Rent control measure left to die in Senate committee

Senate Commerce and Labor Chairman Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, said he will let AB418 die by not even holding a hearing on the proposal.

"Rent control would be the single worst thing we could do for the state of Nevada," Townsend said. "It would dry up capital and it would dry up the ability to build new parks."

He said rent control in other states has proved an abject failure.

"If you have been to a rent control facility in a different state, they are treated poorly," Townsend said. "They don't maintain them. The tenants are miserable."

The bill's sponsor, Assemblywoman Genie Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, was dismayed by Townsend's decision. The bill had passed the Assembly by a 28-12 vote April 9.

She said out-of-state speculators have been coming into Clark County, buying up mobile home parks and then gouging residents on lot rental rates. Lots rent for $300 to $600 per month, she said.

"They are engaged in quick turnover," Ohrenscall said. "They buy the parks intending to keep them for a year or two and then sell them again. They try to get back the entire price they paid to get them."

Under her bill, the state Division of Manufactured Housing would have determined a fair rate of profit in mobile home parks across the state.

Ohrenschall said she intends to introduce a similar bill in 2001.

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