Editorial: What is worse — hitting a cabbie or a clerk?

Thursday, Feb. 25, 1999 | 12:03 p.m.

The state Taxicab Authority wants the Nevada Legislature to make it a felony if a taxi driver is assaulted, with a conviction possibly resulting in 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. If Senate Bill 146 becomes law, taxi drivers would join a laundry list of other occupations that currently have the same protection, which includes bus drivers, school employees, prison guards, firefighters, police officers and judges.

Proponents of the bill note that 100 crimes were committed against taxi drivers in Las Vegas last year, including 23 instances where drivers were injured. If there is a genuine concern for safety, though, other options should be considered, such as glass partitions used in other cities. This bill also gets into the thorny issue of trying to judge which occupation merits special protection. Are taxi drivers in a more hazardous occupation than convenience store clerks or employees who work at night in bars and restaurants?

An unfortunate trend among state legislatures has been the hiking of criminal penalties for those convicted of assaulting specific groups of people. And there is wide support for the bill, ranging from the Nevada District Attorneys' Association to the Nevada AFL-CIO. Lucille Lusk, a lobbyist for the conservative organization Nevada Concerned Citizens, was the only one to oppose the bill during its hearing Tuesday. While her position may not be popular, Lusk is right when she says it is wrong to single out one group for special protection.

Unless you happen to belong to one of the identified classes, the unintended consequence of this legislation is that you're treated as a second-class citizen. It doesn't make any sense that if two people are assaulted in an identical manner that the taxi driver's assailant could serve 10 years in prison while a restaurant waitress' assailant may only spend six months in jail. The Legislature should drop this bill because of the double standard it creates.