Proposal to cut travel is tabled

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Friday, April 25, 2003 | 9:12 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A legislative panel on Thursday tabled a plan that would cut lawmakers' travel and membership dues to national organizations.

Lorne Malkiewich, director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau that provides staff for the Legislature, proposed allowing lawmakers to take only one trip a year to a national meeting, rather than the current two.

But the Legislative Commission, composed of an equal number of senators and Assembly members, split on the issue.

Malkiewich said his proposal would save $100,000 next fiscal year and $75,000 the following year. The proposed policy change, he said, would not apply to lawmakers in leadership positions or chairmen of committees in national organizations, such as the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Council of State Governments.

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, opposed the policy, saying it would hurt the freshmen who do not have campaign funds to use for travel. She described them as "bright and eager" and said they would "lose the opportunity to learn about other issues" and solutions achieved in other states.