Nevada gets failing mark on disclosure

Tuesday, Feb. 16, 1999 | 11:26 a.m.

Nevada received a failing grade from a national watchdog group looking into private income, assets and conflict-of-interest disclosures by state legislators.

But Nevada was not alone in the study conducted by the Center for Public Integrity, which flunked half the states, giving Nevada a 56.5 grade and placing it 27th.

The state of Washington scored 98 of a possible 100 points to get the top mark, followed by Alabama with 96 and Alaska with 95. Scoring one point each and finishing in a tie for last place were Utah, Idaho, Michigan and Vermont.

The center ranked each state based on the existence of financial disclosure filings, access to those public records, basic disclosure requirements and penalties on the books for late or inaccurate reports.

Nevada garnered perfect scores in three of the four categories -- availability, access and penalties. However, those categories accounted for just 10 points. The extent of the information disclosed under the laws accounted for 90 percent of the grade. Nevada scored a 46.5 in that category.

"Nevada requires lawmakers to report officer/director positions, (but) because of the question's wording, it is impossible to distinguish if lawmakers are officers or directors of an entity or have investment holdings in the entity," the report says.

"Nevada is one of 22 states that require lawmakers to disclose employment income and investments of all members of their households. Nevada is one of 41 states that do not allow citizens to differentiate between minor and major sources of lawmakers economic interests."

The study found that "half the states received failing grades because lawmakers can hide significant categories of information about their private financial interests from the public and the press."

The report further found that "it's the loopholes that frequently eviscerate otherwise well-intentioned disclosure laws."

The organizations says that this report is the first phase of a two-year project in which they plan to examine how state legislators weigh their public duties against their private economic interests.

"Center researchers will identify the business activities and interests of more than 7,400 state lawmakers, put that information into an Internet-accessible format and release its findings in mid-2000," the report says.

Attempts to reach several members on the Nevada Senate Government Affairs Committee and the Assembly Elections, Procedures and Ethics Committee for comment on the report today were unsuccessful.