Lawmakers hear plea for rights of grandparents

John Wilkerson

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2001 | 9:51 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada legislators were urged Tuesday to give grandparents the right to go to court if they're prohibited from seeing their grandchildren.

Jerry Tomasetti of Las Vegas cried as he told the Senate Judiciary Committee that his children no longer allow him to see his grandchildren.

"I haven't seen my grandchildren for 782 days," he said, testifying by videoconference from Las Vegas. "I go to their soccer games and they're not allowed to talk to me or even look at me."

A "grandparents' rights" bill was passed during the 1999 legislative session. However, that bill only applies to grandchildren of broken marriages or children born out of wedlock.

State Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, and Assemblywoman Merle Berman, R-Las Vegas, are sponsoring similar bills that would extend rights to grandparents of grandchildren in "intact" homes.

Judiciary Chairman Mark James endorsed the concept, but added that the bills need more work.

James said parents have a fundamental right to care for their children. For the state to intervene, he said the legislation would have to specify that a grandchild was harmed by being denied a relationship with grandparents.

"You must tell us what you want us to do," James told O'Connell. "This committee is willing to roll up its sleeves and work on this."

Tomasetti said the legislation was more for the rights of grandchildren than their grandparents. His children don't physically abuse his grandchildren, so it would be difficult to prove that denying access is harmful, he added.

"But to say that you can tell your children they can't look at their grandparents or send them a card or an e-mail, that's harm," he said. "And you don't want them passing that along to their children."