Malpractice bill voted down

Single Sign-On: You can use Facebook account to log in to LasVegasSun.com. (We will use your first and last name from your profile.)
Trusted Commenting: Facebook connected users automatically become trusted commenters.

Friday, April 11, 2003 | 11:19 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee voted out a slimmed-down version of a medical malpractice bill today to beat a legislative deadline.

Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, asked Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, for an exemption to the rule that all committee action on Senate bills must be completed by today. The waiver, though, was not granted.

Backers of the bill plan to amend it on the Senate floor. The bill is designed to set up a subsidy for doctors to pay their medical malpractice insurance.

The bill would take money from a $3.3 million reserve of the state Board of Medical Examiners to provide subsidies of up to $30,000 per doctor to pay their insurance.

The examiners board opposed the proposal to take $2.5 million from the reserve fund. He said that would leave the board with less than $1 million -- that's the amount the accountants recommend.