Friday, April 17, 1998 | 5:57 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Decisions by the state Ethics Commission may be significantly delayed because of a ruling by the Nevada Legislative Commission Friday.
The legislative commission refused to approve a proposed regulation that would allow the chairwoman of the ethics commission to issue subpoenas to compel attendance of witnesses and the production of records at meetings.
Legislators said the law permits subpoenas to be issued only by a majority vote of the full ethics commission, not the chairwoman.
Deputy Attorney General Louis Ling said the way the lawmakers are interpreting the law will mean a slowdown in the handling of cases. For instance, he said the controversial case in which business leases are awarded at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas could be delayed until next January.
But Sen. Mark James, R-Las Vegas, said the law was clear. It says the chairman may administer oaths. But it's the commission that has to issue the subpoenas by majority vote.
Ling said the present procedure is for the commission to vote to allow subpoenas in a case but then it is up to Chairwoman Mary Boetsch to decide which ones will be issued and to whom.
The commission is a part time job with one meeting every month. If the commission had to vote on each subpoena, Ling said that would require more meetings.
He said he could not poll the commission by telephone because that would be a violation of the open meeting law.
He urged the legislative commission to approve the regulation and then change the law at the next session. But lawmakers refused. James however agreed to work with Ling to see if new language could be drafted in the regulation to avoid this conflict with the law.
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