Legislative briefs for March 21, 2003

Friday, March 21, 2003 | 9:47 a.m.

Senate approves anti-spam measure

The Senate approved a bill Thursday that would impose additional requirements on computer spam.

Assembly Bill 93 would require e-mail advertisements to have the word "advertisement" or the abbreviation "ADV" as the first word of the subject line.

Advertisers who fail to follow the rules would be liable for a $50 payment to the recipient of the e-mail.

The bill goes to the governor for his signature. The Senate vote was 18-2 with Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, and Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, opposed.

DNA testing OK'd for condemned

The final death penalty reform recommended by an interim legislative committee passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Thursday. It would allow a defendant in capital cases access to DNA testing after conviction.

The committee amended and passed Assembly Bill 16, which allows a person convicted and under a sentence of death to petition the state for genetic marker analysis of evidence.

Corporate-control bill gains support

Assembly Judiciary Committee members liked a corporate accountability measure so much Thursday that they amended it to increase the potential penalties against companies that violate the law.

Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, recommended increasing the penalties from $100,000, as written, to $500,000 per case.

Assembly Bill 163, sponsored by David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, would make it a felony to forge, alter or destroy financial documents or to protect or conceal the identity of anyone who violates any provision of the law or hindering an investigation.

The bill also extends the statute of limitations for civil suits arising from such cases. Each count of the violation carries a prison term of up to 20 years in addition to the newly-amended $500,000 penalty.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, on Thursday proposed her own corporate accountability measure in Senate Bill 124. SB124 requires corporations to file complete information with the Secretary of State's office about the company's records.