Collective bargaining passes Assembly again

Tuesday, April 22, 2003 | 9:13 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

The Assembly Monday approved a bill authorizing collective bargaining for state employees for the third consecutive session.

But the 27-15 vote in the lower house does not guarantee the passage of the measure this session in the Republican-controlled Senate, where Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, has vowed to not let the measure out of the Government Affairs Committee.

Assembly Bill 65 grants most state employees the right to organize or the ability to refrain from organizing.

Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-North Las Vegas, said the nickname of the Assembly as the "people's house" required his colleagues to send a strong message to the Senate about collective bargaining.

"The state's employees are what makes the state operate and what makes the state function," Williams said.

He also called "insane" and "insidious" private statements from some of his Assembly colleagues that it was OK to approve the bill because the Senate was going to kill it anyway.

Assemblyman Ron Knecht, R-Carson City, who opposed the bill in committee, supported it on the floor Monday.

Those voting against the measure were: Republicans Walter Andonov of Henderson; Sharron Angle of Reno; Bob Beers of Las Vegas; David Brown of Henderson; John Carpenter of Elko; Chad Christensen of Las Vegas; Tom Grady of Yerington; Josh Griffin of Henderson; Don Gustavson of Sun Valley; Joe Hardy of Boulder City; Lynn Hettrick of Gardnerville; Garn Mabey of Las Vegas; Rod Sherer of Pahrump and Valerie Weber of Las Vegas.