Governor signs bills on drunken driving, Cesar Chavez Day

By Cy Ryan

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 | 12:06 p.m.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons signed 29 bills into law, including Assembly Bill 301 to commemorate March 31 as Cesar Chavez Day in Nevada, honoring the man who helped organize the nation’s first union for farm workers.

The date is not a state holiday but it urges the news media, education, business and labor leaders to bring to the public's attention the accomplishments of Chavez.

Also approved was Assembly Bill 209, which requires an individual convicted of drunken driving to attend in person a live meeting of a panel of persons who have been injured or had members of their family injured or killed by a person driving under the influence of liquor or drugs.

The governor signed Senate Bill 83, allowing the state Gaming Control Board and Gaming Commission to require licensing of a person who has invented or developed or owns the intellectual property rights to a game that has been approved or seeking approval by the commission.

The state Department of Education is required under a bill signed into law to develop a model to measure the achievement of students in grades three through eight from year to year. Progress will be judged by the results of examinations. Assembly Bill 14 is aimed at determining whether the public school has made progress. The department must develop this model by July 2010.

Gibbons also signed Senate Bill 343, which requires the state to provide priority treatment and services to a parent where there has been a report of child abuse or neglect. A parent who qualifies for public assistance would receive treatment for mental health, substances abuse or other problems that may help in preserving or reuniting the family.