Senate resolution would extend terms of legislators

Jennifer Coleman

Wednesday, March 31, 1999 | 9:06 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Odd allies - a lobbyist for conservative causes and a Democratic senator - are opposing a plan to lengthen Nevada lawmakers' terms by two years.

SJR17, a proposed constitutional change by Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, would give senators six-year terms. Members of the Assembly would double their time in office to four years.

"It takes so long to learn the process. Voters don't know much about their legislators, then they throw them back up for election so fast, and they have to go back out and raise money," Schneider said during a Senate Legislative Affairs hearing Tuesday.

Schneider considers the measure a type of campaign finance reform because it will lessen the amount of money legislators have to raise by reducing how often they run for office.

"The public I've talked to, they just hate the fact you're out raising money all the time," he said. "This proposal puts us further away from the money."

Nevada Eagle Forum president Janine Hansen said she appreciated the time and energy campaigning takes - but there's no way the measure could be called campaign finance reform.

"The best form of campaign finance reform is frequent elections," she said. "The solution to campaign financing isn't to take away the people's right to elections."

"As scary as this is, Janine, I'm on the same side of the issue as you," said Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, who serves on the Legislative Affairs panel.

Titus, a political science professor at UNLV, said fewer elections wouldn't save any money in campaigning.

She explained that frequent elections are one way legislators keep their names in the public's minds, and longer terms just mean candidates will have to spend more money to make their name known.

"It will be twice as expensive and you'll still have to raise money. It may affect when you raise the money, but not how much," she added.

The proposal would also cost lawmakers more to keep in touch with constituents through district offices and district newsletters, she said.

To succeed, the resolution has to pass the Legislature this year, then again in 2001. That would be followed by a public vote on the issue in 2002.