Lawmakers forget for whom the bell tolls

Tuesday, June 5, 2001 | 11 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- With chaos reigning, the Nevada Legislature closed shop early today, passing scores of bills that could be challenged in court and failing to complete its business in the required 120 days.

"I think this is a joke," said Sen. Dina Titus, referring to the 120-day session running an hour past its deadline.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said he will call a special session, probably to start next week, to take care of the vital bills that didn't get passed and to get a reapportionment plan approved.

Lobbyists were on the floor meeting with lawmakers and trying to put the session to bed before the midnight deadline. Legislative aides were scurrying up and down the halls carrying last-minute amendments and reports, trying to beat the deadline.

An angry Assemblyman Roy Neighbors, D-Tonopah, left the Legislature before final adjournment. "Did you see those lobbyists on the floor?" he said. "This is bull." Lobbyists are not allowed on the Legislature floor.

Neighbors returned after cooling off.

Others called the performance of the lawmakers in the final hours a joke.

The Legislature is supposed to end at midnight on the 120th day of the session, but Republican senators found a loophole. The state Constitution says it is to adjourn at midnight Pacific Standard Time, but since Nevada is on Daylight Saving Time, the Senate and the Assembly tacked an extra hour onto the business.

In that extra hour, scores of bills were passed.

"It wouldn't surprise me if they were challenged," Titus said.

The final bill passed by the Senate was Assembly Bill 460, which raises about $26 million to help pay for schoolteachers' pay raises.

Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, opposed the bill and started talking slowly in a mini-filibuster so time would run out. It appeared that the final approval came about 30 seconds after 1 a.m. But Sen. Mark James, R-Las Vegas, who pushed the bill to passage, said the clock in the Senate was three minutes fast.

With nine minutes to go before midnight, the Assembly rammed through nine bills. The Senate also approved nine bills in the final minutes before 12 a.m. Most of the measures dealt with bills to fund the state government and school districts for the next two years.

The final bill approved in the Senate on the stroke of midnight was Assembly Bill 343, consolidating the child welfare programs of the state with Clark and Washoe counties.

After midnight, more than 35 bills were passed by lawmakers.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, was one who didn't believe that changing the deadline was legal. He suggested the governor put the bills passed between 12 and 1 a.m. on the agenda for a special session, so their legality would not be called into question.

Coffin quipped that the clock should be covered, referring to former times when the lawmakers covered the clock with a cloth when they could not meet their deadline for final adjournment. That was a ruse to allow everything to be passed without violating the time constraints.

Guinn said he wanted to meet with Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and attorneys for the Legislature to discuss whether to pursue that suggestion.

The major hang-up was reapportionment, with Democrats and Republicans split on creating the Third Congressional District. Assembly Democrats wanted that party to have the edge in voter registration in the Southern Nevada district. Republicans sought an even split.

A good part of the final day by the Senate was spent behind closed doors as they tried to negotiate a final plan on reapportionment. But their efforts failed.