Summary of 2001 Legislature issues

Monday, Jan. 1, 2001 | 9:28 a.m.

Here's a summary of top issues expected during the coming 2001 legislative session:

-BUDGET: Gov. Kenny Guinn will propose a two-year state spending plan that's based on a predicted $3.74 billion in tax revenues, mostly from sales and casino-related taxes. Guinn has promised pay raises for state workers, plus numerous social service revisions. And he says his goals can be met without raising taxes.

-REAPPORTIONMENT: The 2001 Nevada Legislature will draw the lines for its own districts, for congressional districts, and also for university regents and the state Board of Education. Huge growth in the Las Vegas area will mean a third congressional seat for Nevada - and also will require changes in legislative districts that will dilute rural representation. While booming urban areas will get more seats, one plan for preserving existing rural seats is to expand the size of the Legislature.

-DEREGULATION: Gov. Guinn has put electric utility deregulation on hold pending a legislative review in 2001, and key lawmakers say much more than a mere tuneup of a 1999 deregulation law can be expected. Guinn said he feared Nevadans would be hit with the same huge increases in power bills as California and other states. Assembly Commerce Chairman Joe Dini, D-Yerington, and Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, predict an overhaul of the law, saying small consumers must be protected.

-TEACHERS-TAXES: The Nevada State Education Association circulated an initiative petition that will force tax-shy lawmakers to consider a state business profits tax. The proposed tax would raise about $250 million for public education. The plan also would prevent lawmakers from using the tax revenue for education elsewhere in the state budget.

-CASINOS-TAXES: Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, will resume his perennial efforts to collect more taxes from Nevada casinos. Neal circulated a petition this year to force lawmakers to consider a tax increase on casinos, but it didn't get enough signatures. But he says the tax increase fight isn't dead. He proposed raising the tax on the biggest casinos from 6.25 percent to 11.25 percent. There's also a bill draft to raise the gross gambling tax to 8 percent.

-NUCLEAR DUMP: The state Commission on Nuclear Projects wants lawmakers to pass a resolution urging a veto of any federal-level decision to make Nevada's Yucca Mountain a nuclear waste dump. That would set the stage for Gov. Guinn to veto the dump if the federal Department of Energy recommends the site. Also, the state is seeking a new law to allow for $1 million-per-gallon fines for every gallon of water the DOE trucks to the proposed dump site.

-ELECTION REFORM: Secretary of State Dean Heller will push a bill to scrap Nevada's "winner take all" system for presidential electoral votes. He says the electoral votes should be distributed proportionately to candidates based on the popular vote. Heller, a Republican, said the confusion surrounding the presidential election demonstrates the need to change the way the electoral vote is tabulated in Nevada.

-INTERNET GAMBLING: Assemblywoman Merle Berman, R-Las Vegas, is drafting a bill to legalize and regulate the operation of gambling Web sites based in Nevada. The proposal will face opposition from the powerful Nevada Resort Association, representing many major casinos in the state, though gambling interests aren't united against the proposal.

-MEDICAL MARIJUANA: The 2001 Legislature must set up a distribution method for medical marijuana, following overwhelming voter approval in November of a ballot question on the issue. A task force has been working on a distribution plan - in a state that has the nation's harshest laws against marijuana use. Under the plan, the University of Nevada Medical School would create a marijuana research program. Marijuana would be grown on a university farm and doctors would track whether the marijuana helped ease their pain, nausea or other symptoms.

-DRUGS-LIQUOR: Assemblywoman Chris Guinchigliani, D-Las Vegas, wants to make simple marijuana possession a misdemeanor instead of a felony. Possession of any amount of pot and being under the influence of any drug are now felonies.

Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, wants to lower the legal standard for drunkenness in Nevada from 0.10 to .08 - a proposal that failed in the past due largely to resistance from the casino industry. But his bill's chances of passages improved when Congress mandated the lower blood-alcohol level.

-DEATH PENALTY: Sen. Neal is proposing a bill to ban capital punishment in Nevada. A related measure, to impose a moratorium on executions in Nevada, is expected in the Assembly. Nevada reinstated capital punishment in 1977. Since then, eight men have been executed, the most recent in 1999. Eighty-nine men and one woman are on Nevada's death row. At least two could face lethal injection in 2001.

-EDUCATION: Besides the allocation of more than half of the state budget for education-related goals, lawmakers also will consider bills to improve Nevada's charter school law and get students to eat less junk food. Key lawmakers also want the budget to allow for continued efforts to reduce overcrowding in school classrooms and more tutoring for students who fall behind.

-ANNUAL SESSIONS: Lawmakers will consider a plan to amend the Nevada Constitution to allow for annual sessions. The proposal squeaked out of the 1999 session, and must go to a second vote by legislators before it's put to a public vote. Opponents say annual sessions would be too expensive, effectively doubling the cost of lawmaking in the state. Lawmakers tried annual sessions once before, in 1960. But immediately after that, voters decided against the concept and the every-other-year sessions have continued since then.

-SENIORS-PRESCRIPTIONS: Lawmakers are expected to review Gov. Guinn's much-touted prescription drug program for low-income senior citizens, which got off to a slow start this year. More than 10,000 seniors could be eligible, but only a few hundred signed up initially for the program that provides a subsidy of up to $40 a month for insurance policies paying part of the cost of the drugs.

-GOVERNMENT OVERHAUL: A special panel formed by Gov. Guinn to improve government efficiency has advanced several proposals, including one requiring some 250 state boards and commissions to justify their continued existence at least once every 10 years. Also endorsed was the idea of updating and simplifying state personnel rules.

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