Editorial: Frittering away time a disgrace

Thursday, June 7, 2001 | 8:21 a.m.

It was shameful the way the Legislature tried to wrap up its business on Monday, which was supposed to be the last day of the legislative session. Instead of concluding its work by midnight on Monday, the Legislature worked an extra hour into Tuesday morning before finishing.

The legislative leaders noted that the Nevada Constitution said the Legislature must conclude by the end of its 120th day on Pacific Standard Time. Since Nevada was on daylight savings time, not standard time, they argued they could stretch past the midnight deadline. But this parsing of language is ludicrous and it could invite legal challenges, which is why Gov. Kenny Guinn is considering a special session to essentially ratify these last-minute decisions so that they could be upheld in court. These are no small matters, either. One of the 30-plus bills at issue involves state government's budget and still another contains important energy legislation. Guinn already is considering a special session so that legislators can finish redrawing the state's political boundaries.

Some legislators complained that the 120-day limit, which voters passed in 1998 as a constitutional amendment, was a key reason why they couldn't finish their business on time. But such reasoning is a cop-out. If instead the voters had imposed a 140-day limit, they still would have found a way to fill that time and leave the hard decisions for last.

As Sun political reporter Erin Neff noted in a Tuesday story, legislators wasted plenty of time on ceremonial matters and also took up precious hours with nonsensical legislation, whether it was designating Orovada as the state's official soil, issuing nine different new license plates, or establishing an official state tartan to be worn by Scots and bagpipe corps. Neff also mentioned that during floor sessions, lawmakers more often were found sending e-mail or checking out websites on their wireless laptops instead of reading bills. So if lawmakers want to blame someone for not being able to get their work done on time, all they have to do is look in the mirror to find the real culprits.