Thursday, Dec. 16, 2004 | 9:04 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- The Legislative Commission took several actions Wednesday including updating a policy regarding sexual harassment, accepted a report on clarification of the open meeting law and approved a regulation designed to prevent double taxation.
The commission, a group of 12 Assembly and Senate members that handles the business of the Legislature between sessions, adopted an updated version of the policy against sexual harassment involving the staff of the Legislature. Brenda Erdoes, legal counsel to the Legislature, said the new rule complies more fully with federal Title 7, which prohibits sexual harassment.
The revisions to the state policy include a statement that employees are encouraged to report a violation promptly. They also spell out a prohibition of retaliation against any employee who reports or threatens to report sexual or other types of harassment.
Also being spelled out in the policy is that the prohibition of sexual and any other unlawful harassment against an legislative employee applies to "any other person who comes in contact with an employee of the Legislative Counsel Bureau in the regular course of business."
But the policy does not cover interns who work for the Legislature, Erdoes said.
However, Lorne Malkiewich, director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, said complaints from interns, volunteers or the general public regarding harassment are investigated by his office.
A complaint was lodged in 2003 by an intern from UNR against Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas. The leadership of the Legislature said it conducted an investigation, but there was never any public report regarding what that investigation found.
Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, removed Manendo from chairmanship of the Assembly Government Affairs Committee for this coming session.
The Legislative Commission also accepted a report on clarification of the open meeting law's application to the Board of Regents of University and Community College System of Nevada. That report came from a study committee led by Sen. Warren B. Hardy, R-Las Vegas.
The regents have been sued by Attorney General Brian Sandoval for violations of the law. Hardy said the law was "vague" and "there was good reason for the misunderstanding."
The recommendation of the committee is not to expand or limit the law but to clarify it, Hardy said. For instance, the committee called for a law to specify notification of each person who will be the subject of discussion during a closed portion of the meeting that they are entitled to attend the session. The individual would be able to waive the right to have the meeting closed.
The Hardy committee recommended that such a meeting could be closed to allow the attorney to talk about pending legal actions. But the regents or any public group would be required to take action in public on any of these suits.
But the legislative committee could not reach a decision on how to define the terms "consider" and "deliberate" when the regents or any public body meets in closed session.
A legal opinion from the attorney general's office said "deliberate" means the forming of recommendations during the closed-door session. In discussions behind closed doors, some public bodies are accused of tentatively reaching conclusions and then go into open session to put the stamp of approval on them.
The legislative committee also recommended that the attorney general's office have the sole authority to administer and interpret the law.
These recommendations will be forwarded to the Legislature that opens in February.
The commission also approved a regulation to stop potential double taxation by the state of some limited-liability companies, trusts and partnerships.
The state Tax Commission had proposed the rule to make sure that the $100 per year business tax is not imposed twice on certain groups. Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said she has received many complaints about the problem.
The regulation doesn't solve one of the other major complaints about the 2003 tax bill -- that it imposed the $100 annual tax on landlords who rent out three or fewer homes.
Barbara Campbell, chairwoman of the tax commission, told the lawmakers that if they wanted that kind of exemption, the 2005 Legislature would have to change the law.
Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, chairman of an interim study on the new tax law, said his committee has made a recommendation to exempt those who rent out four or fewer homes.
The regulation approved would exempt trusts established for estate planning purposes from the $100 business tax. A trust created for business purposes would still be subject to the tax.
The new rule would exempt single member limited-liability companies based on how they file their federal income tax returns. Certain partnerships must secure one business license for the partnership and another for all the partners. That creates the double taxation problem.
The commission also approved an increase in fees that the Legislature can charge the executive agencies for reviewing and drafting regulations. The current fee is $25 per hour and that is being doubled to $50 per hour for reviewing and writing of regulations for the executive agencies.
A revised regulation governing lobbyists at the 2005 Legislature was approved by the commission. The present rules require all lobbyists to file monthly reports on how much they spend on legislators. A late report carries a $10 a day penalty.
Malkiewich said the $10 daily fine would be abolished in the case of non-paid lobbyists. But he would have the authority to suspend or revoke the lobbying privileges of the non-paid advocate if he or she failed to file the required report.
archive
