitted nearly 1,400 bill drafts dealing with everything from wiretapping to casino taxes to door-to-door fundraising by students.

Other measures would give some legislators a cost-of-living increase; bar discrimination based on genetic testing; authorize collective bargaining for state employees; and allow authorities to chemically castrate repeat sex offenders.

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