Panel OKs amended anti-terrorism bill

Erin Neff

Thursday, April 10, 2003 | 10:55 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- An Assembly panel unanimously passed an amended version of an anti-terrorism bill this morning after narrowing the definitions of terrorism to assuage civil liberty concerns.

Assembly Bill 250, sponsored by Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, will now go to the full Assembly for consideration.

Perkins' second terrorism bill, Assembly Bill 441, dealing with homeland security, was being worked on by the Assembly Judiciary Committee late this morning and was expected to pass as well.

AB250 now defines an act of terrorism as "any act that involves the use or attempted use of sabotage, extortion or violence which is intended to cause great bodily harm or death to the general population, or substantial structural damage to any public or private building."

Assemblyman David Brown, R-Henderson, welcomed the amendments, saying "to me, the center of this bill's universe is the definition section."

Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, worked with Perkins, a Henderson police captain, and representatives of the ACLU to craft amended language.

"We wanted to narrow the scope of how terrorism is defined," Horne said.

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said she thought Horne and others had done a good job of targeting the right people.

However, she also said the Legislature would have to monitor the bill's effect to "make sure we're not covering garden-variety criminals."