New Nevada laws take effect July 1

Brendan Riley

Friday, June 26, 1998 | 8:56 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Most of the laws passed by the 1997 Legislature took effect that year. But several were delayed until July 1 - including one apparently making Nevada the first state to restrict e-mail advertising.

However, the law banning Internet transmissions of unwanted commercial advertisements may not accomplish much. The law enables people to go to court for an injunction that, if ignored, would subject the unwelcome e-mailers to $10 fines.

SB13, introduced by Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, was described at the time of its passage as "worse than no bill at all" by David H. Kramer, an attorney who specializes in e-mail lawsuits.

Kramer said companies can still send unwanted advertisements to consumers by e-mail as long as they include their address and a way for the consumer to tell the firm to stop its ads.

The $10 fine comes into play only if the company doesn't include its name in the ad and doesn't include the notice on how to get off the list.

Also taking effect July 1 are:

-Key sections of SB314 by Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, to spell out rules governing sometimes dictatorial boards of homeowners associations.

Part of the law took effect last year, but several provisions were delayed until July 1 - including one that requires the Nevada Real Estate Division to set up an ombudsman's office to resolve disputes between members and boards of homeowners associations.

-Sections of AB659 providing another $52 million for class-size reduction in the first three grades of Nevada public schools. That's in addition to about $95 million authorized earlier under the measure.

In third grades, the ratio of students to teachers will be 19-to-1. It's 16-to-1 in the lower grades. Gov. Bob Miller had hoped for the 16-to-1 ratio in all three grades, but reached a compromise with Sen. Raggio on the slightly higher - and less costly - ratio.

-Start-up sections of AB6, by Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, which will mandate kindergarten or kindergarten-level skills before children can start the first grade.

The July 1 part of the law provides $100,000 to develop home-teaching kits for parents who, starting in 1999, opt out of sending their 6-year-olds to kindergarten. Such home kits have been available in rural areas since 1991.

The money also will cover costs of evaluation tests that children will have to pass before they enter first grade. If they fail the tests, they'd be placed in kindergarten.

-A final section of AB376, which already requires that a student who's a "habitual disciplinary problem" be suspended from public school for one semester. The last section says schools can buy tickets for public bus transportation for high school students who need such transportation.

-A final provision in AB660, the appropriations act that details $2.9 billion in state general fund spending during the current 2-year budget cycle. The remaining provision allows for a $450,000 appropriation so that the state Printing Division can get a new printing press. The money is a loan and must be repaid.

-Most provisions of a new law redistributing Nevada's tax revenues and cleaning up an inflexible and complicated tax distribution system. Under SB254, vehicle privilege taxes and levies on liquor, cigarettes, real property transfers and sales will now be allocated by counties to local governments and any special districts based on new formulas that take into consideration population growth and increasing property values. It doesn't affect money exchanges between counties.