Soliticing measure triggers debate

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2000 | 9:09 a.m.

A proposed Clark County measure crafted to protect minors who are hired by businesses to sell goods or solicit customers triggered a contentious exchange Tuesday between county representatives and civil rights officials.

Commissioners, unsure whether the ordinance was unconstitutional as the American Civil Liberties Union contended, postponed their decision.

But the board's action didn't temper the nasty words between Clark County Business License Director Ardel Jorgenson and Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada.

Peck blasted the proposal, saying it is "plainly overbroad and vague" and said the measure would require all phone solicitors and door-to-door sales people to possess work identification cards.

In order to obtain a work card, the applicant's background must be investigated by Metro Police.

"It's clear the language, as it's written today, would cover people making telephone calls on behalf of political candidates during campaign season," Peck said. "You would have to go to the government for permission to engage in electoral activities to unseat incumbents."

Jorgenson said Peck clearly misunderstood the contents of the measure. She said the work card requirement has been in place for years and it only applies to businesses.

The only new language, she said, placed more strict conditions -- such as requiring seat belts, insurance and more supervision -- on employers who hire minors.

"He did not come and talk to me about it in advance to get his facts straight and I wish he did that," Jorgenson said. "Essentially what happened today was the children the ordinance sought to protect are not protected."

Peck was angry that he was cut short during the public hearing. Asked why he hadn't come forward earlier, he said he hadn't heard of the proposal until late Monday night when he received a copy.

"It's absurd," he said of the ordinance. "It is outrageous to suggest somebody doing a telephone survey needs a work card. The way it's written is extraordinarily broad and unconstitutional."

Jorgenson said the portion of the ordinance that addresses peddlers and canvassers who need work cards targets not individuals who volunteer their time but people who actually own, for example, a telemarketing business.

The ordinance presented Tuesday, however, doesn't specify that work cards are needed only by licensed business owners who specialize in telephone marketing or door-to-door sales.

It defines peddlers as "all hawkers, street vendors and door-to-door sellers of goods ..." A canvasser, it says, "means one who is not in the business of selling goods, but one who makes surveys for research purposes, analysis, opinion polls, rating data ..."

The measure was crafted after Commissioner Mary Kincaid complained too many minors are soliciting for businesses without any supervision or who are being abused by their employers.

The commission rescheduled its public hearing for Dec. 7.