Legislative briefs for April 16, 2001

Monday, April 16, 2001 | 10:27 a.m.

Bill wouldn't allow kids in back

Children would not be permitted to ride in the back of pickups under a measure the Assembly passed Friday.

Assembly Bill 383, sponsored by Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, would prohibit those 18 and younger from riding in the back of trucks except during farm work or parades.

"By the very definition of this space, it is named cargo space," Assembly Transportation Committee Chairwoman Vonne Chowning, D-North Las Vegas, said. "Children are not cargo."

The measure passed 32-8, with Morse Arberry and Wendell Williams, both D-Las Vegas, absent.

After the vote Dawn Gibbons, R-Reno, asked that the bill be reconsidered, because she decided to vote against the measure, bringing the no total to nine.

"I'm a country girl," Gibbons said. "And I don't think that should be a law."

Others voting against the measure were Sharron Angle, R-Reno; David Brown, R-Henderson; Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas; Tom Collins, D-North Las Vegas; Joe Dini, D-Yerington; Don Gustavson, R-Sun Valley; Roy Neighbors, D-Tonopah; and Kathy Von Tobel, R-Las Vegas.

Panel to hear about medical woes

Although it will have little power to help dozens of women who have problems with breast implants, a newly appointed select committee will give them a voice, the committee's chairwoman said.

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins on Friday named a Select Committee on Health and Legal issues to hear testimony from women who suffered problems from their breast implants, but who missed the opportunity to take part in a class-action lawsuit against the manufacturer.

"There are quite a number of women who were left out of the Dow settlement," said Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, who will chair the committee. "This will give them a forum."

But the committee is unable to process any new bills, except for emergency measures. And it is not clear what help the committee could give the women.

Others on the committee are Merle Berman, R-Las Vegas; John Carpenter, R-Elko; Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas; Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas; and John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas.

When asked why he didn't appoint a lawyer to a committee dealing with legal issues, Perkins responded: "Oceguera's a law student."

Committee OKs hike for county officials

County officials could be on their way to double-digit raises after an Assembly panel voted to pass a salary increase bill Friday.

The Assembly Government Affairs Committee passed Assembly Bill 256 to the full house.

Under the bill, Clark County commissioners would get a 39 percent raise, from $54,000 to $75,000 annually.

The county sheriff's salary would go from $84,000 to $125,000, and the district attorney's pay would go from $108,000 to $145,000.

The county clerk, assessor, recorder, treasurer and public administrator would all get salary raises from $72,000 to $107,610.

The bill, sponsored by the Nevada Association of Counties, would raise the salaries of all elected county officials statewide. Those in Clark and Washoe counties would get the biggest raises to offset situations in which deputies make more than the head of the department.

Dawn Gibbons, R-Reno, and Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, voted against the bill.

Panel wants study of discrepancies

The Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor today approved a bill to study the disparity of pay between men and women in state government.

Senate Bill 85, introduced by Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-North Las Vegas, creates a 13 member commission to conduct the study and report the results back to the 2003 Legislature.

Carlton agreed to remove the $10,000 appropriation in the bill, and she said gifts, grants and donations will be sought to finance the project.

The bill goes to the floor of the Senate for a vote later this week or early next week.