Governor weighs agenda items for special session

Thursday, June 7, 2001 | 11:21 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn has said that he may ask a special session of the Legislature to approve, for a second time, the bill that allows the state to collect $23.5 million in tax revenue to help fund raises for schoolteachers.

The governor, speaking with the media Wednesday, said he has not decided on a date to convene the lawmakers, but he suggested it could not be earlier than next Tuesday.

A special session will be convened to allow the Legislature to draft a plan to set up districts for Nevada's three congressional seats, the Assembly and Senate, the state Board of Education and the Board of Regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada.

Legislators and lobbyists are inundating the governor with requests to place specific topics on the agenda. But he intends to be selective and wants the session to run no more than two or three days.

It may not be logistically possible to convene lawmakers on Monday. All of the bills passed from the session have not arrived for signature in the governor's office, and he said he didn't know if legislators from Las Vegas would be able to get flights to Carson City for a session that would begin Monday.

Also under consideration is having two special sessions, one after the other. One would be devoted to cleaning up the vital legislation that failed at the end of the session. The other would consider only reapportionment.

One bill expected to make the agenda is Assembly Bill 460, which takes the 4 percent on auto rentals that now goes to companies to be diverted to the state to help finance education. The Senate may have passed that bill after the deadline, putting its legality in question.

Senate Majority Leader William Raggio, R-Reno, said he would ask Guinn to include that on the agenda to ensure it stands up to a possible court challenge.

The governor is also talking about including another bill on the agenda, giving the Clark County Commission the authority to raise the fees on smog checks to finance an enhanced air quality control program in Southern Nevada.

Senate Bill 357 died in a Senate-Assembly Conference Committee at the end of the session. Originally, the Senate approved a plan allowing the Commission to impose a fee up to $6. The Assembly lowered the fee to $3 and suggested that if the commission wanted a higher fee it should get voter approval.

Guinn said the state would be affected if the federal government imposes sanctions for failure by Clark County to meet air quality standards.

The governor also is considering reviving the salary bill -- Assembly Bill 606 -- that increases the pay for state and county elected officials. It died in the Senate because it was not processed before the deadline.