Legislature begins session

CARSON CITY -- The Legislature, hoping to prepare Nevada for the 21st century, starts work today on a variety of problems ranging from a shortage of money to growth in Clark County to putting the care of prison inmates into private hands.

The 70th session was to be gaveled to order at noon, followed by the swearing in of newly elected members of the Senate and Assembly. Then more than 100 bills will be introduced in an effort to get lawmakers off to a fast start.

That's especially important this year, the first in which the Legislature must complete its business in 120 days, a feat that hasn't been accomplished in 22 years. Voters approved a constitutional amendment last November limiting the session, forcing lawmakers to devise a new set of rules.

Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said it will be difficult but the work will be completed. He believes it will open up the process to the public because, in the past, the Legislature has suspended the rules several weeks before the end of the session, meaning it didn't have to give the usual three-day notice of committee meetings.

The new timetable, he said, should mean that the rules will be suspended only a short time at the end of the session, allowing the public more notice on meetings for as long as possible.

But Sen. Joe Neal, D-Las Vegas, predicts this will be the "worst session in my 26 years." Committee chairmen will wield more power in passing bills, he said, because on April 9, the 68th day of the session, committees must have passed all the bills introduced in their respective houses.

Ten days later, each house must have approved its bills and sent them to the other side for consideration. This gives committee chairmen, Neal said, the power to kill bills by holding them until after the deadlines. The deadline for bills on the budget doesn't come until the end of the session.

Similar deadlines were tried about 10 years ago and didn't work. The Assembly, on its deadline, approved and forwarded to the Senate 200 bills. The Senate had trouble coping with that number.

Still, the limits are designed to save taxpayers money and initial estimates are that they will succeed in that purpose. This session is expected to cost taxpayers $12.5 million, compared with $15 million two years ago when the Legislature hit a record 169 days. To help lawmakers stay on track, 240 extra employees have been hired.

There is plenty of room for partisan politics in the makeup of this Legislature. Republicans control the Senate 12-9 and Democrats maintain the majority in the Assembly 28-14.

In addition, Gov. Kenny Guinn is the first Republican governor in 16 years, and he's arrived in office at a time when state tax revenue hasn't kept up with the demands for growth.

The $3.2 billion budget submitted by Guinn trimmed or eliminated a number of programs to keep spending balanced. Advocate groups are already complaining about reductions that will lead to fewer government services.

The Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee met over the past two weeks to get an early look at the Guinn spending program. They start considering individual budgets Tuesday.

Leadership in the two houses remains the same. Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, continues as majority leader in the Senate and Assemblyman Joe Dini, D-Yerington, is again speaker of the Assembly.

But presiding over the daily sessions will be new Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, a former Clark County commissioner, succeeding Lonnie Hammargren.

Hunt won't be the only newcomer. Ten legislators have never served before, down from the 12 freshmen in 1997. There will be a record 23 women lawmakers, one more than in 1995.

And they'll all have plenty of people trying to get their attention. As of Friday, 402 lobbyists were registered. In 1997, 643 people signed up to lobby the legislators.

The public will have better access to the proceedings than ever before, thanks to technology. Audio of all legislative hearings will be broadcast live over the Internet (http:// www.leg.state.nv.us). The legislative website includes committee schedules and information about lawmakers.

New bills will be printed on the website a few hours after they are introduced or amended. That's faster than printed versions, which are usually not available until the next day.

There will be five-minute interviews with legislators every night on CNN Headline News at 5:55 p.m., 6:55 p.m., 7:55 p.m. and 8:55 p.m. They will be shown on Channel 22 in Southern Nevada. The first interview will be with Guinn today and Tuesday.

Those who tune in can expect to hear about a variety of issues, from education and crime to growth in Clark County and medical services for prisoners.

"The big issue will be education," Perkins said. "Gov. Guinn has stated his priorities, but I'm not sure that's where the legislative priorities will be."

The governor's budget provides enough money to handle the growth in students, but funds are short for many of the school reform programs started in 1997.

"Growth in Southern Nevada will be a big issue," Perkins said. Some are suggesting that a tight rein be placed on Clark County while others want to see the local governments handle the issue, he said.

"With the economy flat, we have to find some way so the growth in Southern Nevada is properly managed so that the economy doesn't take a downtrend there," he said. "Clark County is the economic engine for the state, so we need to protect that. The real difficulty in doing that is balancing our quality of life with our economic prosperity."

Consumer issues will also be a concern, Perkins said. "Construction defects will be a big thing between the trial lawyers and the home builders. That's really firing up down south."

Dini said viewers can expect a "big controversy" over Guinn's plan to put medical services for the prison into the hands of private companies at a savings of more than $4 million. It would mean laying off more than 300 state workers. Dini said he has met with more than 20 workers who claim they have already done "cost containment on their own."

Crime bills, as usual, will be in abundance. A "good Samaritan" bill would require citizens to report to law enforcement any violent crime being committed against a child -- an outgrowth of the murder of 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson at a Clark County casino. David Cash Jr., a close friend of the killer, Jeremy Strohmeyer, never reported the crime.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has drafted a bill to prohibit the development or possession of a biological agent to be used as a weapon, the result of an anthrax scare in Clark County last year.

And there are bills to require "chemical castration" -- the taking of drugs to suppress sexual urges -- of men convicted of certain sexual crimes. Such a measure failed in 1997.

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