Monday, June 2, 2003 | 11 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- As the Legislature began winding down on non-tax issues over the weekend, several bills that had been held back for leverage were released. Assembly Bill 148, sponsored by Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, calls for an audit of the University and Community College System of Nevada. But AB148 had languished for weeks in the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno.
On Sunday afternoon Senate Finance approved the bill -- signaling a light at the end of the tax talks between the Legislature's two most powerful men.
AB148, which is a performance audit of the entire system, is expected to be amended to include a look at whether professors are teaching enough courses.
Assembly Bill 250, the sweeping anti-terrorism measure sponsored by Perkins and amended to include some of the provisions of a similar bill Raggio sponsored, was sent back to the Senate for the final stamp of approval.
As the weekend began Friday with agreement on a budget that would require $860 million in new revenue, the strained tax talks began with several bills "held hostage."
Assembly Bill 23, also sponsored by Perkins, provides pay raises for county sheriffs and district attorneys. As amended by the Senate, the raises would apply to all county officials, except commissioners.
Raggio supports raises for all county officials and has championed the idea throughout the session. He said Saturday it makes sense to offer county officials more than the 3 percent envisioned in the amendment, since the sheriffs and DAs would get 30 percent raises under AB23.
When a conference committee met Saturday afternoon to discuss the two house's positions on the bill, Assembly Democrats sat stone-faced in their stance, before Raggio, who was chairing the conference.
"Has the speaker changed his mind?" Raggio asked Ellen Koivisto and Peggy Pierce, both D-Las Vegas.
The assemblywomen shook their head no and Raggio broke the conference without giving any hope of another meeting.
The impasse on AB23 came just before a four-hour Senate Republican caucus meeting Saturday evening that resulted in no progress on the tax issue.
But on Sunday afternoon the Assembly Government Affairs Committee passed a key measure of importance for Raggio, Senate Bill 497.
SB497 allows Washoe County to impose an increase in the car rental tax to provide funds for construction of a minor league baseball stadium at the Sparks Marina. With SB497 released, Raggio let the university audit go.
One measure Raggio still holds that Perkins wants is Assembly Bill 441, Perkins' omnibus homeland security measure. Raggio said he expected to take up AB441 during his Finance Committee meeting this morning.
The Assembly on Sunday evening approved an amendment to Senate Bill 400, the consensus bill on broadband regulation reached between warring telecommunication interests.
But immediately after being amended, Assembly Democrats placed SB400 on the desk because of its importance to Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno.
Townsend's interest in SB400 is viewed as important to passage of telemarketing measure, Assembly Bill 232, sponsored by Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas.
Despite an agreement reached Thursday on AB232 in the conference committee between the two houses, the Senate has yet to sign off on the conference report. SB400 will be held until that occurs.
In a possible flip of that move for leverage, the Assembly on Sunday placed a tobacco bill on the clerk's desk -- a possible sign that the measure will be used to help win a few Republican votes on taxes.
Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, had sought to amend Senate Bill 460 -- a bill related to counterfeit cigarettes -- to include language allowing counties to limit tobacco use in certain public places.
Hardy will seek to add an amendment that would prohibit smoking in video arcades, child care facilities and at the entrance to public buildings.
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