Assembly upholds Miller's pool veto

CARSON CITY -- The Assembly Thursday upheld former Gov. Bob Miller's 1997 veto of a bill aimed at shady swimming pool contractors in Las Vegas but the author of the legislation said the bill had served its purpose.

Assemblyman John Lee, D-Las Vegas, said complaints from the public about cost overruns, sloppy construction and unfinished work have died down.

"Contractors got a large wake-up call ... and it seems to be working well," Lee said.

Late in the 1997 session, Lee pushed through a bill that clamped down on fraudulent swimming pool builders. But after the Legislature went home, Miller vetoed it.

Later, Miller directed the state Contractors Board to install many parts of the bill in its regulations. Lee said Thursday the governor got a lot of complaints after his veto resulting in the governor suddenly getting "better vision," in which he saw the "wisdom and intelligence of this bill."

"I haven't heard a lot of complaints since then," he said. The regulations, Lee said, have not forced any good contractors out of business.

"Since that time, people we had the most problems with haven't been contracting pools to my knowledge," he said. "They were smelled out by doing this."

But he added there still needs to be a lot done to bring the Contractors Board up to the level citizens of Nevada deserve. He has a bill dealing with the Contractors Board but declined to refuse details until he introduces it.

Lee said homeowners were bilked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars before his bill and the subsequent regulations of the Contractors Board.

In July 1997, the governor said the bill, AB512, could reduce the number of pool and spa contractors and thereby reduce consumer choice. It would undermine "healthy competition," the governor said. And he said the installment payment plan -- intended to relieve homeowners of paying huge up-front costs only to be left with holes in their yards -- placed an "onerous financial demand" on the contractors.

But Lee said the 2 percent limit on down payments hasn't hurt any of the legitimate contractors.

The governor also said in his veto message that contractors were not consulted. But records show contractors offered extensive testimony at committee hearings at the Legislature.

Bills vetoed by a governor after the close of the Legislature are submitted to the following session.

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