Legislator proposes special plates for drunken drivers

Friday, Dec. 4, 1998 | 10:46 a.m.

Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons, R-Reno, said the striped, black-and-white license plates would make the drivers and any motorists near them more cautious.

"If they are driving and you see the zebra plate, you are going to stay away from them," Gibbons said. "Too many people are driving drunk, and we have passed a lot of laws to deal with them that have not really worked."

Gibbons wants to require convicted drunken drivers to display the striped plates on all their motor vehicles for a year after they regain driving privileges. Second-time offenders would keep the plates for three years.

She said she asked for the bill draft because she knows too many people killed while driving drunk. Gibbons added her father was an alcoholic who destroyed three cars and eventually committed suicide.

In addition, Gibbons proposes changing drunken driving laws to require second-time offenders to serve prison sentences of two to 15 years.

Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, has requested a bill that would require the Las Vegas City Council to expand its membership to six members, up from the present four members.

The Legislature passed a bill last year that made it optional for the City Council to expand, but Neal said that so far no action has been taken. With a larger council, Neal said, it might be possible for blacks and Hispanics to gain seats on the council.

He's also drafting a resolution in support of federal moves to put a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

Neal said legislators at least should look at the federal revenue they might get if the federal government builds the repository. He said the resolution is similar to ones he proposed in past sessions.

By cooperating more with the government on the dump, Neal said Nevada might have more influence over which routes the government would use to bring nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain.