Legislative Commission starts Carson City meetings

Saturday, Sept. 6, 1997 | 9:16 a.m.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, told the Legislative Commission the lawmakers' policies require diversity in appointments to the committees that will meet between now and the regular 1999 session.

She complained that Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, didn't recommend any women senators to committees dealing with high-level radioactive waste and Nevada's public lands.

Assemblywoman Joan Lambert, R-Reno, also complained that Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, didn't propose naming any assemblywomen to a committee dealing with computer problems.

Women hold a third of the 63 seats in the Legislature, including five of the 21 state Senate seats and 16 of the 42 Assembly seats.

After hearing the complaints Thursday, Legislative Commission members promptly named Titus to the public lands committee and Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, to the computer committee.

But Assemblyman Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, who chairs the commission, postponed naming members to the high-level radioactive waste committee until Raggio has a chance to respond. Raggio was out of the country and not available for comment.

Titus said after the meeting she doesn't believe there was a deliberate attempt to keep women off interim committees - but "they should be more sensitive to the issue."

She added the public lands and radioactive waste committees traditionally have been "men's clubs."

Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, didn't get a similar response to his complaint that the members of a committee looking into road construction was stacked against southern Nevada.

Four of the eight members of the committee reside in rural Nevada, including the chairman, Assemblyman Roy Neighbors, D-Tonopah.

On the other hand, Neal won his argument that Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, should serve on the computer committee, rather than Sen. Jack Regan, D-North Las Vegas.

"I've seen Mr. Coffin use his laptop computer every day," he said. "I never saw Jack use his the whole session."

Throughout the legislative session, which adjourned July 7, Coffin regularly complained to Raggio about the deficiencies of the computer system.

In particular, he complained near the end of the session that legislators couldn't keep track of pending bills because Raggio insisted on using the computers rather than installing blackboards listing bills in the Senate chambers.

Sen. Mark James, R-Las Vegas, also expressed surprise at Raggio's decision to leave Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, off a committee studying Family Court problems.

O'Donnell won approval of legislation earlier this year that forces Family Court judges to take extra steps to contact parents before they give their children's custody to others.