Senators go with Assembly on watered-down 'Piergate' bill

CARSON CITY - A flap over a bill that could have helped a prominent lobbyist build a private Tahoe pier ended Saturday as lawmakers agreed to a compromise that blocks any special deals.

The unanimous Senate-Assembly conference committee action on SB192, updating rules for Nevada homeowners' associations, assures its final approval by both houses before the 1999 Legislature adjourns on Monday.

In a brief meeting, senators on the conference panel went along with Assembly changes that stripped out references linking the bill to a dispute between lobbyist Harvey Whittemore and the Glenbrook Homeowners Association.

Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, who chaired the Commerce and Labor Committee that made the changes, said the idea was to ensure the bill does no special favors for any individual.

The revisions were made after Buckley's committee heard complaints about the original bill from Glenbrook residents fighting efforts by Whittemore and partner Larry Ruvo to build a pier and an entertainment complex there.

Gone from SB192 is a proposed requirement that executive board members of homeowners' associations live in Nevada at least 270 days a year. Also deleted was a proposed requirement for a two-thirds vote of homeowners present at meetings dealing with budgets and assessments.

Also, any existing easement or restriction on property isn't altered by the new legislation. But an association can't block "any lawful use" of property that's adjacent to but not within the association.

And an association couldn't prohibit an approved "residential use" on an easement - including, apparently, a pier on a beach - unless terms of the easement forbid that.

Also, if a use change for an easement has required an association's OK, that would still be required. Otherwise, approvals would come from the usual local government agencies. For Tahoe piers, the bistate Tahoe Regional Planning Agency would have final say.

The bill caused a big stir when The Associated Press disclosed in mid-April that Whittemore had slipped in an amendment that could have helped in his pier-building efforts.

The casino lobbyist's maneuver also led to criticism of Senate Judiciary Chairman Mark James, R-Las Vegas, whose panel reviewed and endorsed the original bill.

James disclosed he had a conflict because as a lawyer he had represented Ruvo before another agency on matters involving the pier and other Glenbrook issues. But he still actively participated in the Judiciary Committee debate on the measure.

But James said state ethics laws didn't prevent him from debating elements of SB192 - other than the pier provision.

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