Lawmakers convene for state’s 71st session

Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2001 | 11:04 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Legislature, the first of the new millennium, opened Monday with a challenge to "avoid laws of mediocrity" and to put partisan politics aside.

The Senate and the Assembly were called to order at noon and both conducted sessions lasting about four hours, devoted mainly to ceremonial functions and administrative business.

Richard Perkins, five-term Democratic assemblyman from Henderson, was elected speaker of the Assembly, the first person from Clark County to hold the top job since 1983.

Perkins told the 42-member Assembly he feared "more partisanship is drifting into the legislative process."

"The public wants us to challenge each other, not destroy each other," Perkins said.

He announced that Democrat and Republican leaders would hold formal meetings to focus on issues they're in agreement about.

There will be a new legislative standard to "avoid laws of mediocrity," Perkins said, urging the lawmakers to do the "very best" for Nevada residents.

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, who presides over the Senate, called Nevada "the land of opportunity." She said there were many challenges ahead, such as a declining national economy, a "crippling energy crisis" in California and growth and reapportionment in Nevada.

The goal is to find solutions not only for today but for the future, Hunt said.

The first casualty of the 71st session of the Legislature was Assemblywoman Genie Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, who broke her leg in a fall the night before the session opened. Legislative sources said it was the same leg she recently had surgery on, and she was flown to the state of Washington for treatment by a doctor who previously provided care for her leg.

Assemblyman Bob Price, D-Las Vegas, tried to get approval to allow her to vote via telephone or other electronic devices while she was gone. But the Nevada Constitution says that lawmakers must be present to vote.

Much of the time during the first day was devoted to swearing-in ceremonies, taking pictures and renewing old acquaintances.

For the first time a woman, Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, will be majority leader in the Assembly. And Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, becomes the first black to be speaker pro tempore of the Assembly. Perkins said this more accurately reflects the makeup of Nevada's population.

Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, who has served since 1963 -- longer than any legislator -- was elected president pro tempore of the Senate for the seventh time. For the first time in history, the Senate membership remains the same as the previous session.

Republicans control the Senate 12-9 while Democrats are in charge of the Assembly 25-17.

Secretary of State Dean Heller presented the Legislature with the initiative petition by the schoolteachers union to impose a 4 percent business profits tax with the money going to the public schools.

Lawmakers have 40 days to approve or reject the petition. If it is voted down, then it goes on the election ballot in 2002. Meanwhile, the Nevada Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday regarding whether the petition is legal.

Its chances of passage are slim. Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, has already said it won't get Senate approval.

There were 63 pre-filed bills introduced in the Assembly. Among them were ones by Perkins for a legislative audit of the University and Community College System of Nevada, which has been involved in a number of controversies, and one to provide money for programs to get parents involved in their children's schooling.

There were 77 bills introduced in the Senate, many of them dealing with changes in industrial insurance.

In addition, proposed constitutional amendments approved in 1999 are back for a second review. Among these are ones calling for annual sessions of the Legislature and creating an intermediate Court of Appeals. The Legislature must approve these amendments and they then must be ratified by the voters.